Boutique Homes

“Great experience with Rifa from Mt Atkinson display" It was a real pleasure working with Rifa from beginning to end. She made the time to understand our vision, walked us through each stage of the building process, and came up with practical solutions whenever issues came up. Her attention to detail and genuine care gave us a strong sense of… Read more ·  1

confidence and support.

When we decided to relocate interstate from Tasmania to Victoria, I began looking into House and Land packages. The first thing that stood out to me was the excellent reviews for Boutique Homes. We engaged Rifa as our home-building consultant, and the experience went beyond expectations. From our first phone conversation through to the day, we travelled to Melbourne to visit the display homes and meet her. She provided clear timelines, transparent cost breakdowns, and valuable design recommendations that fit our budget. Communication was always prompt and professional. As parents with a young kid and full-time working couple, we were concerned about scheduling our team meetings to discuss the design, as they were mostly after work hours. She never hesitated, always put us first, and did late night meetings every other day. As someone in the construction industry, I also had a few design questions and concerns, and she explained everything in detail. The biggest challenge was finding the right land to suit the Pasadena design, with the minimum required lot sizes and width, while staying within our budget. We had initially chosen another block, but it was slightly over budget, and she quickly found a better option that still met our requirement. She gave it to her 100%, and we could not have asked for anything better.

Fantastic service so far. Rifa from Boutique Homes has made the Pre-construction building process stress-free, kept us updated, and made sure every detail was perfect. For anyone planning to build, we would strongly recommend consulting her!

Excellent experience with Rifa from Mount Atkinson —————————————————————————— We had an outstanding experience working with Rifa throughout our home-building journey. From our very first conversation, Rifa was professional, knowledgeable, approachable, and genuinely committed to helping us find the right plan. She was always available to answer… Read more ·  1

our questions, kept us informed at every stage of the process, and made what could have been a stressful experience feel smooth and enjoyable. Her honesty, attention to detail, and excellent communication gave us complete confidence from start to finish.

Rifa went above and beyond to ensure everything was handled efficiently, and her friendly attitude made us feel valued as clients. We truly appreciate her dedication and exceptional customer service.

We highly recommend Rifa to anyone looking for a reliable, trustworthy, and hardworking new home building consultant. Thank you for making our experience such a positive and memorable one!

From the very first meeting, Bill made us feel welcome and took the time to understand exactly what we were trying to achieve. Throughout the preliminary stages of our build he has been professional, transparent and incredibly supportive. What really stood out was his communication. He regularly kept us updated, often outside normal business… Read more ·  1

hours when something was time sensitive, and always took the time to answer our questions thoroughly. We never felt rushed or like we were just another client.

Bill has also been very honest about where we could save money without compromising the home we wanted. He made sure we were aware of every available promotion, rebate and incentive, and genuinely looked for ways to maximise value for us rather than simply selling upgrades.

Our project had a few challenges, particularly with our block, but Bill worked closely with the developer and kept us informed every step of the way. His knowledge, transparency and willingness to advocate for us gave us a lot of confidence throughout the process.

We’re extremely grateful for everything Bill has done so far and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him to anyone considering building with Boutique Homes.

Thank you again to our sales consultant Luisa for all her hard work with our home, we are truly grateful for everything she has done for us. We had a strict criteria and a short timeframe to work with and Luisa took the challenge by the horns... and nailed it! Luisa put in dozens and dozens of after hours meetings and phone calls to get us… Read more ·  1

exactly what we wanted. Other builders told us our requirements were too difficult, or seemed more interested in getting a contract signed than understanding our needs. Boutique were the only builder that truly took the time to understand us and to find a solution to our unique situation.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ We recently signed with Boutique Homes, and we couldn’t be happier with our experience so far, especially with Shaun guiding us through the journey. From the moment we walked into the display home in Aintree, VIC, we were impressed. The home was absolutely beautiful, it honestly felt like stepping into our dream home. Every detail was… Read more ·  1

well thought out, and it helped us clearly picture what our future home could look like.

