Porter Davis homes

Our first real hiccup had to happen on a public holiday. Went to the site last night and found that there is a brick issue. The bricks should be all one colour and on the side of the house all of the sudden they are all over the shop - light and dark and not really in any pattern at all. EEK!

Does anyone have any experience with brick issues. These are Austral bricks. Our SS is awesome if not a little sick of me asking for things to move more quickly so we will get to speak with him tomorrow with hope. But this is pretty major to us. What do you think? Check out the pics:

http://fromthegroundupbuild.blogspot.co ... issue.html

Hello everyone,

I am just wondering if anyone can help me ascertain if all electrical-related things (including exhaust fans) are followed according to the ELECTRICAL PLANS, if there's some discrepancy with the Construction Plans?

Looking through the Construction Plans, we realised that even though they noted exhaust fans in the powder room and main bathroom, there was no indication that we added an exhaust fan in the laundry. The exhaust fan in the Master Ensuite is indicated above the toilet, not the shower (uhmm..... am I the only one who thinks this is bizarre?). The electrical plans indicate all the exhaust fans accurately.

A notation in the Construction Plans (Sheet 7 of 13) states, “Location of all electrical & service points are approximate only, and are subject to position of structural members on plan”.

Does this also mean the exhaust fans?

We have tried to clarify this with our Building Coordinator and her manager, but their response has been to discourage us from seeking clarification about the discrepancy between in the construction and electrical plans and instead to simply sign and return the Final, incorrect construction plans. We have also been informed that if we do not do this, we will be penalised with a delayed start date.

This has been extremely frustrating, and so far an extremely unpleasant experience.

I've sent TeamPD a PM about specific details of this issue, and forwarded this to info@porterdavis.com.au. Will keep everyone up to date about what happens.

Thanks for the info Humble.

To be honest I think it looks fine (maybe my colors are out on my end) I know from experience of building that you will always get brick variations even from the same batch, it depends on how each brick absorbs moisture, I have this too with my own home some of it at the front of the house on the garage. We are building the same house

Anyone on here know anything about tiling? Our house is near completion, they just did the caulking on the the floor tiles but the caulking does not match the grout it matches the tile, isnt it meant to match the grout? ( my tiles are dark and grout is light grey) ( our BC said she will look into it)

So far our experience with PD have been wonderful, our BC is a little gem, any issue and she straight onto it and always happy to put us at ease.
Can't wait to move into our home next month

The caulking colour should be simular/identical to the grout colour

Thanks tstr1

Well I dropped by the house, I feel like a dunce. The grout had so
Much dust that it made it look lighter than it really is I wiped a small area and it looks like its a close enough match. That's what u get for making judgements by looking through a dirty window. (doh moment)

hey guys. good news serenity now, its nice when things fall into place. well ours was not a doh moment, there is definitely a fairly major brick issue as when i reported my awesome ss who is generally onto things already knew about it; our brickie is very experienced and reported a brick difference. thanks goodness i can really talk to my ss at least we dont feel like we have to get mad we can just have some good communication and see how things work out. poor ss i was almost crying it was just one of those days [im not really the crying on the phone to strangers type iykwim! at least the front of the house looks great and we will see about what we can do about the rest.. trying not to stress, will let you all know how it pans out.

When we had our electrical, we actually specified where we wanted everything in the appointment. They never prompted us to do this, we just did it. The electricians will centre everything as best they can to rooms as specified in the electrical drawings. The electricians would have to put fans etc. in the room that has been decided upon in your electrical appointment otherwise they are not following the contract. How are they to know it wasn't meant to be there? Exhaust fans they have difficulties centring to rooms due to the roof trusses, so they are placed between.

We had a couple of lights that it was important to us to have them in exact positions, so we paid about $100 to have the exact location measured on our drawings.

The electrical plans are what will be followed, the construction plans just show what is included in the base price of the house. You can move them wherever you want during your electrical appointment.

