Henley Electra 35 Building Altona 2019 - Knock Down rebuild

cobri05 · Apr 17, 2019 3:08 pm

We are building an Electra House with Henley. I've read all the reviews here for Electra found them very helpful, so decided I would do the same to help others.

I also can't find much in terms of average timeline, so thought would be helpful if I post our key dates

28-02-19 Paid 1st Deposit
07-03-19 Paid 2nd Deposit
13-03-19 Soil Test / Site Survey
14-03-19 File paused due to parking restriction concerns
16-03-19 Tour of Showroom
04-04-19 File un-paused, sent to head office
10-05-19 Colors Appointment
03-06-19 Tender Appointment
18-06-2019 Electrical Appointment
18-07-2019 Contract Appointment
23-09-2019 Slab start planned date, they arrived but left as found asbestos in the soil we had to organise to clear.
10-10-2019 Slab prep started then paused, was a delay waiting on concreters.
29-10-2019 Slab was completed.
07-11-2019 Frame Started on planned date, estimated will take 2 ish weeks.
02-12-2019 Roof installed (gutters were installed too before roof)
19-12-2020 Frame stage complete
From here it slows down..
27-02-2020 - Lock up stage complete
31-03-2020 - Fixing stage complete
20-05-2019 - Completion appointment
10-06-2020 - Got Keys

Henley have a mixed bag of reviews, overall pretty poor with 2.9 star on google and 3.4 star on product review. We were going to run when we read the reviews, but I did notice some reviews were excellent, the difference appears to be the site supervisor and team you get allocated, every team is different and so fingers crossed we get the good team.

Job Number: 315865

Sales: Eris C. (Amy also helped)
Colors: Rebecca D
Tender: Nathanial W.
Administrator: Ashlee H
Construction Admin: Nia & Jenna
Site Supervisor: Brad

Electricity Pit takes an average of 2 months, a colleague of mine took 6 months! Henley are not able to recommend details on amps and phase until Tender, which is far too late to start organising and this should be changed by them. So what I found online. Henley recommend "If you plan to have refrigerated air conditioning in your home then you should have three phase installed"

Now for the amps. There is no price difference for amps, it goes up as 40,50,63++. But 63 is the max provided to residential without supplying extra information on why you need it, such as what specific equipment will require it. So we went 3 phase, 63 amps. I've seen all sorts of prices, from $3000 to $13,000 ours is costing $3,538 as Pole was pretty close.

Herre · Apr 19, 2019 3:20 pm

Thanks for sharing, totally agree with your choice on AMP, 3 phases 63 amps will give you lots of flexibility to add extra appliances

cobri05 · Sep 18, 2019 3:02 pm

cobri05 · Nov 07, 2019 2:13 pm

STAGE REVIEWS:

Sales: 5 Stars! Eris and Amy were very helpful, the process was pretty quick and easy. Positive experience overall and would be happy to recommend.

Designer / Showroom: 5 Stars too! Great selection, found staff extremely helpful with design tips. Priced very good. We visited 4 times in advance so we could read online reviews of products to help choose & compared prices from independent suppliers. We were very organised, had a spreadsheet with +200 rows 90% pre-filled, we were still there 6 hours, cant imagine how anyone could complete the job in the day if not prepared. We didn't feel rushed or unsure of choices, but could imagine you might if not prepared.

Administrator: Also 5 Stars! Our Admin Ashlee has been super helpful in dealing with the many customisations we are asking to quote. I'm sure she is sick of us already, I think we've been pretty annoying and she has been great, she always responds same day and with great detail. I also expected everytime we contact to change the plans there would be costs, but that was not the case at all, they were so helpful and accommodating. Near the end they did an audit of our docs & plans and they found some really small things we had missed they recommend we change, was impressed with the attention to detail.

Tender: Also another 5 stars, Nathaniel was really lovely to work with and explained everything clearly and was able to answer all our questions. We are hoping his estimates of Traffic Management and Rock Removal as correct, as what is in our tender doc is "provisional" and he advised its externally unlikely they will use it all.

