Porter Davis homes

Hi fellow builders

Does PD install cabinets before waterproofing? Our cabinets for all the wet areas are installed and fixed, but waterproofing is not done yet. We're building a Lifestyle range home (Somerville).

Are they definitely still working there? We've had three BC's of which one left but the handovers have all been pretty smooth, I would guess that it doesn't always go that way though.

On the Product Review page they give the below contact details.

Call Denise on 1300 799 105, or email your build/contact details through to tellus@porterdavis.com.au so we can get in touch to discuss this further. Thank you, Porter Davis

Yes she is, because I receive an auto generated email that she’s currently busy. She used to be very responsive, then it changed after contract signing

Hi All,

Has anyone requested floating vanities?

We asked for this and I got the pricing back yesterday and I'm pretty shocked at what they are asking:

1. Powder room - $512
2. Ensuite 2 - $683
3. Ensuite 3 - $683
4. Ensuite 4 - $683
5. Master ensuite - $1246

Seeing as they would no longer require the support box underneath, I was expecting a small credit back for that item. I thought at most there might be $100 charge per cabinet for additional noggins/studs and fixings, but these prices above seem very high.

Am I missing something, or is this the cost to go floating?

Our waterproofing was done before cabinets. See here >> https://waldorfgrangebuild.wordpress.co ... rproofing/

I believe in kitchen culture they give the total price without deducting credit. .Ask how much credit back given you already have the vanity there...the Last year when we were doing reno for our bathroom, we got a floating vanity (non-polyurethane) laminate riven finish, with 2 x900mm drawer, ceaserstone, undermount basin for 500$... Labor cost extra though...

Nope, no credit and our document actually says that price in is lieu of standard.

We had our PCI yesterday and noticed the nail pins in the skirting around our windows is visible, anyone else have this issue where skirting is not smooth. Our SS fought with us on this and said this is standard and they would not fix it. We are going to go back to the display to check their work.

Sadly not suprising, this tells me that accepting poor quality workmanship is okay. Reality is, the "supervisors" have limited knowledge outside of their field (usually carpentry) and a substantial amount have a knowledge deficit, when it comes to interpreting and applying standards and the BCA. They however, are overworked and no doubt have to deal with mediocre trades, especially in a building peak such as the one being experienced in Melbourne currently. Built to a budget doesn't excuse laziness or incompetency.

Word of mouth is a powerful thing and people should inform others.

I believe this is a defect. Check out the VBA guide to standards and tolerances. I'm sure it says in there somewhere that nail pops in sheeting visible from a normal viewing position are a defect, as are visible joins in skirting and architraves. Not sure if there is anything specific about nail pops in skirts but I know our builder doesn't accept them, we have quite a few that need sanding but he was complaining about another job where every single fixing was visible.

so do we! and our friend who is a carpenter also came to our PCI and try to fight this with our SS, but it literally turned into a screaming match and i SS would not budge... i just need to find out more information before i send him a nasty email.

As 'bank' referred to:
From the VBA guide - Fixings or unfilled depressions caused by fixings are defective in painted or stained surfaces if they can be seen from a normal viewing position.

Great, thanks for your help, will go to the house tonight and have another look.

Inside beginning to look like a (dirty) house. Cant imagine all these plastering work done in a single day.

SS have their way of intimidating clients. I wish they can realise how much of an investment we are putting on building these houses. I guess it’s hard to do that when you are way too busy, but at least they should be polite. Our SS is quite brash and talks offensively even about our private Inspector He even told us once, ‘it’s easy for you to take these inspections seriously because you don’t have any knowledge in building’. We had a great SS when we built our first home with PD, he’s always polite and addresses our concerns. I wish it’s easy to change SS.

Looks great!! Can’t wait to see walls in our house.

Our build has been flying the last few weeks, really happy with how it is progressing. I love going every evening to see what’s happened each day. Plaster will be going on next week. Shower bases went in this week too.

Only issue we have had so far is the washing machine taps in the laundry were on the wall above the bench. We asked for them to be under the bench because we didn’t want them visible. It turned out that on the plans we signed they were in fact on the wall above the bench... I thought it would be a big problem as our BC is not helpful at all. Thankfully she was on leave and the BC I spoke to said it was no problem. I had already spoken to our SS and he said the plumber said it was no problem it would take 2 minutes to move them, but the SS said he had to get the ok from the BC.

Scaffolding down ... On to the home Straight now woohoo

Very exciting! Looks great so far. Have you got a date for handover?

Was nicely surprised to see someone working on our house today, they don’t usually work Sunday. He was doing the insulation, said he would be finished it today so I’m guessing the plaster will go up this week.