First, let's be fair. The chocolate drinks, snacks and so on are very nice and tasty, albeit, overpriced. The atmosphere is good and it would be a nice to place to end the night after seeing a movie. But that's where the good part ends, at least for our regular group of Saturday night movie goers.

The Saturday evening staff, particularly later in the night, should know that when a customer sits at the table, the table should be clean. If it's not, then the staff should be aware and clean the table asap and not have to be asked three times to do so.

On our previous experience, we ordered cakes with our coffees and hot chocolates. They eventually came without cutlery. I asked the staff to bring some cutlery which never arrived. Returning to the counter, I again, asked for cutlery. The waiter grabbed 8 forks and knives from a bucket of used cutlery (from other customers), took a serviette, wiped them and gave them to me.

When I said "you're kidding me, right?", he said "what do you mean". I told him it wasn't my job to explain the importance of hygiene and common sense and that he should ask his manager. His response, "I am the manager".

I called Max Brenner head office the following Monday and politely explained what happened. They listened and said they'd get back to me after investigating. They never did.

Last night, our group of friends wanted coffees after watching Iron Man 3 (great movie by the way..). Max Brenner was the only place open at the complex so again, off we went.

Of the vacant tables, none were clean. We sat down, all 8 of us and we asked a waitress if we could have the table cleaned. A few minutes went by and I saw her leaving and going home. Obviously, she forgot about us. I asked at the counter and finally after a third request, someone came and cleaned the table.

And so, we ordered our coffees and hot chocolates. We also asked for a bottle of water. What we got was a bottle of warm water from the tap. This is why taps are labelled 'H' and 'C'. H means Hot and C means cold. Max Brenner staff, please take note that you only serve water from the 'C' tap.

Overall, whoever is training the staff at Max Brenner needs to be trained himself. Im sure the staff are nice people, but the company needs to improve their level of service, perception and common sense. Some people may be happy to dine in a supposedly upmarket cafe with poor hygiene, snooty and at times, non existent service. Unless this cafe' improves on these points, I don't think we'll be going back.

Very disappointed.

Approximate cost: $15.00

Mark Wilson builds, sets up and repairs acoustic and electric guitars. I was fortunate enough to meet Mark and go through his facilities. As a guitarist, it's great to find someone who is passionate about guitars and this certainly shows in Marks workmanship.

Mark creates his own line of acoustic guitars that feature a bolt on neck. The tone from these guitars are simply amazing. His 'Stella' and 'L-00' models have to be played to appreciate the fine tones from unique Australian and rare timbers.

I had one of my acoustic guitars set up by Mark and when I got it back, it felt like a brand new instrument. His attention to detail reminded me of the fine work by the late (and great) Stewart Male. One of the hardest things to do on an acoustic guitar is to set it up so it plays as easily as an electric. Mark did just that and I have to say I am very impressed. As a result of Mark's work, I have reacquainted myself with tis guitar which until recently, sat unplayed in its case for some time. His rates are very affordable and the knowledge he so freely gives is priceless.

The 'Wilson' guitars range between $1500.00 and $3000.00 +, depending on the features, timbers and inlays you want. A great set-up costs under 80.00 for the works - you can't beat that.

I'll be saving my pennies for one of Marks fine acoustic guitars - perhaps one day. In the meantime, it's great to know that the Mornington Peninsula has this fine artisan right here on our doorstep.

Approximate cost: $70.00

I'm giving David Rice Interiors maximum points for their excellent quality products, service and prices. I wish I could upload photo's to show the quality. We are very happy with Jenny's personal service and for Bill's expert and tidy installation.

We fitted roller blinds, both shade and full block out and an outdoor balcony awning and cannot be happier with the appearance and quality of the items.

We had 3 separate quotes. Aside from the best price, we were impressed with the product knowledge and efficiency in which the shades and awning were measured, delivered and fitted.

Approximate cost: $2200.00

We'd like to thank Glenn (Manager) for his 100% service and commitment to customer satisfaction. After making our purchase from an upcoming shipment, Glenn advised us not to worry if we didn't like the items or changed our mind when they arrived.

Our building project was delayed by 6 months. In the meantime, new stock arrived and we found something we really wanted - better suited and lower priced than our original choice.

True to his word, Glenn was ok with our change of mind, happily refunding the $200.00 difference and threw in free delivery from Springvale to Safety Beach. No hassle and completely genuine. This is how every store should be. I pride myself on giving good customer service in my business and I have to admit I learned something today in how to really keep the customer satisfied.

