Porter Davis homes

Hi tstr1a,

Yep, this is what I thought when I read my contract. Its vague & open enough to be confusing.....

My personal view is that a stage cannot really be classed as complete if the work carried out is not completed to Australian Standards, which should be the yardstick to measure this.

Would be interested to understand the legalities of this clause and how its meant to protect the client.

Afterall, taking it to a silly extreme for one minute, what stops any rogue builder just ignoring all building standards and just completing each stage as roughly as possible and being able to legally claim each payment un-challenged up to final payment !!??!!

Sorry I forgot to add that second photo of our bricks. Here they are in a bit better light, although they look kinda red in this photo for some reason. They're a lot browner in person lol

Hi Twiggy,

The bricks look great. Question: Is your mortar ironed or raked. We had "off white" raked originally but I emailed my administrator last night to change it to ironed. Flushed looked really good on the photo of the Buckwheat at Austral Thomastown (though PD don't recommend it) but driving around and looking at the flushed mortar alot of the homes were inconsistent. Some sections had thicker mortar than others and looked really messy. It looked like kids had done the brick work which was very disappointing to see. If I knew it was going to look like the display at Austral we would have gone flush but we don't want to take that risk so we stuck to ironed. I have found with alot of the new homes the brickies take no pride in their work anymore unless you are owner builder. My current home is 15 yrs old and the brick work was done perfect and consistent throughout. I've even seen uneven mortar in the raked and ironed of new homes also, but they wouldn't be as noticable as flush. The standards and quality have dropped so much. A bit disappointing that even the architraves are done in MDF. What happened to timber architraves. Again my 15 y-o home has timber.

I'm pretty sure that ours are natural raked, but i'd have to double check my contract when I get home.

We were pretty happy with our brickies. Looked like they only had the one young fella working with them and he was lugging bricks and other heavy things around everytime we drove past lol. Make him earn it!

Huh?

Can anyone that has signed their contract and has used a private inspectors made any reference (of using them) in their contract. We are signing our contract tomorrow...can you please offer us tips (from your experience) on things we must pay more attention or things to watch out.

Hi J&C,
We are using them but did not put it in our contract.

The other thing to think about is the $250 per week compensation they offer you for being late on delivery will not cover your costs. We didn't realise this before contract and doubt PD would even agree to raising it.

Hi J & C,

I don't know if you have to make any reference in your contract, I wouldn't think so. We weren't told we had to. Just ask the question when you go in. But my work colleague had her 12 month maintenance last week with PD and when she has used an independent inspector it was only the inspector and the site supervisor that were allowed to go and look. She was not allowed to be apart of the inspection. If she wanted to go to inspect the house herself then the independent inspector was not allowed to go with her and the site supervisor. I don't know why this was the case. I would ask the question but via email not verbally in case your administrator replies saying all of you can go at the same time you have proof of it on email, should it back fire when the time comes.

Sorry I couldn't have been of more help.

Hi Roshi,

Thanks for your post. Am sorry to hear you are having problems, but also glad I'm not the only one facing this issue. We have had one major problem after another and this is the latest instalment.

Yes, we were given 2 or 3 days to get a pre-plaster inspection happening and we were lucky that NHI had a cancellation and could do so at short notice. The main difference between your situation and mine is that my previous SS has expressly said that he will be rectifying all defects and make sure we are satisfied before plastering. I had also told him on the phone, and 3 times by email, that we will be having a re-inspection done. Then, there was a change in SS and the plaster went ahead before the rectifications were done (much less checked).

We have the same defect on the heating unit in the roof as the one you posted. THe new SS said that he will need to check that. I will get back to you on what he says and try to get a copy of that report too (and forward to you if I get it).

Just curious, when is the lock-up inspection done by BSS? Is this after or before the plaster has gone up?

JPZ

[quote="Roshi"]Hi JPZ,

I had to face to the same situation couple of months back after carrying out the Pre-Plaster Inspection.

I have been asking from my supervisor for weeks for a date to fix the Pre-plaster inspection & I have advised him to inform me at leasat 5 days in advance.

But on a Tuesday evening suddently I got a call & said you can fix the pre-plaster inspection either on Thursday or Friday & the following week we will be plastering the walls.

It was very hard to fix the appointment with the inspector due to his busy schedule & luckily NHI accepted my request & was able to carry it out on Thursday.

The inspector gave me a list of defects mainly in the roof trusses, studs & the wall insulation. I informed my supervisor to let me know once the defects has been addressed,
so we would be able to come & inspect it before starting the plaster stage. When we visited the site in about 3 days time, all the internal walls has been plastered and we were helpless.
When we enquired from the supervisor he said the defects has been addressed except for the onces mentioned in the roof. There were 3 defects in the roof & he said those will be fixed
at the fix stage. I rang the Building Commission & they said either I have to talk to the builder with regard to this or have to file a court case. I emailed this to CSC & she said she enquired from SS & the rest has been fixed.
We were reluctant to file a court case for this as it would drag the entire process.