Shaun has been incredible from day one. He is kind, approachable, and genuinely easy to talk to. What really stood out to us is that he doesn’t use flowery sales talk. He’s straight to the point, transparent, and explains everything clearly. At no point did we feel like we were being “sold” to. Instead, it felt like we had someone on our side, guiding us, reassuring us, and helping us make informed decisions.

He loves a challenge. No matter what ideas or design changes we brought up, even the ones that seemed difficult, he always found a way to explore options and make things work within our budget. From design ideas, imagination, and pricing concerns, he consistently worked with us to find practical solutions.

Building a home can be overwhelming, but Shaun made the process feel smooth and exciting. His professionalism, honesty, and dedication gave us confidence in choosing Boutique Homes.

If you’re looking for someone who will genuinely listen, guide you like family, and help turn your vision into reality, we highly recommend Shaun and Boutique Homes.

We’re excited for the next stage of our build journey! ✨

I purposely waited until my home was fully completed before writing this because a lot of reviews I read online only covered part of the home building journey, specifically the very preliminary stages. I wanted to share my experience from start to finish as a FHB. All in all from when I signed the HIA end of March 2025, it took 11 months until… Read more ·  1

handover. 6 months was roughly Pre - Construction but this varies from person to person.

Overall, I will say my experience with Boutique Homes was really smooth and positive. There were no major issues or disruptions during the build, which honestly made the whole process much less stressful than I expected. You hear a lot of horror stories from home building but I didn’t really experience any of it outside of the normalcy of questioning every decision I made during the process and contemplating later whether it was the right choice. I won't lie, pre-construction would probably feel like the most stressful and overwhelming if you set your expectations too high. You will be drowning in making decisions and signing paperwork; some weeks you'll receive a lot of emails and get updates, then others you won't hear nothing for a while. It will be the longest stage for sure for a good reason to ensure everything is good to go once they handover to the construction team.

The staff at Boutique are really incredible at their jobs. From someone who knew nothing about the home building, each step I took was provided with ample guidance and reassurance from the staffing team and any questions I had were replied, never ignored. I never felt brushed off and always got clear answers. But what really surprised me was the speed of construction. From the time construction started and my slab went down, my single-storey home was completed in about 4.5 months — I was genuinely blown away by how fast everything got put together especially as I thought it would take on average 6-8 months.

Please know, like any volume builder, they use a lot of different contractors for each stage of construction, and naturally skill levels can vary between trades. That’s not a Boutique Homes issue — I’ve learnt that’s how the building industry works. Because of that, I’d recommend getting an independent building inspector at every stage even it’s might be a bit out of budget or specifically, the earlier stages before the plaster is up if its too expensive. I didn't regret it and it’ll save you in the long run from all the headaches post handover, especially if its going to be your PPOR. It will gives you peace of mind and makes the process much more stress free that every stage is being completed to industry standard. It became the norm, that every report I received were pages long with items that needed rectifying. However, Boutique were receptive and cooperative whenever these items were raised, which I appreciated. They welcome the reports and actioned them every time without hesitation. I want to shout out my site supervisor, Michael, he really went above and beyond to address any concerns I had during construction, coordinating all the contractors and keeping me up to date and informed.

Be aware that once you sign off on your selections, they are basically final unless states otherwise. It may become very stressful and costly to change them afterwards and that's another trap I've seen people fall under. So make sure you're extra careful and think about you going to live in the space.

Overall, I’m really happy with how everything turned out and excited to have successfully made it to the end without any problems.

Professional and friendly staff: Some reviews note good communication, helpful consultants, and attentive service throughout the building process. Working through my home was a absolute a pleasure no dust everywhere was a clean and tidy job I’m happy with the end result Show details ·  1

Our KDRB process with Boutique Homes has been quite smooth so far thanks to the thorough and experienced team. Our New Homes Consultant Bill H was easy to deal with and made us feel well looked after. We also had a wonderful experience with interior designer Alicia M who we managed to get in touch with even prior to our Interior Design appointment. Show details ·  1

2nd Follow Up……Fixing & Waterproofing. I continue to give 4 stars, simply because there are ongoing little issues with the build. Overall, the build is going well. Josh is outstanding Site Manager, and the trades have been excellent. Darbecca’s Fixing & Waterproofing Report is 56 pages long ….. most of which is standard form information, but… Read more ·  1

they have identified more than 20 items for attention….. some more concerning than others. I am 100% confidant that these items will be addressed, if possible, but it is clear that the “volume build” process is to get things done, quite quickly, and then fix any identified issues.

