Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Porter Davis homes 12541Apr 24, 2016 2:11 pm Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Yesterday we went to WOS to reselect our stone benchtop colour. Fair to say it didn't go well and they kicked us out at 5pm without having made a decision. Originally we'd chosen the Cat 2 colour, New Crystal Salt. At the time, it was the lightest we could afford that didn't have any discoloured 'flecks'. We are building a rather monochromatic home with dark tiles, dark flooring, soft grey wall paint, so when it came to the kitchen we wanted something really light/white but still within our budget. I'm really disappointed by the alternatives - most of which have large brown or blue flecks. The closest, in terms of how 'grainy' it is, is the Norte, but the pink undertone just won't work with the rest of our kitchen. Upon hearing those who originally selected a Cat 1 colour were being given a free upgrade to Cat 2, I should expect the offer to be extended to us. There is a nice Cat 3 colour, 'White Storm' which is far whiter than our original colour, but equally as 'grainy' with maybe a subtle grey/blue undertone. This would work much nicer in our kitchen. The consultant at PD said 'all you can do is ask' but I am already hearing PD saying NO. I'm really torn. I don't want to have to spend more $$$ on a similar benchtop colour, but I also don't want to settle on a Cat 1/2 colour that really doesn't match. The picture at the top of this post is a comparison of Maple Orna, White Storm, and Essastone New Crystal Salt. As you can see, White Storm (and even Maple Orna) are whiter, but in terms of 'grainyness', White Storm is much more refined. Thoughts/opinions? Re: Porter Davis homes 12542Apr 24, 2016 2:27 pm corygee Upon hearing those who originally selected a Cat 1 colour were being given a free upgrade to Cat 2, I should expect the offer to be extended to us. There is a nice Cat 3 colour, 'White Storm' which is far whiter than our original colour, but equally as 'grainy' with maybe a subtle grey/blue undertone. This would work much nicer in our kitchen. The consultant at PD said 'all you can do is ask' but I am already hearing PD saying NO. I'm really torn. I don't want to have to spend more $$$ on a similar benchtop colour, but I also don't want to settle on a Cat 1/2 colour that really doesn't match. Just to clarify we're not getting a blanket upgrade to Cat 2 and I'm not sure it relates to everyone who originally selected a Cat 1 stone either. They negotiated a deal for those who had originally selected Crystal Chalk to be able to replace with Blanco Norte because that's apparently the closest... but that's the only Cat 2 you get for free. And the first thing we heard from the girl at WOS was "the Norte has a pink undertone and I wouldn't recommend it" so I don't even know what the point of that is. We would have far preferred Maple which I think is closer to Crystal Chalk than any of the other options we were given but it's Cat 2 and not Norte so we'd have to spend more $$$. It stinks. In general I think the silestone is much more freckly than essastone and there are few people that have good things to say about it. There were others having similar stressed conversations about it when we were there. Building a Porter Davis Livingstone 23 in Mayfield, Cranbourne East | Our thread 18/05/15 - Contract Signed 24/12/15 - Land Settlement 30/1/16 - Slab poured 9/06/16 - Handover Re: Porter Davis homes 12543Apr 24, 2016 3:11 pm thewoodies corygee Upon hearing those who originally selected a Cat 1 colour were being given a free upgrade to Cat 2, I should expect the offer to be extended to us. There is a nice Cat 3 colour, 'White Storm' which is far whiter than our original colour, but equally as 'grainy' with maybe a subtle grey/blue undertone. This would work much nicer in our kitchen. The consultant at PD said 'all you can do is ask' but I am already hearing PD saying NO. I'm really torn. I don't want to have to spend more $$$ on a similar benchtop colour, but I also don't want to settle on a Cat 1/2 colour that really doesn't match. Just to clarify we're not getting a blanket upgrade to Cat 2 and I'm not sure it relates to everyone who originally selected a Cat 1 stone either. They negotiated a deal for those who had originally selected Crystal Chalk to be able to replace with Blanco Norte because that's apparently the closest... but that's the only Cat 2 you get for free. Oh, that's not what we were told yesterday - nor from others who are building in our estate having to reselect too. She said all of the Cat 1 & 2 colours were available to us to choose from - even before we told her we had picked a Cat 2 stone originally. Re: Porter Davis homes 12544Apr 24, 2016 3:31 pm corygee Oh, that's not what we were told yesterday - nor from others who are building in our estate having to reselect too. She said all of the Cat 1 & 2 colours were available to us to choose