Base: 4 Star. The folks onsite when we went to do the inspection were very friendly. Our inspector said the base prep was high quality, the materials used were better than most he sees, and he didn't find anything to address. However with frame installed it seems the slab is a bit small. The frame is overhang on partial areas on 2 sides about 25mm (regs allow 10mm) so Henley advised they are fixing it. Looking at slab on neighbor properties being built, ours is much thicker and deeper so overall its still very good.

Frame: 5 stars, some minor things were picked up by our inspector, but it was only small things, overall very happy with the quality and speed of construction for the frame stage.

cobri05 · Nov 07, 2019 2:21 pm

Base Stage Photos

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achristian · Dec 17, 2019 2:56 pm

cobri05

We are building an Electra House with Henley. I've read all the reviews here for Electra found them very helpful, so decided I would do the same to help others.

I also can't find much in terms of average timeline, so thought would be helpful if I post our key dates

28-02-19 Paid 1st Deposit
07-03-19 Paid 2nd Deposit
13-03-19 Soil Test / Site Survey
14-03-19 File paused due to parking restriction concerns
16-03-19 Tour of Showroom
04-04-19 File un-paused, sent to head office
10-05-19 Colors Appointment
03-06-19 Tender Appointment
18-06-2019 Electrical Appointment
18-07-2019 Contract Appointment
23-09-2019 Slab start planned date, they arrived but left as found asbestos in the soil we had to organise to clear.
10-10-2019 Slab prep started then paused, was a delay waiting on concreters.
29-10-2019 Slab was completed.
07-11-2019 Frame Started on planned date, estimated will take 2 ish weeks.
02-12-2019 Roof installed (only took 2 days)
Mid Dec brick work is booked to start
...

Henley have a mixed bag of reviews, overall pretty poor with 2.9 star on google and 3.4 star on product review. We were going to run when we read the reviews, but I did notice some reviews were excellent, the difference appears to be the site supervisor and team you get allocated, every team is different and so fingers crossed we get the good team.

Job Number: 315865

Sales: Eris C. (Amy also helped)
Colors: Rebecca D
Tender: Nathanial W.
Administrator: Ashlee H
Construction Admin: Nia & Jenna
Site Supervisor: Brad

Electricity Pit takes an average of 2 months, a colleague of mine took 6 months! Henley are not able to recommend details on amps and phase until Tender, which is far too late to start organising and this should be changed by them. So what I found online. Henley recommend "If you plan to have refrigerated air conditioning in your home then you should have three phase installed"

Now for the amps. There is no price difference for amps, it goes up as 40,50,63++. But 63 is the max provided to residential without supplying extra information on why you need it, such as what specific equipment will require it. So we went 3 phase, 63 amps. I've seen all sorts of prices, from $3000 to $13,000 ours is costing $3,538 as Pole was pretty close, 6-7meters.

Thanks for the sharing. it is really helpful.

We have finished our contract appointment last month.
and we are in the process of the Building Permit.
Would you mind sharing How much time they took from Building permit to go on Site for the Slab?

Thanks again for your timeline.

EpicDNA · Dec 20, 2019 6:38 am

Thanks for sharing. Will be following keenly to see how your experience with Henley is as we are also considering Henely.

nicshou · Jan 05, 2020 10:06 pm

I am keen to follow your build as we are also considering an Electra for our knockdown rebuild. Any updates/advice would be greatly appreciated! Did you manage to get a walkthrough of any Electra's prior to signing up to build?

cobri05 · Jan 09, 2020 10:34 pm

achristian

cobri05

We are building an Electra House with Henley. I've read all the reviews here for Electra found them very helpful, so decided I would do the same to help others.