I wholeheartedly recommend TOFS in Springvale for your outdoor furniture. Great prices, great selection and unbeatable service.

Approximate cost: $200.00

We employed the team at Speedie Development Consultants to organise our sub division at Safety Beach in Victoria. We found John and the team at Speedie to be friendly, professional and very thorough.

All details were handled quickly and efficiently. We received regular phone calls updating us on progress which we greatly appreciated. I never had to follow up on anything. This is exceptional service which we were very pleased to have experienced.

Price wise, there is more work than you'd expect to effect a sub division and this respect Speedie's prices are typical of this service.

So thumbs up to Speedies and thanks to John for being a consumate professional. We hope this review sees more business your way.

Approximate cost: $5000.00

George, Frida, Sophie and the team at Vermont South Delicatessen have a wide range of continental deli products and fresh foods. Deli products can be expensive, especially imported products and this store keeps prices in check and represents good value.

Vermont South Delicatessen items are along the Greek/Italian/Euro tradition. Their olives, cheeses and meats make a great lunch or platter. There is also a very large range of packaged deli products, pasta's, fresh dips, sauces, breads and continental specialty foods.

Customer service is excellent and very friendly, just like a good deli should be. More so, the store is very clean and tidy.

So i guess the next question is, what's for lunch?

Being a guy with not much on top, you'd be right in thinking I shouldn't be reviewing a hair salon. Well, I disagree. Even us blokes with thinning follicles deserve the royal treatment from a hair salon.

Harrison Steele is located at the Vermont South shops, next to the post office. Harrison Steele is a haven for the ladies, always busy, with talented stylists and a natural place for local gossip. From where the guys sit, you'd think the place was a therapy session rather than a hair salon. My wife assures me that gossiping is rife at every good hair salon.

From the safer side of the salon, Clem and Frank look after the guys. These days, some men have very complex hair styles and this is one area where Harrison Steele is noted for its excellence. I've seen some of the styles they create while waiting my turn, sometimes thinking I'd try one of those new trendy styles if I had some crop atop.

Service is personal and excellent. The team know your name and nothing is too hard. The team is experienced, the salon clean, very reasonable prices and you always come out feeling a bit better about yourself.

We love this bakery and the lovely ladies that serve over the counter. This store has a wide variety of tasty breads, snacks, cakes and specialty lines along with friendly old fashioned 'service with a smile'.

I'd love Jo to include fresh hot meat pies as I am a confirmed pie-a-holic. The store is always spotlessly clean and these days, this is a BIG plus when buying breads and bakery items. The dough is freshly made daily (not frozen) and I can really taste the difference between bakery bread and the supermarket lines.

There are 3 bakeries along with Coles at the Vermont South shops and Bakers Delight is definitely our favourite. Highly recommended.

Approximate cost: $3.00

I confess to being a pizzaholic. I grew up on pizzas and the very word puts a smile on my dial. For those in the know, pizza's we buy from most Australian pizzeria's are based on the American recipes. That is, thick gut swelling pastry, fatty processed meats and thick mozzarella.

If you want the real deal pizza, we need to look over the ocean and back to post war Italy where this tasty treat came with a very thin and light pastry, all fresh meats, cheese, tomato, basil and virgin olive oil. The extra's came fresh from the garden. You could eat a family size and still go seconds. Well, I could ...

Ok, we are obviously not flying to Italy to curb our pizza yearnings and let's face it, there's hundreds of great pizzeria's littered across our great city. So where do we go for that authentic real Italian style pizza?

Xpress Gourmet Pizza located in Dromana is where I take my family and friends on the Mornington Peninsula. This is a family owned business with good old fashioned friendly service and a great menu. You can even order online and Xpress sends a text message when the pizza is in the oven.

Xpress also have a range of pasta dishes, gelati's and drinks. You can take away or dine inside or the front courtyard or cross the road and dine on the beach.

Enjoy!

Approximate cost: $12.00

Updated 29/11/2012

Now this is difficult review to write. Metricon's ads, glossy brochure's and corporate offices would have you think you're in good hands when it comes to building your home. Contractually, Metricon did their job and completed our project, albeit 4 weeks after projected finish date. There are many fine people at Metricon who worked hard for us. We are thankful to those people.

However truth be told that despite some peoples best efforts, the company suffers from appalling Directorship and Management. This is not to say Metricon doesn't build good houses - they can, but it's what is behind the plaster and the goings on above ground floor at head office that buyers should be aware of.

