Perhaps some of the best testimonials come from within a builder’s own ranks – if the employees trust the build quality after seeing the ins and outs of the process, you know it must be good. Meet ABN Group’s General Manager of Development, Oscar Stanley, his wife and their two young children, who now live in a side-by-side duplex dual occupancy home they love – delivered by Boutique Developments.

With two kids under six and a management job to boot, Oscar was after a home that catered to the lifestyle of his busy little family. Setting their eyes on the suburb of Glen Iris and its associated schools, Boutique’s dual occupancy product allowed the couple to create the home of their dreams, at a price point they could manage.

“Glen Iris is a suburb that traditionally offers large blocks with a single home, which means prices are high for young families looking to buy. If we had decided to buy and live in an existing home, we would have purchased a renovator’s delight,” explains Oscar.

“By choosing a dual occupancy build through Boutique, we created two brand new homes – with all the luxury upgrades and bespoke options we desired – and the financial flexibility we could comfortably afford.”

After finding the ideal block, it was Oscar’s knowledge of Boutique’s dual occupancy plans and superior guarantees that made choosing the builder easy.

“We found a pretty deep block of land, and I knew that Boutique’s floorplans would make the best use of the site. Coupled with their quality building team and unique 12 month warranty period, sealed the deal for us,” says Oscar.

 

What to expect from the build journey

One of the most valuable aspects of Oscar’s knockdown rebuild journey with Boutique was the consultation process. Dual occupancy council approvals aren’t always easy, so it pays to have an experienced builder in your corner.

“The subdivision process can be complex, as all councils approach dual occupancy slightly differently. It was great to enlist the help of an expert who could guide us through it. The additional effort to subdivide is certainly worth the effort in the end,” says Oscar.

A quality build – that included features that would make the home easy to sell in the future – was key for the couple.

“We were very pleased with the range of options Boutique offered through our interior design consultations. We were able to ensure the home included all those specifications that would be expected from a future buyer,” says Oscar.

“Our build journey in general was excellent. We were offered regular updates throughout the process, and our Site Manager, was amazing. His attention to detail, communication, level of experience and ability to help inform key decisions we were making were sensational.”

We talked to Knockdown Rebuild & Dual Occupancy Manager, Richard Hobby, for his top tips to building a Dual Occupancy home.

That, along with the confidence that any issues will be fixed quickly and efficiently within the maintenance period, means Oscar now happily recommends Boutique to friends and family.

“We actually just completed our 12-month final warranty check – there were only very minor works to be addressed in a house we absolutely love, and they were fixed within just two weeks,” he adds.

Choosing your interior designs

While presenting as a townhouse, Oscar’s abodes are surprisingly spacious, with custom options and upgrades throughout, including a blue sitting room.

“The beauty of dual occupancy is that internally you can create two completely different homes – one that suits your own taste, and another that provides flexibility if you decide to rent or sell the other home. Or you can share costs and building experience by buying with friends or family,’ says Oscar.

“For our home, we wanted a minimalist Scandinavian style, while the other house has a traditional Hamptons interior.”

Advice for building dual occupancy in Melbourne

Now looking for their next dual occupancy investment, the couple have two key pieces of advice for newbies to the market:

  • Remember each site comes with its own complexities: These include council restrictions, such as setbacks and crossover approvals. The slope and orientation of your block will also have an impact on how feasible the development is. Understand what is achievable with an experienced builder like Boutique before wasting too much time.
  • Get your permit before you demolish: There is no rush to demolish, particularly if the existing home is liveable for you or a short-term tenant. To minimise the cost of alternate accommodation whilst building, get council on board before you roll in the bulldozers.

Boutique Homes is now proudly offering side-by-side duplex and townhouse dual occupancy designs to our customers. Ready to start your own portfolio?

Click here to find out more about Dual Occupancy.

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Testimonials

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Jot

Glad We have chosen Boutique Homes

Building home as a first home owner is like a dream. We visited all display homes, looked at inclusions, quality of products that are being used. But we could not find a match for Boutique. It excelled on our graph of customer satisfaction, tailoring according to our needs. Special thanks to Morgan (new home consultant), who is the first among all the reasons behind us choosing Boutique. We started with some other plan and ended with something completely different. But Morgan listened to us, to our dreams. No doubt there are many other competing builders, we visited the majority of them. But Boutique was the one for us. Luckily we found the one.

I must say after meeting other sales consultants from 2 other renowned builders at the moment in the market that Boutique is lucky to have a consultant like Morgan. She went far and beyond to assist us. I got health professional discount on our base price which gave us room for more upgrades while sticking to our budget. Our meeting was extended for long due to changes to our plan. But Morgan helped us to get everything fixed and upfront with 100% transparency, no hidden costs.

We are super excited for next steps. Initial paperwork done. Looking forward to our color appointments. I would highly recommend first home builders and owners to visit and browse their display homes and you will see the great difference in quality of things they use in their standard inclusion compared to others.

J

Josh A

Excellent customer service from Boutique Homes in Ballarat

My wife and I have just signed up to build with Boutique Homes in Ballarat. So far we have been very impressed with the responsiveness, professionalism and flexibility. To be honest, I was a bit sceptical about such things with volume builders, but to date, Boutique have proved me wrong. A huge shout out to James Belsar, the Ballarat New Homes Consultant—an all round lovely bloke that has made the process stress free.

D

Donjim

Amazing service, great inclusions

Brett in Fyansford was helpful from the very beginning and has made the process of our first home so easy. The inclusions that Boutique has as standard far surpass any other ‘volume’ builder. The process of choosing any upgrades was explained to us carefully and the whole process felt stress free. Couldn’t be happier with Boutique Homes.

G

Gurpartap

“The One” builder with great team and professional attitude

Thoughts of constructing first dream home fills once heart with joy, excitement and on the other sends a chill down the spin with anxious thoughts and million questions. You juggle from one floor plan to the other, visit hundreds of display home, chat with enormous builder's representative, go through an exhaustive list of inclusions which makes you even more confused and exposed.

But, after discovering and exploring Boutique homes it seemed like a cake walk. We are at an early stages of building HAVANA 32 (on display@Botanica in MICKLEHAM). All thanks to our new homes consultant Surinder Mehta, that we have got what we wished for to build our first home. Surinder, made the initial phase very easy, he gave our needs the ears we wanted, explained things to the very basics which in-turn makes you confident and affirmative. Surinder, is an expert in the field, he answers all your queries very patiently, addresses your needs rather then wants and makes you feel that you are with the right builder and in right hands.

Boutique Homes is a quality driven builder which gives you the satisfaction you need when building "The First One" and the same culture filters through the employee's especially Mr. Surinder Mehta, who did not leave any stone un-turned to win our confidence and support by delivering incomparable upgrades while adhering to our financial boundaries.

We are self-assured that the building process will be a smooth one and would take this opportunity to urge all FHOB to give Boutique Home a go and they will be able to cater your needs with highest quality standards compared to the counterparts.

A

Aurelie

Exceptional Service!

We are very happy we chose Boutique Homes. Our New Home consultants Brett Morrissy and Cass did an exceptional job at helping us finding the right house for us. Brett immediately understood what we were looking for and he was very helpful. He was very professional, approachable and available, he definitely made the entire pre-start process much easier for us. We highly recommend working with him!