Before you read through our thread I'd like to warn everyone who is thinking of having polished porcelain tiles to check the packaging to ensure you have first quality tiles......

In May 2012 we wrote to our builder after moving in and discovering that our 600 x 600 polished porcelain floor tiles have “optical haze” which gives a cloudy/dirty appearance to the tiles resulting in an unacceptable floor surface. It's difficult to photograph but I think you will see the problem here ...

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The tile supplier arranged to send a couple of representatives from the Australian Tile Council to inspect the tiles (approx 80 square metres). Their report concluded “that the tiles as inspected are suitable for the purpose and have been particularly well installed. Also the report advised that “optical hazing” is inherent in polished porcelain tiles and is exaggerated under down lights. In the Inspectors opinion and in the Industry generally this effect is not regarded as a defect”.

In the meantime, we had been in contact with another representative from the Australian Tile Council who advised that the tiles are NOT 1st quality product as the packaging does not have:

a manufacturer's name or trade mark,
a work size,
the country of origin,
whether they are glazed or unglazed,
rectified or whether they are modular or non modular,
the mark of 1st quality,
or the type of tile and reference to the conforming Standard.

According to our expert the problem is a manufacturing defect where defect tiles have been culled out of the general production stream and packed together into cartons and pallets and sold off at a lower cost than 1st quality products. This is virtually the only way that cartons (and pallets) have every tile that has the same or very similar concern. That's also why the carton marking does not comply with the requirements for 1st quality whereas the production stream will go through selection and be packed into cartons adequately marked with all requirements.

He also advised that generally these defective tiles originate from China – there is little evidence of affected tiles coming from Europe.

As the builder and tile supplier have denied there is a fault as far as they are concerned, we have written to the ACCC and Business and Consumer Services. We told them that:-

Optical Hazing was NOT explained to us at the time of selection. (If it was we probably wouldn’t have spent so much money on faulty tiles.)

The Australian Tile Standards clearly state under ISO 10545-2-7 Specks or Spots: any unintentional visually contrasting areas are classed as a “defect”. (In our case every tile is defective.)

The indisputable fact that the tile/carton marking does not comply with the mandatory requirements of Standard first quality, proves that the tiles were not first quality product.

Now back to the beginning of our build ....

After learning so much from reading everyone else's building threads it's time for me to take the plunge and hopefully share experiences that will benefit others. We had been living in Old Noarlunga for almost 17 years when all of a sudden last May my hubby decides it's time to move - which was fine with me. Although we loved living there and had done all the renovations there were little things that were starting to irk us so after looking at the quality of houses that were for sale in our price range we decided to build. Finding land was really hard and we never thought we would be living at Aldinga but when we saw the Sunday Estate we loved it. So we sold our house and are currently renting not far from the block. We were looking for a change of lifestyle and we have found it. I am now walking on the weekends - it's a 10 minute walk to the block and then only another 10 minutes to the esplanade. We looked at a whole range of house designs from Scott Salisbury to Sterling Homes and always finished up at Dechellis. We started the process in June and have our selections appointment next week and the slab is booked in for the 18th February all being well. You probably won't hear from me for a while until the house starts to take shape. I have uploaded a picture of the display home but can't add the plan as it's in PDF format. We didn't change anything apart from having a double panel lift door to the garage and adding loads of power points. I wanted to also say that I have enjoyed Deemaree's thread and her "green" obsession - I have never known anyone so passionate about anything

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Hooray here you are

Looking forward to seeing some photos of your selections

PS Try pasting the IMG code from your photobucket picture to make it appear in the thread as a pic rather than a link

Hi Evelyn, I'd better take some photos of them then! Here are some of the colours we have chosen in the meantime:-
Colorbond roof and gutters - Jasper
Barges, Downpipes, Eaves, Render and Garage Door - Merino
Caffe Latte bricks
Meranti windows at the front and Merino aluminium to the rest

I tried pasting the image as you said but not sure it worked

Hi McLaren ... welcome to the Dechellis club ... we have just finished building with Dechellis. We built the Entertainer (with a few changes) at Walkley Heights. We have had a very easy build, compared to some people on here and have been thrilled with the extra touch that Dechellis give their homes. Hope your build goes as well as ours. Our thread is called The Entertainer by Dechellis. Hope your selections meeting goes well - we had Emma for ours and found her to be very easy to work with and very nice.