Builders do not want their clients on site for 3 reasons. The first is to ensure the clients safety. The second is to ensure the client does not hassle the tradies. Reason's 1 and 2 are obvious and acceptable. It's the 3rd reason that bothers me and that is the builder doesn't want you - the client, to see how they build your home.

We built a dual occ primarily to keep one and use the second for investment. For the record, I will state that I watched the goings on at the work site almost daily. I saw everything that went on. Metricon was not happy that I was there but for most of it I kept away from the workers. This home was built with my and my wife's hard earned money and at the end of the job, it's my family that lives with good workmanship or a shoddy job.

Metricon site managers have a difficult job. Most are building 15 to 22 houses at one time and they spend one day every week at the office plus RDO's and sickies. So how many days a month does is your site manager on site overseeing construction and any problems? Works out to be about 1 full day a month, sometimes a little more. They juggle an extremely heavy workload with family and personal lives to fit in. They work very long and sometimes thankless hours from their superiors and clients. I am not an ignorant person and I am sympathetic with the site managers predicament, however, from the clients view, this is not our problem. Metricon were paid real dollars and we need our site under constant management.

So who is supervising tradies when the site manager is building the other 15 or 20 homes? Well, in this case it was me. Remember the saying, 'MYOB' (Mind your Own Business)? Let me say that you better put the MYOB hat on when building your own home. Here's a few examples of how my presence on site prevented potential disasters on completion:

1: Two large steel supporting truss beams were the wrong height (too high). Instead of replacing them, Metricon ludicrously thought it was ok to chip out part of the first floor to accommodate the steel beam. Somehow, this open area was supposed to support the upper level timber floor that would have split and buckled the moment the house moved a few mm. Metricon replaced the beams but only after a structural engineer friend of mine provided his assessment.

2: Sound insulation batts which I paid good money for, were about to be tossed away by the plasterers because some had fallen on the ground. They were too lazy to pick them up and pop them back in the frame. And, watch out for the ceiling insulation. Some of it will end up in the ceiling still in the bag. I suggest getting in the ceiling and checking the insulation before handover.

3: Balcony. Tell me, have you ever stepped up and onto a balcony? No, of course not. You step out and down to a balcony. This is to prevent water from coming into your home when it rains. Guess how ours was built? And, it took Metricon 3 attempts to build it right because they tried every way possible to build it on the cheap. But I stood my ground and we now have a legal balcony. But I had to fight for it and pay a professional for a written report. Metricon would eventually build to the recommendations and refund me the cost of the report I should never have had to commission.

4: Drainage and plumbing. Don't send a boy to do a man's job. I won't mention the company name but we nicknamed them 'Worst-ons'. The boys this company sent to do our plumbing were inexperienced and working without adult supervision. They were too young to think for themselves having to return on 4 occasions to fix a leaking roof. In the end, I had to show them where the problems were and how to fix it. I am not a plumber. Neither were these guys, yet. Ironically, at the 11th hour, the plumbing company sent a young and qualified female plumber who thankfully, was knowledgeable, extremely good at her job, friendly and able to resolve the remaining issues. Lesson here for the boys.

5: The roof is the first item to complete after frame to protect the frame and keep water off the under floor sheets. Apparently Metricon thought it was ok to leave our roof off for months leaving an important plaster shaft liner exposed to the elements. The plaster shaft, which separates the 2 units must remain dry. It did not.

6: $24,500 of new timber floors were left unprotected for nearly 5 months, despite weekly phone calls and emails telling Metricon to cover the floors. Why? It was winter and tradies were trudging through the house on our brand new timber floors in muddy work boots with pebbles and stones in the treads, dropping tools and sliding steel and timber ladders all over the floor. You'd think the tradies would use their head and use drop sheets? No, that takes too much thinking. The result? Metricon had to call in floor sanders/restorers and have a brand new timber floor sanded and resealed. Cost to protect new timber floors? About $300.00. Cost to sand and re-seal the same timber floors? $8250.00. You do the maths. I have to say though, as much as this was an inconvenience, the floors turned out much better than the original finish. Despite this, I'm sure Metricon senior Management would have turned cartwheels when they learned the price of their mistake.

There were a multitude of other errors, including the initial plans, 4 attempts at giving us error ridden contracts to sign. The 4th attempt had the contract conditions correct but had the wrong plans attached! The subsequent plans that went to council for a building permit were the wrong version. We were told we couldn't have certain inclusions when they were perfectly allowable. And so on. Our balcony depth kept shrinking. Each time we'd agree on the depth, Metricon would print plans and we'd have a smaller balcony. We got it right after umpteen revisions. If the drafting software doesn't work, then update it.

