Wow it has been a long time since I have posted on my blog. I did not want to post again until I knew for sure that everything was going to work out. I didn't want to jinx myself.
Anyway, forget the Pavilion by Carlisle, I cancelled the appointment I had with the sales consultant so never obtained a quotation. As much as Carlisle build nice homes and have a good reputation, I realised it would be too costly to make the changes required to fit the pool table in, and the layout, whilst adaptable, was not as open from the living areas out to the backyard as we like.
In the meantime I had visited the Henley displays. A few years ago I would not have given Henley a second thought, but I happened to see the ad in the Home section of the Herald Sun with price crash promo on my break at work, and thought I would give Henley a visit.
My perception of Henley had changed. I loved the feel of the displays, loved the kitchens and moreover was impressed with the level of inclusions. I researched all double storey designs and then took the family to Henley displays across Melbourne. There were a couple of designs that could be adapted, so I obtained pricelists for the options (the great thing about Henley and MainVue is that they have standardised pricing for many different options/upgrades for everyone which is readily available before even obtaining a sales quote).
I went to the MainVue display at Williams Landing (which we had been in before when we were looking the first time deciding on the PD Waldorf). I remembered the sales consultant in the display telling me originally that the house there (the Aegean) has the option of ensuites for all bedrooms, and that it was comparable to the Waldorf.
The MainVue displays were really impressive, so I researched all of the MainVue houses and the one which would best suit our needs was the Emporio. I started the whole process over again and am happy to say within a couple of weeks there will be a slab on our block of land (unless the weather turns to crap). The final valuation came in OVER (yes you read right) on Christmas Eve, unconditional approval has finally come through, and balance of 3% deposit has been paid.
I won't go through the sales/tender/contract process in detail but will say the whole experience thus far with MainVue has been a total contrast to my experience with PD. There were a couple of little bumps along the way but for the most part, I have been very impressed with the experience. MainVue's standard inclusions were better, there was more choice within the Cat 1 section (whereas most things with PD were upgrades), and MainVue were flexible with most of the changes I wanted to make outside of the norm, I did not have to go into battle to have our requirements met. My lovely sales consultant made sure we had most of the changes and (accurate) pricing in the sales quote, so there was not much left to change at tender, and not too many surprises at both tender and contract. The communication was great, the staff were friendly and actually understand what customer service is (sorry that will be my last dig at PD), and more importantly the pricing seemed competitive (except for the facades of course ;)).
Cosham Interiors is a little dated, the kitchen section was being upgraded whilst I was there, but it does the job. It was so easy to stay with mostly Cat 1, and certain changes/options I made did not cost anything whereas with other builders you are charged (for example for multiple cabinet colours in the kitchen - no charge!). I opted to have my colour selection appointment at the display which was so easy, with all the samples there and one on one with the colour consultant. Tender was not signed at the tender appointment, but completed soon after via email (due to a few surprises re: site costs and energy star rating requirements). Contract and plans are actually sent out to you before your appointment so you have time to review them, with pricing being accurate for most things from as early as the sales stage, which was such a revelation compared to the PD process.
Enough about the process, lets talk about the house!
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