Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 15, 2017 8:11 am After 10 months of delays, mostly due to a 6-month wait for report & consent from council, followed by reluctance from our builder to make minor aesthetic changes to meet councils requests, we've started looking at different builders. The Henley Aegean 38 has caught our attention. It has a similar design to round 1, but rooms rearranged such that it's taken care of some of the compromises we felt we made last time. My wife's quote is that it's designed by someone who actually wants to live in it. The finishes are also better, but that comes at price too. Having had experience has made a big difference to turnaround as we know what we want and what council needs. Also we've overcome some hang ups on compromising on things we really want (high ceilings) so it's beans-on-toast for the next few months. We are also considering outsourcing some of the work post-handover. In particular, the carpeting and engineered floors. Can anyone offer advice on whether this is a good option with Henley? We're currently finalizing quotes so will hopefully be posting regular updates on progress. 🤞🏻 Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 2Jun 15, 2017 10:32 am We are doing our flooring through carpet court and are getting much better quality than through henley. Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 4Jun 28, 2017 11:36 pm Status update: We signed preliminary quotes on the 19th and were able to slot in for our pre-colours tour last week. Made some huge progress on decision making - we are both certain that we want the white attica in the kitchen. We also ticked off a lot of the minor things like taps, toilets, showerheads, handrails, etc. It was a productive morning. The only outstanding items really are the tiles, carpets and floating floors. Fortunately, we have a colour template to work off from our last attempt, so are trying to get as close a match to that as possible Our Colours is in early Aug and tender will be a few weeks after that. Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 5Jun 29, 2017 11:01 am SAFA1 Thanks Whitefresh. What about pricing - is it also lower? Yes cheaper, the main reason we are doing flooring outside of Henley is because we don't want quad/beading around the edges of the floor. Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 6Jun 29, 2017 12:09 pm Lol. That too! I'm a bit precious about wood floors and quading does not do it for me. Had the day off so went to a few flooring companies. Quotes were cheaper by about 10-15% so multiple benefits to offset the delay in the move-in date. Will be going external for floors. Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 7Aug 11, 2017 9:29 am Had colours selection on Wednesday and tender is set for the end of the month. 50 shades of beige! Added one or two things (tower with double 600mm ovens), Cat 5 caesarstone to the kitchen and butlers pantry, upgraded the tiles to the wet areas and added a feature strip tile. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 8Aug 28, 2017 4:19 pm Had tender on Friday. Was not a good day. Sales agent is quite savvy and having gone down this route with another builder I had reasonable expectations of site costs of $50k (including potential screwpiles) plus another $10k zone surcharge. Actual costs were $103k!!! . Their remit was to do cut and fill to minimize cost and maximize garage space within council regs. Cut was maximized - leading to $25k in excavation and retaining wall costs and there is another $25k provision for hydraulic engineering costs in case there isn't enough slope for stormwater runoff. Given i have a block sloping 1.3m towards the street, this was ridiculous. There were also costs for arborist reports ($1600) and a few other random bits and bobs. A few other funnies which are being investigated Include a $75 credit for my boundary tap and a charge of $189 for a boundary tap required for council regs??! Tender communicator (Tony) was very professional and knOwledgeable and is fully understanding of my position and expected changes so it's been sent back for amendment. Called my sales agent and had the same chat with her and there seems to be some disconnect with the estimating and drafting department as her understanding is in line with mine and she's a bit shocked at the costs too. Still feeling positive, but having to unpick every cost is a bit tiresome. Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 9Aug 28, 2017 6:12 pm To think how many other people don't question the costs and just accept what the builder charges them. Hopefully round 2 is a lot better and they are more realistic with their estimates. Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 10Sep 15, 2017 5:45 pm ...3 weeks and 2 diagrams later and I think we have diagrams that we're happy to take to council. Site costs are still high at $70k due to $25k of potential hydraulic engineering works, but at least it's down $35k so far! Not sure why they didn't change the legal stormwater discharge point from the highest street point to the lowest, but will find out on Monday. Had one of the neighbour s around to discuss the impact on his property. Took about 20 minutes, followed by a few hours and 2 bottles of wine to plan the barbecue entertainment space 🙂 Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 11Sep 23, 2017 4:05 pm A few back and forth conversations and we finally got a tender that we're happy to sign off on. Yay. They removed the $25k 'Hydraulic engineering' charge and agreed that it was not required due to the current slope. Perhaps I'm overly cynical but it took a lot of effort/perseverance to get this removed and begs the question of how many unnecessary costs are 'accidentally' left in. Still to be removed are the $17k of screw piles, but we'll tackle those on the second soil survey . Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 12Sep 23, 2017 4:10 pm We also got all the report and consent dispensation paperwork together, which includes a surveyor letter describing non-compliance, letters from the neighbours stating they are aware of all the provisions and their signoff on all diagrams. Council quotes 3 months for 50% of applications to be finalized, but last time it took 6, so now it's time to kick back, celebrate the current progress successes....and wait. Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 13Oct 12, 2017 10:18 pm Anybody out there?ECHO....Echo....echo.... This thread seems more like a diary, but I’ll press on in case someone finds it useful at some point.... Had some small changes and got to tender version 4. Nearly signed but there is a clause that states that I need to be at contract by 8 November. Thought it strange as I’d spoken to Henley about the timing of R&C being likely only mid November in which case it would likely be January for contracts IF I could get abolishment and demolition done by Christmas. CSA informed me that it’s a standard inclusion (on my personalized contract?) and Henley wouldn’t hold me to it as it’s superseded by a different clause. I read a lot of contracts and there is no indication that this is the case. My work makes me pessimistic about leaving unwanted clauses in contracts so I scratched it out and submitted it and it seems ok. Back to waiting.... Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 14Oct 12, 2017 10:58 pm 😀 Well, I just read your posts and have found it useful or should I say worrying??? I can't believe they overcharged so much and if you hadn't complained you would have been stuck paying for it! I've got my tender start of next month and my block doesn't have good run off, so now I'm definitely worried! Can't believe your council took 6 months - my council is saying 3 weeks for R&C, but mind you I haven't submitted yet in order to see how long it really takes. Is there a penalty if you don't meet the nov 8 deadline? Good luck and hopefully it's smoother sailing from here. Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 15Oct 12, 2017 11:45 pm Hi Mia! Thank you for responding. Bayside is notoriously fussy...I just didn’t realize how fussy though. The new design is being treated as a resubmission as I ‘checked in’ often enough that I am now on a first name basis with the council surveyor. Still, it’ll take another month. There is no clause on what the penalties are, but it’s likely they’d want to put the house price up to currently list price. Since I signed in June, it’s gone up 5% or $18k. My posts are a little cynical, but I am enthusiastic about my build. I remain jaded when negotiating contracts though and double check everything. Henley have been very friendly and I like dealing with them. At the end of the day though, it’s a business transaction that you’re paying for - Don’t be shy to ask and if you’re unsure, get them to recheck costs with estimating. Another example was that brick infills above garage seemed unusually high. Turns out it was a double charge of $950. It was accidental, but they add up - I now keep a spreadsheet and compare costs between tenders (I am a financial controller by profession). Good luck with your build! I’ll be following your thread. Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 16Oct 16, 2017 10:51 pm SAFA1 Anybody out there?ECHO....Echo....echo.... This thread seems more like a diary, but I’ll press on in case someone finds it useful at some point.... Had some small changes and got to tender version 4. Nearly signed but there is a clause that states that I need to be at contract by 8 November. Thought it strange as I’d spoken to Henley about the timing of R&C being likely only mid November in which case it would likely be January for contracts IF I could get abolishment and demolition done by Christmas. CSA informed me that it’s a standard inclusion (on my personalized contract?) and Henley wouldn’t hold me to it as it’s superseded by a different clause. I read a lot of contracts and there is no indication that this is the case. My work makes me pessimistic about leaving unwanted clauses in contracts so I scratched it out and submitted it and it seems ok. Back to waiting.... I try and follow every Aegean 38 thread to see what changes and colours everyone has chosen. I've always used homeone as a diary and if anyone responds than it's a bonus. It helps me keep my sanity while I endure the long wait for the build to happen. These volume builders are notoriously difficult when it comes to KDR just check out Rachel's thread who's also building the same house. Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 17Oct 19, 2017 7:03 am Hi Firsttime. I’ve been following all the Aegean threads too - Rachel has had a tough ride, but things seem to be progressing at last. The waiting is trying as nothing can happen until council approves R&C dispensation, then everything kicks off all at once to get demo done followed by not much activity while contracts are finalized.... I am learning to be patient, but am not a great student Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 18Oct 20, 2017 7:02 am SAFA1 Hi Firsttime. I’ve been following all the Aegean threads too - Rachel has had a tough ride, but things seem to be progressing at last. The waiting is trying as nothing can happen until council approves R&C dispensation, then everything kicks off all at once to get demo done followed by not much activity while contracts are finalized.... I am learning to be patient, but am not a great student Hello.... did I hear my name Our dispensation was the easy part and quite smooth to be honest but we demo'd before getting dispensation. What was the killer was that we found out that the detached garage that we are keeping was built over City West Water easement, so that had to go thru approvals. Thankfully we have a caveat on it but get to keep the shed. The other killer was our energy rating - that took 6 weeks to sort out. There are things along the way that you will wonder why it takes so long. I have just accepted the fact that there is a process somewhere in Henley that is different for each build and god knows why it's different for each. We have been in construction for a month with nothing happening for the past week and a bit, so again just having patience that this build will be done within the specified 290 day and to the standard that we expect. Safa1 - we are all in the same boat and just remember that you do have an online support group Good Luck. Rachael Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 19Oct 20, 2017 8:04 am Hi SAFA1 Just jumping into to tell you we are bayside Melb too (Kingston Council) and we had ALL of our provisional costs returned by Henley at the end of our build which was a huge relief, I have my fingers crossed for you...hopefully you will be lucky too Re: Henley Aegean 38 - KDR in Bayside 20Nov 07, 2017 7:48 am firsttime_homies1401 SAFA1 Anybody out there?ECHO....Echo....echo.... This thread seems more like a diary, but I’ll press on in case someone finds it useful at some point.... Had some small changes and got to tender version 4. Nearly signed but there is a clause that states that I need to be at contract by 8 November. Thought it strange as I’d spoken to Henley about the timing of R&C being likely only mid November in which case it would likely be January for contracts IF I could get abolishment and demolition done by Christmas. CSA informed me that it’s a standard inclusion (on my personalized contract?) and Henley wouldn’t hold me to it as it’s superseded by a different clause. I read a lot of contracts and there is no indication that this is the case. My work makes me pessimistic about leaving unwanted clauses in contracts so I scratched it out and submitted it and it seems ok. Back to waiting.... I try and follow every Aegean 38 thread to see what changes and colours everyone has chosen. I've always used homeone as a diary and if anyone responds than it's a bonus. It helps me keep my sanity while I endure the long wait for the build to happen. These volume builders are notoriously difficult when it comes to KDR just check out Rachel's thread who's also building the same house. How is it all going! I apologise...we havent been on here for quite some time #waitingwaitingwaiting ... We had our tender last week :O ... contract on Thursday! Hoping for February Site Start! We were lucky in that our old house was so small (86 square metres) compared to the new house, they were able to take enough readings around the old backyard house before… 8 37144 The biggest challenge will be if you take out a loan and then run out of money - you'll have an incomplete security and lenders do not like this so you can get stuck.… 2 19108 Hi, I am looking into doing a KDR in Melbourne and am contemplating using Kialla Homes. I am looking for feedback on them from others who have built with them. 0 13446 |