Porter Davis homes

Hi all! After two weeks of moving and organising i can finally say we are some what settled. Apart from a few issues with plumping everything so far has been ok. We managed to get all our skirting down ontop of our floors to avoid the ugly quad, a bit of work but so worth the outcome. Heating is keeping the house nice and toasty!!

Heres a photo of our dining. ( i know someone wanted to see our sheers)

Hi Guys,

Our contract appointment is coming up in a couple weeks and I would just like to know if anyone has tried to change or revise any part of the PD standard contract. We're not planning to have it reviewed by a solicitor, not sure if they do any good at all..

Any advise please? Thanks!

Hi Phoenix,

I guess it would depend on what you want to change, I know people who have changed the amount that PD pay them if they go over schedule.

We changed the payment schedule as the PD one was paying them the money at an earlier stage than what the HIA standard says. It probably doesn't make a huge amount of difference (unless PD goes bust!) but we figured we might as well be getting the interest on the money rather than PD. We'd told them about this well in advance of contract but they still ended up doing it as a PCV for some reason.

Porter Davis	HIA
Deposit	5%	5%
Base	20%	10%
Frame	25%	15%
Lock Up	20%	35%
Fixing	20%	25%
Completion	10%	10%
100%	100%

We changed the payment schedule as the PD one was paying them the money at an earlier stage than what the HIA standard says. It probably doesn't make a huge amount of difference (unless PD goes bust!) but we figured we might as well be getting the interest on the money rather than PD. We'd told them about this well in advance of contract but they still ended up doing it as a PCV for some reason.

Porter Davis	HIA
Deposit	5%	5%
Base	20%	10%
Frame	25%	15%
Lock Up	20%	35%
Fixing	20%	25%
Completion	10%	10%
100%	100%

Hi NIkil,


Did PD allow this? Would be great if we can to cover ourselves for any delays as we are renting plus paying the land and home mortgages and interest...

Cheers!

Write reply...
We initially wanted to change to HIA but our lending manager was not too worried, so we left it as is. Our BC had said it was no big deal to change to HIA standard.

We also went with Darbecca and opted for all the inspections except one. Like you, we didn't look elsewhere because of the comments on HomeOne. Two things to note though:

1. since 2017 (2016 was fine), their bookings are getting tighter and it is being felt by the inspectors. One inspector complained to me about his schedule at one of my inspections and even showed me his iPad calendar and complained that the 'girls in the office' don't care and book all the appointments all over melb with insufficient travel time and not enough buffer time to inspect more complicated jobs. I had to console him even...

2. all inspections where I've been on site, from the get go when meeting the inspector, you will be offered a long lecture of why building with volume builders is not wise and that you should pay an extra few hundred grand to get a proper house. He even gave my Site Supervisor the same lecture at a separate meeting and that he shouldn't work for volume builders!! He was outrightly offending him as well. He is so passionate about being an inspector that he fails to understand the client/business relationship. Offending ppl left right and centre. I asked him to explain what one of the blue markers was for and he replies with "if I have to explain every single defect to you we would be here all day and I wouldn't finish". I had to remind him that Darbecca offer clients to be present so assumed we could ask a question or two, not walk through the entire defect list. (He was happy to use 10min of my inspection time to complain to me about his schedule and how the 'girls' aren't doing a good job though!) He then explained the blue marked defect but continued to explain all the defects in the rooms downstairs but I wasn't interested in those. I had to stop him and remind him to get back to it or he'll be really late to his next appointment. I always walk away feeling like total $hit. I no longer chose to be present for our inspections. In 2016 they were not stressed and the meetings were nicer.

So yes, they do offer great inspection REPORTS and my site supervisor always addresses every item, (even though it's caused significant delays/cost) but beware the inspectors are so under the pump that it's impacting their relations with clients and who knows if they have to cut short an inspection because they need to rush off to the next one.

The other recommended inspection company is NewHomes Inspection but I never looked them up. My site supervisor said in his experience, Darbecca and New Homes were the most thorough inspectors.

Just something to think about for those looking for inspectors.

Great Hurrow,

I'll try to do this as well. I wouldn't want to pay more than I need to and increase the amortisation unnecessarily or I can keep my money in the offset acct and reduce my interest payments Thanks Hurrow!

Hi all! After two weeks of moving and organising i can finally say we are some what settled. Apart from a few issues with plumping everything so far has been ok. We managed to get all our skirting down ontop of our floors to avoid the ugly quad, a bit of work but so worth the outcome. Heating is keeping the house nice and toasty!!

Heres a photo of our dining. ( i know someone wanted to see our sheers)

Yes they did allow it. They changed it from $250 a week to $450 a week to cover their rent. Be aware though, If there is a delay caused by you then you have to pay PD the same agreed amount.

Hi NIkil,


Did PD allow this? Would be great if we can to cover ourselves for any delays as we are renting plus paying the land and home mortgages and interest...

Cheers!

Write reply...
That looks absolutely stunning. I'm thinking of floor to ceiling sheers too. Just worried how it will be during winter though? Can I ask what flooring do you have?

Write reply...
That looks absolutely stunning. I'm thinking of floor to ceiling sheers too. Just worried how it will be during winter though? Can I ask what flooring do you have?

You can also see in this pic the rollers im referring too behind the sheers.
Oh and a little part of our kitchen, excuse the bad quailty of the photo

I like the white on white colour scheme for your kitchen, my wife and I were thinking about doing the same but weren't sure how it would look and ended up going with a brownish/gray benchtop instead. You didn't want overhead cabinets I take it?

You can also see in this pic the rollers im referring too behind the sheers.
Oh and a little part of our kitchen, excuse the bad quailty of the photo