Welcome Mclaren, I'm a fan of Dechellis although we've built with Rossdale. Most people who've built with Dechellis seem to be very happy.

The Sunday Estate is beautiful and we almost bought a block there but ended up at The Point at Noarlunga Downs (near your old home).

I hope things go well for you and look forward to your progress.

Hi Entertainer - yes I've been following your thread and all the other Dechellis club members and it's given us a lot of comfort to read so many good stories. You are right there are some shockers on here! We were lucky enough to have Emma for our selections meeting today and it went fairly smoothly with not too many surprises. We had to pay extra for insulation as the house must now be 6 star energy efficient, which is not a bad thing. Changes to the kitchen/joinery and electrics were the main extras and I got my Entertainer door!! I really wanted a stacker door but that was going to be an extra $3000 whereas it will only cost about $1,200 for the Entertainer and it will look pretty spiffy. So I came home this afternoon and updated my spreadsheet so we have a new total cost. Looking forward to getting slab down and moving forward at last! Thanks for your welcome.

Hi Robin Red, thanks for the welcome. I've been reading your thread and following your progress - not much longer to go for you now it seems. We also liked Rossdale but it was the layout and quality of the McLaren that we really fell in love with so we went with Dechellis. Good luck for your final bits and pieces!

Welcome. Congratulations on doing your colour selections. Not much longer until you start. I'll look forward to watching your progress.

Hi there from me too!!! Great to see your thread and I too look forward to seeing how it goes.
We looked at Dechellis and got a quote, ended up signing with Rendition, then the stuffed up with the 6 star energy stuff so we are now building with a local builder in the Barossa.

We are due to have our slab poured next month too.....assuming that we get council and bank approvals by then!!!

If we hadn't signed with Rossdale we would have jumped ship to Dechellis. We are thrilled with our home but also know that everyone I know who have built with Dechellis are really happy. They do beautiful homes and they don't all cost the earth.

I'd always recommend them to anyone in the market.

Many thanks for the welcome - been watching your progress over the last few months. I just have to work out how to get a thread going and to upload photos properly - just like every other newcomer!

Hi Rebecca - I saw your thread and read about your anguish with the 6 star rating! We were lucky we only had to upgrade some insulation but if I remember you had to get double glazed windows etc etc. Glad you are making progress - let's hopefully both now enjoy the journey!

Cheers to that McLaren. fingers crossed....

Got a nice surprise when I got home yesterday (not!!) We received a water bill for $243.20 and we haven't even started building yet! We've owned the land since June and this is the first bill we have received. Has anyone else had this happen - I'm going to phone SA Water and ask for an explanation - guess who's going to win the argument though! Just venting as it's good to share!

Welcome to HomeOne I wouldnt be happy about a bill when building hasnt even started

Hi Jessie, Thanks for the welcome - I have been watching your build and you have done a fabulous job. I rang SA Water and we have to pay the bill - whether you are connected to the sewer or not you've gotta pay -don't you love em?? Oh well hope there are no more surprises but I'm sure there will be after what I've read on this site. It's been a great resource reading through everyone else's good and bad bits. I can't wait for the slab now (like lots of people before me I will probably get excited when I see the portaloo ) Annette

I've found your thread again. I've subscribed to it now, so that I don't lose it. I have to live through everyone else's builds and excitement, until I get to build again

Thanks Carlswil and I promise to get my finger out on the weekend and get my thread organised with some more pictures, plans, etc. Hopefully there will be lots of excitement and not too many bad points in our build

I don't have a photo of the McLaren plan but here is a link to the website showing the plan which we haven't changed other than having an Entertainer door from the family room. I will play around with photos on the weekend and get some colour selections up as well.

http://www.dechellishomes.com.au/mclaren.pdf

Love the plan!!! I especially love the retreat off bed 1. Ours has got similar, and it was the first thing that DF and I fell in love with in our display home when we saw it.