I also can't find much in terms of average timeline, so thought would be helpful if I post our key dates

28-02-19 Paid 1st Deposit
07-03-19 Paid 2nd Deposit
13-03-19 Soil Test / Site Survey
14-03-19 File paused due to parking restriction concerns
16-03-19 Tour of Showroom
04-04-19 File un-paused, sent to head office
10-05-19 Colors Appointment
03-06-19 Tender Appointment
18-06-2019 Electrical Appointment
18-07-2019 Contract Appointment
23-09-2019 Slab start planned date, they arrived but left as found asbestos in the soil we had to organise to clear.
10-10-2019 Slab prep started then paused, was a delay waiting on concreters.
29-10-2019 Slab was completed.
07-11-2019 Frame Started on planned date, estimated will take 2 ish weeks.
02-12-2019 Roof installed (only took 2 days)
Mid Dec brick work is booked to start
...

Henley have a mixed bag of reviews, overall pretty poor with 2.9 star on google and 3.4 star on product review. We were going to run when we read the reviews, but I did notice some reviews were excellent, the difference appears to be the site supervisor and team you get allocated, every team is different and so fingers crossed we get the good team.

Job Number: 315865

Sales: Eris C. (Amy also helped)
Colors: Rebecca D
Tender: Nathanial W.
Administrator: Ashlee H
Construction Admin: Nia & Jenna
Site Supervisor: Brad

Electricity Pit takes an average of 2 months, a colleague of mine took 6 months! Henley are not able to recommend details on amps and phase until Tender, which is far too late to start organising and this should be changed by them. So what I found online. Henley recommend "If you plan to have refrigerated air conditioning in your home then you should have three phase installed"

Now for the amps. There is no price difference for amps, it goes up as 40,50,63++. But 63 is the max provided to residential without supplying extra information on why you need it, such as what specific equipment will require it. So we went 3 phase, 63 amps. I've seen all sorts of prices, from $3000 to $13,000 ours is costing $3,538 as Pole was pretty close, 6-7meters.

Thanks for the sharing. it is really helpful.

We have finished our contract appointment last month.
and we are in the process of the Building Permit.
Would you mind sharing How much time they took from Building permit to go on Site for the Slab?

Thanks again for your timeline.

I can't remember, not long maybe took 2 weeks from our contract appointment. From then they will go to slab in 10 days once there is nothing outstanding in your end.

cobri05 · Jan 09, 2020 10:38 pm

nicshou

I am keen to follow your build as we are also considering an Electra for our knockdown rebuild. Any updates/advice would be greatly appreciated! Did you manage to get a walkthrough of any Electra's prior to signing up to build?

Something we read on another forum was to remove one of the staircase walls, to open up the hall into powder. We did that and it was great idea. No they don't have any Electra in Melbourne you can see.

cobri05 · Jan 09, 2020 10:40 pm

Mid Dec 2019
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TeslaCyberTruck · Jan 21, 2020 6:28 pm

cobri05

Mid Dec 2019

Hey cobri05 - (as at late January 2020) how is the build going? From your experience with Henley so far, would you recommend them to others?

cobri05 · Jan 22, 2020 10:12 am

TeslaCyberTruck

cobri05

Mid Dec 2019

Hey cobri05 - (as at late January 2020) how is the build going? From your experience with Henley so far, would you recommend them to others?

The brick work is half way there, expect will finish in 1-2 weeks. So far its going really well, we are very happy with the quality of the work and the speed at which it's moving. We live close & drive past on the way to work, nearly each day we see some activity, apart from Christmas there hasn't been any long periods of inactivity. I'm happy to give Henley the thumbs up I would build with them again

cobri05 · Jan 22, 2020 8:28 pm

I learned something today, sarking is not installed unless specified as a variation, stated in the Next Gen Doc part of your contract. Which overrides the building code... I would have been more than happy to pay for it if they explained what it is and asked if we wanted to add it. So for anyone building any house with any builder, check. It's a layer of foil that sits under the roof tiles, increasing insulation of your home and the main one is protecting from leaks. Wish the builders asked if we wanted it, unless you are a builder how would you know to ask

larryhq · Jan 23, 2020 12:26 am

hi Cobri05. Thanks for your informative timeline. I am about to settle on a knock down rebuild property in Altona and I want to get the jump on the long lead items. I noticed in your post that the electrical pit took 2 months to install. Who do I speak with about getting the pit installed? Is it powercor or an electrical contractor or both?