I received my lock up stage tax invoice in March, but I hold the payment for 1 month until the fix stage. I have emailed the Accounts Department, CSC, SS specifying that I will make the payment
once all the defects in the Pre-plaster report has been addressed. As I need the construction to be carried out smoothly, I made the payment of the Lockup stage after completing the fix stage inspection with the SS.
At the end of the fix stage the defects in the roof has not been addressed, therefore I hold the fix stage payment for 1.5 months. My SS finally said all the defects has been addressed in the roof, but we were not quite sure.
We are not in a state to verify the defects in the roof & thought of asking this from the inspector at the PCI.
At the PCI the inspector verified the defects in the roof & said 1 has not been addressed & I have enquired that from my SS.
The SS said that it is not a defect & he had received a document with regard to that matter from XXXXXXX (Sorry I cannot remember the name of the authority). I am awaiting to request for a copy of this letter from my SS.

By the way I will copy & paste the defect here & if you have carried out a pre-plaster inspection with New Home Inspections could you please see whether this is listed in your report.

Defect in the roof:

[IMG=http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/5128/roofg.jpg][/IMG]

Good Luck JPZ...

Hi Rups,

I am lost, what is this $250 about. "The other thing to think about is the $250 per week compensation they offer you for being late on delivery will not cover your costs. We didn't realise this before contract and doubt PD would even agree to raising it."

This is the agreed amount the builder pays the client for late completion of works. Clause 34.1 and 40 of HIA contract.
Please see this newsletter from New Home Inspections for further clarification, under agreed damages.

http://www.newhomeinspections.com.au/fi ... r_no_2.pdf

Thanks for the info Rups. To be honest I have been mentally drained because of this building journey so far to read the HIA contract. I left it to my other half to read it. I will make mention of it.

Hi J & C,

Thanks to Rups, I came across this info for you: Click on link below and scroll down to "Your Rights and Responsibilites". It will answer your question.

http://www.newhomeinspections.com.au/fi ... r_no_1.pdf

Also make sure you check all your roof tiles and make sure non are cracked before handover. Because my colleague who had her maintenance last week found a bubble on her bulk head. This was due to water getting in from a cracked roof tile and PD won't cover to fix it because she was told the roof tile(s) could have broken after hand over on a windy day where it may have lifted and dropped back down causing it to crack as not every tile is cemented down.

Hi eli-kay123,

I agree that this should be checked and thanks for posting it but how would a client actually be able to check roof tiles during PCI or before Handover?

I can't imagine the builder allowing the client to get up onto the roof.

Hi

Does anyone know where I can find a smilar vase or large vases like the one below. I found this in one of Porter Davis display home.





Thanks
Yellow

I would hope that it's standard procedure for the building inspector to be checking this on his/her rounds. If not, I would make a mention that you want the roof checked. I believe it's something that must be checked for peace of mind or pray for heavy rain weeks before handover and this will alert you if there is a broken roof tile(s).

Hi Yellow,

I've read on this forum that Coco Republic is there interior designer. Maybe email them a picture of the vase you like and see what they say. Click on link below.

http://www.cocorepublic.com.au/product/


and Suite Deals sell the ex-display home furniture.

http://www.suitedeals.com.au/

Hi J & C,

To help answer your question regarding Independent Inspectors, this doesn't have to be mentioned in your contract but it would beneficial to let your Building Coordinator (BC) know. We have two great blog topics relating to this (link below). Your BC will be appointed to you after signing, they stay in touch with you during your build and will be your first point of contact to answer any questions or concerns you may have. But, as you've probably discovered, the HomeOne forum is also a great resource for home builders with its wide community of forum members all in different stages of building.

http://blog.porterdavis.com.au/?s=inspector

Please let me know how your signing appointment goes. Cheers, Ebony

Can anyone who has completed PCI and used an independant inspector confirm whether they get up on the roof as part of the inspection?

Thanks in advance....

I hate to be negative, but emailled CR in order to see if they had a desk I was looking for and they didn't even have the courtesy to reply.

As far as SD goes, I was appalled at the prices they charge for what are essentially second hand goods. Example I saw three weeks ago.. Coffee table, $1200 originally.. Marked down to $600.. Oh, but it had huge scratches and grazes... Seriously.. I felt like "telling them they were dreaming"

Would love to hear if anyone has actually got a "sweet deal" there?