Hebel Matters

Boutique Homes offers its clients a range of benefits with Hebel

As a designer for Boutique Homes, part of the ABN Group, Andrea Grover began her career with small builders in New Zealand, but since moving to Melbourne six years ago she has found her niche in designing high quality homes that offer great value for money.

Andrea has noticed a rise in popularity with not just greenfields, but “knockdown and rebuild” projects where clients want to work with the block of land they already own rather than starting fresh elsewhere.

These builds often have added complexity to them, dealing with the needs of local councils, surrounding neighbours and the constraints of a built-in site.

Andrea’s clients are often second or third home builders, who have a long “wishlist” based on previous experiences of going through the building process.

Hebel has been a core part of how she satisfies this highly informed and motivated client group.

Andrea explains, “There are a lot of building benefits to using Hebel – in quality, and in speed – it’s a lot quicker to install than brick. It can sometimes take a couple of weeks to install brickwork around the entire house, with Hebel, the same can be achieved in just a couple of days.”

“There’s also the waste to consider – when you use brick you have sand and everything else that’s needed all over the site, but with Hebel, you come in with the panels and install it.”

Boutique’s ‘Ascot 36’ display home at Arcadia Estate in Officer uses Hebel for both render and cladding.

Andrea highlights the fact that Hebel is solid, strong, energy efficient, eco-friendly, offers acoustic and thermal benefits and also has an ideal flat surface for whatever rendering option the client prefers.

With Boutique Homes offering a 25-year structural guarantee on all of their builds, it is essential that every product specified offers durability and continues to perform decades after it’s installed. Hebel fits the bill, offering clients the opportunity to reap the benefits of the material while enjoying the aesthetic benefits as well.

After Boutique Homes showcased their all-Hebel design “The Catalina”, Andrea has seen clients become more aware of the benefits of using Hebel, it’s versatility and the design possibilities that are opened up by using the material.

Inside Boutique Homes’ Hebel-built Catalina display home

She says, “I think it’s definitely something that people are becoming more aware of and now that we’ve used Hebel for our display homes, they can see it for themselves. And we provide them with a little sample, so they can see exactly what it’s made of. Hebel allows the clients to achieve the look of a fully rendered home without upgrading to a full render over brickwork, which can be much more cost-effective.”

With the demands of clients only set to increase as they become more informed about design and the possibilities on offer, Andrea is ready for the challenges ahead, with Hebel part of her toolkit now and in the future.