cobri05 · Jan 23, 2020 2:45 pm

larryhq

hi Cobri05. Thanks for your informative timeline. I am about to settle on a knock down rebuild property in Altona and I want to get the jump on the long lead items. I noticed in your post that the electrical pit took 2 months to install. Who do I speak with about getting the pit installed? Is it powercor or an electrical contractor or both?

You can do it yourself once you know what amps and phase you want. In Altona PowerCo is probably your supplier, call them with the meter numbers to confirm.

Create an account on eConnect to get overhead abolished. https://econnect.portal.powercor.com.au/customer/HomePage
I had 2 meters, 1 active and 1 antique not connected, so I only abolished the active one. When they came to disconnect they wouldn't, because i hadn't submitted a CR for the old one. So do a CR for each meter, even if it's already disconnected.

Create an Account on MySupply for the new pit. https://customer.portal.powercor.com.au/mysupply/
They have a calculator to find out how much your new pit will cost before applying. Closer to the pole, the cheaper it is.

larryhq · Jan 24, 2020 3:13 pm

cobri05

larryhq

hi Cobri05. Thanks for your informative timeline. I am about to settle on a knock down rebuild property in Altona and I want to get the jump on the long lead items. I noticed in your post that the electrical pit took 2 months to install. Who do I speak with about getting the pit installed? Is it powercor or an electrical contractor or both?

You can do it yourself once you know what amps and phase you want. In Altona PowerCo is probably your supplier, call them with the meter numbers to confirm.

Create an account on eConnect to get overhead abolished. https://econnect.portal.powercor.com.au/customer/HomePage
I had 2 meters, 1 active and 1 antique not connected, so I only abolished the active one. When they came to disconnect they wouldn't, because i hadn't submitted a CR for the old one. So do a CR for each meter, even if it's already disconnected.

Create an Account on MySupply for the new pit. https://customer.portal.powercor.com.au/mysupply/
They have a calculator to find out how much your new pit will cost before applying. Closer to the pole, the cheaper it is.

thanks mate.

achristian · Mar 11, 2020 1:45 pm

Thanks for all the Update.
We are at the lock-up stage - Monacho 24. Our BUild Coordinator says ROugh-ins has finished and Plast to follow. Don't know what does that mean.

We visited the Site, Seems like some internal Doors and Brick has arrived.

Do you know how much time it takes to finish for the Bricks and any other steps required for this stage?

Pretty Happy with the Progress so far. We haven't had a Private inspector. Any suggestions?

Thanks

cobri05 · Mar 11, 2020 4:25 pm

achristian

Thanks for all the Update.
We are at the lock-up stage - Monacho 24. Our BUild Coordinator says ROugh-ins has finished and Plast to follow. Don't know what does that mean.

We visited the Site, Seems like some internal Doors and Brick has arrived.

Do you know how much time it takes to finish for the Bricks and any other steps required for this stage?

Pretty Happy with the Progress so far. We haven't had a Private inspector. Any suggestions?

Thanks

A single story should be faster than our house. Brickwork for a double was under 3 weeks. There are plenty of things happening during lock up stage, you can see the list on the member portal.

No matter who you build with, an inspector is important your risky to not get one, ours found a good few issues (that have been addressed). Once the walls are closed up the inspector cant see if any issues with the frame so a later inspection is not much use.

Norfolk · Mar 11, 2020 5:07 pm

Builders are very keen to get the plaster on ASAP so make sure you get the frame and services inspected before this happens. Also consider visiting once a week for a few hours to do your own detailed DIY checks, in addition to the inspector’s.