from - even before we told her we had picked a Cat 2 stone originally. Not sure if it showed your stone choice when you registered at world of style yesterday (from memory they told me ours before we said anything) but I've just spoken to two separate people at world of style who said our only "free" cat 2 was the Norte... Building a Porter Davis Livingstone 23 in Mayfield, Cranbourne East | Our thread 18/05/15 - Contract Signed 24/12/15 - Land Settlement 30/1/16 - Slab poured 9/06/16 - Handover Re: Porter Davis homes 12545Apr 24, 2016 3:44 pm thewoodies corygee Oh, that's not what we were told yesterday - nor from others who are building in our estate having to reselect too. She said all of the Cat 1 & 2 colours were available to us to choose from - even before we told her we had picked a Cat 2 stone originally. Not sure if it showed your stone choice when you registered at world of style yesterday (from memory they told me ours before we said anything) but I've just spoken to two separate people at world of style who said our only "free" cat 2 was the Norte... Oh, possibly! Have just sent an email to our BC, will post the outcome here. Thanks. Re: Porter Davis homes 12546Apr 24, 2016 5:10 pm Do let us know the poor first girl I spoke to, she was just in the process of explaining it to me when I had a guest come to reception and I had to hang up abruptly. I really should have warned her at the start because she probably thought I hung up on her in an angry huff lol Building a Porter Davis Livingstone 23 in Mayfield, Cranbourne East | Our thread 18/05/15 - Contract Signed 24/12/15 - Land Settlement 30/1/16 - Slab poured 9/06/16 - Handover Re: Porter Davis homes 12547Apr 24, 2016 9:28 pm corygee Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Yesterday we went to WOS to reselect our stone benchtop colour. Fair to say it didn't go well and they kicked us out at 5pm without having made a decision. Originally we'd chosen the Cat 2 colour, New Crystal Salt. At the time, it was the lightest we could afford that didn't have any discoloured 'flecks'. We are building a rather monochromatic home with dark tiles, dark flooring, soft grey wall paint, so when it came to the kitchen we wanted something really light/white but still within our budget. I'm really disappointed by the alternatives - most of which have large brown or blue flecks. The closest, in terms of how 'grainy' it is, is the Norte, but the pink undertone just won't work with the rest of our kitchen. Upon hearing those who originally selected a Cat 1 colour were being given a free upgrade to Cat 2, I should expect the offer to be extended to us. There is a nice Cat 3 colour, 'White Storm' which is far whiter than our original colour, but equally as 'grainy' with maybe a subtle grey/blue undertone. This would work much nicer in our kitchen. The consultant at PD said 'all you can do is ask' but I am already hearing PD saying NO. I'm really torn. I don't want to have to spend more $$$ on a similar benchtop colour, but I also don't want to settle on a Cat 1/2 colour that really doesn't match. The picture at the top of this post is a comparison of Maple Orna, White Storm, and Essastone New Crystal Salt. As you can see, White Storm (and even Maple Orna) are whiter, but in terms of 'grainyness', White Storm is much more refined. Thoughts/opinions? I agree the White Storm is the closest colour to new crystal salt. But I did hold it against the Polar White kitchen at WOS and it threw a very, very slight orange colour. We are going for a black and White kitchen though. The New Crystal Salt had the fine grains but no Browns or orange speckles at all. The Blanc Maple is a good match in colour but the large/huge flecks are so different to the New Crystal Salt. Maybe the Blanc Zeus is the only way to get white without stony brown or orange undertones the fine grain Silestone tends to throw. What to do!!!! Re: Porter Davis homes 12548Apr 25, 2016 11:46 am Just had brunch with both sets of parents and they all loved the Matrix... they don't know what I'm worried about apparently . So I think I need to take a chill pill lol Building a Porter Davis Livingstone 23 in Mayfield, Cranbourne East | Our thread 18/05/15 - Contract Signed 24/12/15 - Land Settlement 30/1/16 - Slab poured 9/06/16 - Handover Porter Davis homes 12549Apr 25, 2016 5:07 pm Have spent the last three days convincing myself it would be OK and it was beginning to work until we went to a friend's housewarming today. On the right is their bathroom bench (which had been done by a previous owner, nothing against them) which is either Blanco Matrix or something almost identical. I hate hate HATE the speckly look and we've poured too much into this kitchen to have it ruined by this. I'm heartbroken and in tears. Some might say "it's not that different" but to me it's a totally different look from the clean, fresh & modern kitchen & bathrooms we've been envisaging for over a year. I don't want massive speckles all through our benches!!!! To me that's more a "Classic" look than the Contemporary a Scandi interior we are aiming for. What a freaking mess I just want my gorgeous benches back in play and feel shattered Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Building a Porter Davis Livingstone 23 in Mayfield, Cranbourne East | Our thread 18/05/15 - Contract Signed 24/12/15 - Land Settlement 30/1/16 - Slab poured 9/06/16 - Handover Re: Porter Davis homes 12550Apr 25, 2016 5:30 pm Can't believe it but count me in as one of the group wishing we could change to white storm. It's the only option I can see that avoids the flecks. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Building a Porter Davis Livingstone 23 in Mayfield, Cranbourne East | Our thread 18/05/15 - Contract Signed 24/12/15 - Land Settlement 30/1/16 - Slab poured 9/06/16 - Handover Re: Porter Davis homes 12551Apr 25, 2016 5:44 pm I do agree with you as your kitchen island bench you want it to be a main feature of your kitchen and living since it's the most time being spent in. We previously upgraded ours anyway for our island bench. But our crystal salt was only going in the bathrooms which we didn't really care too much about. My husband actually liked the matrix but I hated it with those large flecks so I won and we went with the Norte we even went outside of WOS to look in the natural light and there was no pink undertone. For me anything was better than large brown flecks (which for us we don't have anything brown in the house) for us it was only cat 2 and for the bathrooms so Norte it was. I really feel for you hope something works out really do Ashgrove 33, Porter Davis Contract: 09/09/15 Site start: 03/02/16 Slab: 22/02/16 Frame: 04/03/16 Lock-up: 02/05/16 Fixing: 19/05/16 Completion: Underway http://ashgrove33.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Porter Davis homes 12552Apr 25, 2016 5:48 pm corygee Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Yesterday we went to WOS to reselect our stone benchtop colour. Fair to say it didn't go well and they kicked us out at 5pm without having made a decision. Originally we'd chosen the Cat 2 colour, New Crystal Salt. At the time, it was the lightest we could afford that didn't have any discoloured 'flecks'. We are building a rather monochromatic home with dark tiles, dark flooring, soft grey wall paint, so when it came to the kitchen we wanted something really light/white but still within our budget. I'm really disappointed by the alternatives - most of which have large brown or blue flecks. The closest, in terms of how 'grainy' it is, is the Norte, but the pink undertone just won't work with the rest of our kitchen. Upon hearing those who originally selected a Cat 1 colour were being given a free upgrade to Cat 2, I should expect the offer to be extended to us. There is a nice Cat 3 colour, 'White Storm' which is far whiter than our original colour, but equally as 'grainy' with maybe a subtle grey/blue undertone. This would work much nicer in our kitchen. The consultant at PD said 'all you can do is ask' but I am already hearing PD saying NO. I'm really torn. I don't want to have to spend more $$$ on a similar benchtop colour, but I also don't want to settle on a Cat 1/2 colour that really doesn't match. The picture at the top of this post is a comparison of Maple Orna, White Storm, and Essastone New Crystal Salt. As you can see, White Storm (and even Maple Orna) are whiter, but in terms of 'grainyness', White Storm is much more refined. Thoughts/opinions? We have the same colour scheme for the house in terms of dark flooring etc our kitchen island bench was CAT 3 French black essastone and the rest of the kitchen CAT 2 New Crystal Chalk we ending up replacing kitchen island bench for blanco rivers and rest of the kitchen gris expo check out our blog we have an modernized industrial theme for our house. Hope it works out for you Ashgrove 33, Porter Davis Contract: 09/09/15 Site start: 03/02/16 Slab: 22/02/16 Frame: 04/03/16 Lock-up: 02/05/16 Fixing: 19/05/16 Completion: Underway http://ashgrove33.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Porter Davis homes 12553Apr 26, 2016 2:48 pm @the woodies and eyag we are in the same boat. I was aiming for the scandi theme selected flooring in rustic nougat. Kitchen cabinets polar white with grey splashback and walls colour dhimba(hint of grey). Crystal chalk was tying all up beautifully and giving the warm glow to the kitchen. I saw this combination at one of their displays and loved it. The stone change now is giving me sleepless nights. I had made my selection in Jan 2015. We looked at almost all displays in Melbourne and made so many visits to WOS before deciding. Now three weeks into fixing stage was looking forward to my dream kitchen and the stone change came as a big blow. My BC did not inform us about 'Norte' being an option but was informed by WOS. Blanco Matrix is a completely different stone and for a different look probably classic or french traditional. 