I would put it in writing to you BC asap. Also any changes to electrical go back through Argus as they are the subcontractors for the work (via your BC, not SS in our experience). Also that is why the Argus subcontractors use the Argus drawings not the PD ones, so I wouldn't worry about what is on the PD drawings.

It must be catching as we just went past the house to find that they've delivered the original brick we chose that we were told was discontinued not the brick that we had changed to as per a post contract variation.

Texted SS and apologised for the Saturday intrusion but as brickies are due to start Monday had no choice. We've agreed to go with the original brick as he's assured me that they'll definitely have enough bricks but boy am I annoyed with my BC. I understand that she was only following what she's been told (that the bricks are discontinued) but I spent a few days of our holiday having to choose new bricks, go straight from the Airport to Hopetoun to confirm colours for external would match the new brick and all had to be done that weekend for PD so they could site start. So glad we went to all that trouble for them! Have also queried if that BV hasn't been followed have all our other ones been ordered correctly????

I know there's bigger issues but it just drives me bonkers that I had to find out from a site visit rather than a phone call etc.

Oh and Big Build glad to hear that your SS is on it. Hope for your sake that they fix it to your satisfaction.

Thanks Rups. We did think that the Argus electrical plans will be followed but just wanted to confirm that with our BC. The problem is that in our Construction Plans it indicates our exhaust fan is above the toilet in the ensuite, instead of above the shower, as indicated by the Electrical plans. We just wanted to clarify this with our BC but her manager ended telling us that the Construction Plans will be followed regardless of the electrical plans. Then she pretty much indicated 'too bad, too late' for us because we "already signed the plans".

The Access range GM has sent us an email saying that he will follow up with the BC and manager on
Monday so fingers crossed that all will be resolved!



Nasi_goreng

Hey Nasi,

If the little green icon for a fan that argus do is above your shower, then that is how it will be.

With regards to your BC, it is never too late !!!

Hi Nasi.. If you have something that must be changed then keep pushing for it! I am building Access too and they are more strict about changes than the other PD brands but if it's important don't give in, they can make changes they just don't like more work

As of Wednesday we are at lock up (without door locks and handles)and on Saturday saw the guys do the plaster on the ceiling and walls and should be finished on Monday.

Great news SJ31 - your build is going really quick...

I have just posted an update on my blog, ours has been slow the last week while we await the scaffolding tomorrow.
In the meantime I have drawn up a rough landscaping plan for after handover.

Quick question to this forum - anyone contracted someone to do sleeper retaining walls. Need to get an idea of costs.

Looks great Alpal! Your brickies will be back to work on the 2nd storey in no time! Your facade looks absolutely amazing!

We are thinking crushed rocks on both sides of our house too, but grass will on one side of the front yard (corner side of the block) as the driveway sits on our property line on the other. Our patio is on the side so we are thinking decking right outside the patio but will be looking at eco decking which is made up of recycled plastic and wood so you never have to sand it and re coat it.Probably more expensive but alot cheaper in the long run. We will also be doing the work ourselves probably next summer.lol

SJ31 - Sounds like you have quite a bit of work ahead of you as well.
I would have loved to do concrete or paving down the sides but that would have costed a fortune - might have to wait a couple of years before doing that.
Thats a great idea about using the eco deck - is it much more expensive then normal decking wood?
Might have to look seriously into this as I am dreading having to restain decking every 6-12 months.

Hi Sammyjane31,

Your build is moving quick, that’s exciting news. I’m looking forward to seeing some new pictures. Cheers, Ebony

SCAFFOLDING is now up.. I know its not really a highlight but my site has been sitting over a week waiting for this... Should see some good progress now...

To save everyone going through the thousands of forums and blogs, I propose everyone provides a 2 line update on their jobs on Sunday or Mondays....

Whats everyones thoughts on this? Just an idea...

Sounds good!
Our frame is complete I think.. Roof is on looks done, guess I'll know when we get an invoice!