We have zero complaints and the house is looking good. My hope is that, at the end of this process, I can give a 5 star rating.

The sales consultant is friendly and efficient, and gives us a lot of good ideas when doing the siting plan. There are small mistakes administration wise but that is acceptable. All the team members are easy to approach and open to discussion to all questions. The site manager is also keen to communicate and can get most of the issue solved even… Read more ·  1

though some could not be corrected at last. The quality is overall satisfying except some small defects. The time frame from PWC is approximately two years. I also recommended to keep an eye on every stage of the build with the team. Overall, my experience with Boutique Homes has been pleasant. Looking forward to seeing the warranty team in 12 months time.

Frame Stage - Major Framing Errors, Poor Site Supervision and Questionable Rectifications Building a home is stressful enough, but what made our experience with Boutique Homes particularly disappointing was not that mistakes happened—it's that many of those mistakes should never have progressed beyond the framing stage. In our case, it often felt… Read more

like our independent building inspector was performing the quality control role that I expected the site supervisor to perform. One of the biggest issues involved two upgraded master suites with ensuites and walk-in robes. We paid extra for cavity sliding doors and floor-to-ceiling tiling. The engineered framing drawings clearly showed 90mm nib walls beside the cavity doors. These nib walls were omitted in both ensuites during framing.

What concerns me is not simply that the carpenter missed them, but that the omission passed through framing inspection, lock-up, plastering, waterproofing, tiling and cabinetry without being identified by Boutique Homes. We only discovered the problem ourselves after noticing a 90mm gap between the vanity and the tiled wall, which immediately indicated that something was missing.

Rather than rebuilding the walls in accordance with the original framing design, Boutique Homes chose what I considered to be a shortcut. In the ground floor ensuite, a new timber frame was built in front of the already plastered and tiled wall and fixed over the completed work. This required disturbing completed waterproofing and floor tiles. During this rectification, our vanity benchtop was damaged and we had to repeatedly chase Boutique Homes before it was eventually replaced.

The upstairs ensuite was rectified in a similar manner. Instead of rebuilding the wall from the framing stage, another timber frame was installed over the existing tiled wall. From what we observed, the original tiled wall remained in place and a second wall was effectively built over it. Boutique Homes never provided us with an engineering explanation that gave us confidence the original framing issue had been properly addressed.

The rectification itself created further concerns. Large sections of completed floor tiles had to be removed and relaid. We were never provided with evidence that the waterproofing had been reinstated or retested after these works, and the relaid floor was left with an uneven finish that remains noticeable.

Another example of poor supervision involved a bowed internal wall. Our independent inspector identified this defect during the framing stage and documented it in the inspection report. Despite the issue already being known, it was never rectified and was identified again during our Practical Completion Inspection months later. I found this particularly disappointing because this was not a defect that had been missed—it had already been brought to the builder's attention.

Our experience with the framing inspection was equally frustrating. The site supervisor advised us to organise our private framing inspection before the framing stage was actually complete. At the time of inspection, even our inspector noted that wall straightening had not been completed and the cavity slider framing was still missing. Insulation had also not been installed, meaning we had to organise and pay for an additional insulation inspection that could have been avoided had the stage been genuinely ready for inspection.

Looking back, the recurring theme throughout our build was poor site supervision and inadequate quality control. The major framing omissions, failure to action known defects, premature inspection scheduling and questionable rectification methods resulted in significant disruption, additional expense and countless hours of follow-up on our part.