'Norte' though closer to crystal chalk in pattern, has got different colour undertones and would change everything . Even I liked maple as it has similar undertones as crystal chalk but it is not offered to us. i even checked with kitchen culture people if I can change the cabinet colours to go with the new stone but it seems they have placed order for the cabinets and so its not possible. so I just have to accept either blanco matrix or Norte whether i like it or not . or pay a few more thousand which unfortunately I have cant. I thought If i can make changes to cabinet I would strip silk finish and pay for stone upgrade but its not an option. Re: Porter Davis homes 12554Apr 26, 2016 3:16 pm Hkhanum @the woodies and eyag we are in the same boat. I was aiming for the scandi theme selected flooring in rustic nougat. Kitchen cabinets polar white with grey splashback and walls colour dhimba(hint of grey). Crystal chalk was tying all up beautifully and giving the warm glow to the kitchen. I saw this combination at one of their displays and loved it. The stone change now is giving me sleepless nights. I had made my selection in Jan 2015. We looked at almost all displays in Melbourne and made so many visits to WOS before deciding. Now three weeks into fixing stage was looking forward to my dream kitchen and the stone change came as a big blow. My BC did not inform us about 'Norte' being an option but was informed by WOS. Blanco Matrix is a completely different stone and for a different look probably classic or french traditional. 'Norte' though closer to crystal chalk in pattern, has got different colour undertones and would change everything . Even I liked maple as it has similar undertones as crystal chalk but it is not offered to us. i even checked with kitchen culture people if I can change the cabinet colours to go with the new stone but it seems they have placed order for the cabinets and so its not possible. so I just have to accept either blanco matrix or Norte whether i like it or not . or pay a few more thousand which unfortunately I have cant. I thought If i can make changes to cabinet I would strip silk finish and pay for stone upgrade but its not an option. I hope your choosing process isn't too much stressful. Ashgrove 33, Porter Davis Contract: 09/09/15 Site start: 03/02/16 Slab: 22/02/16 Frame: 04/03/16 Lock-up: 02/05/16 Fixing: 19/05/16 Completion: Underway http://ashgrove33.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Porter Davis homes 12555Apr 26, 2016 3:39 pm Hkhanum Blanco Matrix is a completely different stone and for a different look probably classic or french traditional. That's exactly what I said to our BC today, we opted for contemporary/scandi which is not classic or resort or designer, and they are not providing us the option of a contemporary look - so what's the point of their "worlds of style". I don't like being shoehorned into only having one option to select from which is totally different to our original pic and I don't think I/we are being unreasonable in that request. I swear PD are being stupidly oblivious to the amount of upset and bad blood this is causing. Your reasons for selecting crystal chalk were identical to ours and it's just such a shame On the up side, our driveway was done today and the garage door, floors & carpet have gone in since we were there last (only fail is the three posts at the front should be dark, they've switched the portico & alfresco colours) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Building a Porter Davis Livingstone 23 in Mayfield, Cranbourne East | Our thread 18/05/15 - Contract Signed 24/12/15 - Land Settlement 30/1/16 - Slab poured 9/06/16 - Handover Re: Porter Davis homes 12556Apr 26, 2016 3:45 pm thewoodies Hkhanum Blanco Matrix is a completely different stone and for a different look probably classic or french traditional. That's exactly what I said to our BC today, we opted for contemporary/scandi which is not classic or resort or designer, and they are not providing us the option of a contemporary look - so what's the point of their "worlds of style". I don't like being shoehorned into only having one option to select from which is totally different to our original pic and I don't think I/we are being unreasonable in that request. I swear PD are being stupidly oblivious to the amount of upset and bad blood this is causing. Your reasons for selecting crystal chalk were identical to ours and it's just such a shame On the up side, our driveway was done today and the garage door, floors & carpet have gone in since we were there last (only fail is the three posts at the front should be dark, they've switched the portico & alfresco colours) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Wow how exciting!! Floors looks amazing! Love the colour of the concrete we are still tossing up between coloured and exposed. What colour concrete is that one called? And how far out from hand over were you allowed to do the concrete? Ashgrove 33, Porter Davis Contract: 09/09/15 Site start: 03/02/16 Slab: 22/02/16 Frame: 04/03/16 Lock-up: 02/05/16 Fixing: 19/05/16 Completion: Underway http://ashgrove33.