Metricon (and probably other bulk builders) build their homes in reverse order. In a nutshell this means the house is not always built in the logical order. The result is painted walls get damaged by the floor installers that should have arrived before the painter and so on. Render, doors and fittings can be damaged by tradies that should have been long gone.

But my biggest gripe is Metricon's handling of difficult (read .. knowledgable) clients. We found the company was more than happy to break a commitment to complete our home 3 months before the contract completion date. The commitment was made by senior management after the fiasco and errors we endured during the planning process. We believed them and in hindsight, we should have asked Metricon to alter the contract date. A refusal would have given me a crystal ball but I foolishly trusted them to honour their word. I have to own the fact that I slipped up here and therefore, I have to in fairness, say the job was completed (almost) on time as per contract. So what happened?

The build was running to the new schedule and we were about 6 weeks away from hand over for July 21st 2012. We were very happy. We had a very good site manager that despite the problems, was able to get onto them and fix them. No complaints here. Then we had a site manager change and all works stopped for 10 weeks. Thing was, our holding costs, interest to the bank and lost rent mounted up. You think Metricon cared? They did not.

Let's start with almost 10 weeks of Metricon refusing to answer emails and phone calls. I eventually contacted the construction manager, pleading with him to send tradies back to our abandoned work site. He never responded and later admitted he didn't bother to read 2 emails I'd sent over 2 weeks. The point I'm trying to make is an investment property is just that - an investment property. The builder must understand that the client has holding costs. If the builder can't manage dual-occ projects with the obvious implications for the client in mind, then they shouldn't build them.

Eventually, I found someone higher up the management chain and after 10 weeks at standstill, things started moving. Now here's the crunch. It took exactly 4 weeks to complete the work that stopped 14 weeks ago. There was still 2 weeks further work to do because the timber floors had to be repaired and resealed. Hot water services didn't work and the painter had to return (4th time). In the end, we handed over final payment to Metricon with a long list of items to fix or complete. We did this to give us control of the finish. There were landscapers and fencing contractors booked and we had to get these tradies on site to complete our garden before Christmas.

Again, I have to be fair where it counts. After we made the final payment, I was concerned that Metricon would wipe their hands from us when in fact, the exact opposite happened. With directives from senior management, our site manager and in particular his supervisor went to great lengths to finish the last minute touch ups and any items needing attention. They were available, took and returned phone calls and made special trips to the home to ensure the works were completed and done to our satisfaction. And they were really nice guys now that we had a chance to get to know one another. Our customer liaison member Tina is another friendly and extremely helpful person. We'll miss her. I wish Metricon would up the ante and give this type of service to all their clients. Of course now that we are in the house and have wonderful tenants next door, our home/investment is bearing fruit and we are very happy.

If you have read this far, I have to commend you. I want to say from the outset that there are many good people working at Metricon. The company offers an attractive range of homes priced right. Metricon's house and land packages represent good value. The problems we experienced, and I have only listed a handful, could have happened with any builder. The issues I wrote about here should be taken into consideration when building any home.

Metricon is a big ship and with due respect, the bigger the ship the harder it is to stear. In this instance though, I think it's Metricon's captains that are responsible for the appalling manner in which this build was managed. Had Management honoured their word by finishing the building at the earlier date, or at the very least, explained to us why they couldn't (or wouldn't) do so, then I'd probably be feeling a lot different. The house turned out to our satisfaction but only through my dogged persistence, intervention and supervision. I'd have preferred spending that time tending to my business and not undergoing the stress.

If you are considering building your home with Metricon or any bulk builder, you should accept the team you sit with in the cosy office planning your home, is a completely different team that builds your home. What the office team says can be done may not be possible within the reality of building your home. Always allow at least 12 months from site start (not the contract signing) to complete your home and allow a further 2 to 8 weeks for handover. Handover is when you get the keys. You need to carefully go over every aspect of the plan, contract, variations and special packages. If unsure, then get help. Never sign the contract unless you are 100% aware of what's in it. This is true with any builder.

Previous readers of this review will notice I have also updated the ratings. I have done so due to the positive experience we had with Mark & Dean along with David and Peter (senior management) when we really needed it most. It would be unfair if these efforts were not added to this review. I hope this article is helpful to anyone thinking of building a new home.

Approximate cost: $1M