They asked us to get this frame stage inspection done purely so they can get the payment for frame stage without getting the cavity doors in and insulation in at the time of inspection, If they wouldn't have done so maybe our private inspector should have been able to pickup on these items instead of all the mess that has been created due to building supervisor's negligence

Mistakes can happen on any building site. What matters is having competent supervision and robust quality control processes to identify and properly rectify those mistakes before they become much larger problems. Unfortunately, that was not our experience with Boutique Homes.

My advice to anyone building with Boutique Homes is simple: invest in an independent building inspector at every stage of construction. Based on our experience, it was one of the best decisions we made, and I genuinely believe several major defects may never have been identified without one.

We are now at Pre Completion stage. We are definitely at 4 1/2 stars, and we continue to rate our Site Manager Josh as 5 stars (maybe 6!). Things keep moving forward at great pace....we thought that there would be a shutdown over Xmas, but work… Read more ·  1

was being done right up until Xmas, and then back again on 5 January. Amazing.

The Fixing & Waterproofing Review from Darbecca was 56 pages long ..... lots of stuff to fix / attend to, but we have no realised that Boutique works closely with these reviews to ensure that they provide a better final product. Whereas we had anticipated an adversarial relationship between the Building Inspector we hired and Boutique, it has been quite the opposite ....Boutique uses the reports to get the trades back to fix any issues.

There is so much happening .... external rendering (which looks great!), external electrical, security cameras, internal electrical (a huge 4 days task, undertaken during the 40 plus degree days....with outstanding results), internal painting, all the internal doors, the marble bench tops etc. It is fun to turn all the lights on..... our electrical plan has come to life!

Two items that people might find helpful:

1. Internal insulation. At the advice of a friend, we opted to install additional internal insulation...in every internal cavity. This is not usual, and you have to organise and pay additionally. Our excellent Site Manager had never undertaken it before, and during the installation it was obviously a bit unusual for everyone (the plasterers started plastering over non-insulated cavities until I stopped them!). It cost an extra few thousand dollars, but we think it is worth it....already there is a dramatic difference inside compared to outside in relation to temperature and noise (all our research showed full internal insulation adds another 20% or so sound and temperature insulation). It added 1 1/2 days to the schedule to install.

2. Fencing. We are getting ready for the fences (asap after Completion so that we can move in). We have 4 neighbours (2 at the back and 1 at each each). Both back neighbours engaged cheap fencers without talking to us (both moonlighters who have other jobs during the week). One fence has already partly collapsed after 6 weeks, and the other fence is terribly buckled. There is a lot of competition amongst fencers ..... they achieve cheap pricing by using shallow footings, as little concrete as possible and cheap materials. Be diligent, and insist on understanding what you are getting. Our house is in a windy area. As various people have advised us, once you and your neighbours have moved in, it is a huge problem to try to fix fencing issues. We are now working wth our neighbours both sides on a sturdier fence (about 40% more expensive), but we think it is a worthwhile investment.....which we had never really thought about until now.

One thing that people might find interesting / helpful concerns the Completion stage. As I have mentioned several times, having an independent Building Surveyor is critically important to the success of a build. We have used Darbecca and they have been fantastic. But we have reached something of a “chicken and egg” situation leading into Final Completion. Darbecca’s Waterproofing report was 56 pages long, with lots of defects to be remedied. Prior to Final Completion, they do a Completion Inspection. But the trades refuse to attend to outstanding issues pending their final report…… the trades don’t want to come back twice (this is of course not a problem if the trades did the work 100% correctly in the first place, but that is not always the case). So we have a standoff. We have commissioned the Final Darbecca Report, which we received this afternoon and which is 73 pages long. Plus a comment that they are disappointed that a lot of the previous defects have not been corrected. So now we have to manage the remediation process, and then get Darbecca back to do a Final Reinspection Report to certify that everything has been attended to. I suspect that it will be a balancing act over the next few weeks. My “gut” tells me that if we can get this final stage done correctly then it will save us a lot of hassles down the road. We shall see …….

We still have smiles on our faces, we still visit the site nearly every day, and there is still lots to be finalised. But we remain very happy with the build and all parties involved. Fingers crossed we get to the Finish Line without any major issues.