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Porter Davis homes 12557Apr 26, 2016 3:47 pm thewoodies Hkhanum Blanco Matrix is a completely different stone and for a different look probably classic or french traditional. That's exactly what I said to our BC today, we opted for contemporary/scandi which is not classic or resort or designer, and they are not providing us the option of a contemporary look - so what's the point of their "worlds of style". I don't like being shoehorned into only having one option to select from which is totally different to our original pic and I don't think I/we are being unreasonable in that request. I swear PD are being stupidly oblivious to the amount of upset and bad blood this is causing. Your reasons for selecting crystal chalk were identical to ours and it's just such a shame On the up side, our driveway was done today and the garage door, floors & carpet have gone in since we were there last (only fail is the three posts at the front should be dark, they've switched the portico & alfresco colours) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Ohhh and how did you go with the kitchen cupboards? Are they fixed yet Ashgrove 33, Porter Davis Contract: 09/09/15 Site start: 03/02/16 Slab: 22/02/16 Frame: 04/03/16 Lock-up: 02/05/16 Fixing: 19/05/16 Completion: Underway http://ashgrove33.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Porter Davis homes 12558Apr 26, 2016 4:37 pm I hope your choosing process isn't too much stressful.[/quote] hmm.. now there is nothing much i can do anyways. So just did as much damage control as i could and selected 'Norte'. Now a few days and we get see how it looks. But it does hurt because even after spending so much money things are not according to our liking. I liked a few stones in Cat3 and feel that if we went with one of them for atleast the kitchen island it would look good would have appriciated if PD would have quoted us atleast the difference from 'Norte' (cat2) to cat 3. But thats not how it works. We called the BC but it went to voice mail we left a messgae that we want to speak to her asap. Been a week didnt hear from her. Also since PD came up with stone change so late into the build its not our fault and if we cant get the stone we want atleast we should be given option to upgrade stone and save money elsewhere by changing cabinetry finish etc. Re: Porter Davis homes 12559Apr 26, 2016 4:41 pm thewoodies Hkhanum Blanco Matrix is a completely different stone and for a different look probably classic or french traditional. That's exactly what I said to our BC today, we opted for contemporary/scandi which is not classic or resort or designer, and they are not providing us the option of a contemporary look - so what's the point of their "worlds of style". I don't like being shoehorned into only having one option to select from which is totally different to our original pic and I don't think I/we are being unreasonable in that request. I swear PD are being stupidly oblivious to the amount of upset and bad blood this is causing. Your reasons for selecting crystal chalk were identical to ours and it's just such a shame On the up side, our driveway was done today and the garage door, floors & carpet have gone in since we were there last (only fail is the three posts at the front should be dark, they've switched the portico & alfresco colours) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Hope PD fixes the errors soon. your floors look good. are they rustic grey? Also is your cabinetry Polar white? what splashback have you chosen? Porter Davis homes 12560Apr 26, 2016 6:12 pm Hkhanum Hope PD fixes the errors soon. your floors look good. are they rustic grey? Also is your cabinetry Polar white? what splashback have you chosen? Thanks. Floors are Rustic Nougat, Cabinetry is Polar White and we're having white subway tiles as the splashback Oh and as soon as we saw the alfresco painted in monument we had an inkling they'd switched the alfresco & portico colours... we actually like the dark colour in the alfresco so it may have been a blessing in disguise Building a Porter Davis Livingstone 23 in Mayfield, Cranbourne East | Our thread 18/05/15 - Contract Signed 24/12/15 - Land Settlement 30/1/16 - Slab poured 9/06/16 - Handover Three options 1 Ask the liquidator 2 Find another PD customer and ask the source of their report 3 Pay for new report 3 14031 I would never build with Fowler homes. I built with them in 2021 and till date maintenance issues are pending. All their existing trades and businesses don't work with… 14 109681 Hi there! Putting the feelers out there for those who have (or almost) built with Arli homes! Interested in your experiences who've built from their stock home designs… 0 26677 |