Porter Davis homes

Hi Roshi

The Guest Suite is one of the changes that they have to choose from. The front loungeroom near the front door is altered to have a door on the room, BIR added and a small ensuite added. On their plans they have the powder room converted to include a shower. The laundry then runs from the outside wall to the hallway. We have made our own slight change in having a separate powder room from the hallway, then the ensuite for guest room has a shower and basin only. Big seller for us as if we have someone staying who can't climb the stairs, they can just stay downstairs.

I would love to see any photos you have, I will PM you.

Hey MummaDJ,

wow, that's awesome, love that amendment. Yes certainly, it's gonna be a value added feature to the house. This selection was not there when I signed up, if not we would certainly have it. Non of the double story houses within our budget had a room in the ground floor. I have experienced this if we get sick or if we get a visitor who cannot climb the stairs, this is gonna be a good option..

It's interesting to hear that PD is amending the existing designs to cater the needs...

For those reading along who have/more or less finished- can u give me a rough time between lockup and fixing? Just curious.
We are *touch wood* really happy with progress so far! I think our S/S is a gun!

We received both the lockup and fixing invoices on the same day and paid them together too.

6 weeks for us. Lockup invoice was 16/7, fixing invoice was 28/8. We had our only significant hold up in between the two, where the wrong skirting boards and architraves were delivered and (mostly) fixed so they had to be taken off and re-done. That hold-up was 2-3 weeks from memory, nothing else much happened during that time, so it might have been quicker if not for that.

ours was 8 weeks, the plumber stuffed around.

Hi all,

I'm looking at the bolero flooring that comes with the lifestyle promotion pack and at this stage I am not really sure I like any of the choices.

If I had to chose one it would probably be the Rustic Odense but not seeing any of these floors in the displays makes it very scary to select one... I was just wondering if anyone has selected the Rustic Odense as there choice and would possibly have some pictures?

Cheers.

Just a word of advice.... GET A PRESLAB inspection! What a drama... slab framework was wrong (omitted areas / wrong size) and I don't know how nobody picked it up. Lucky I had independent inspector going over it and sent them the list of mistakes.

So far NOT IMPRESSED.... Sales Consultant, Site Supervisor and Building Co-ordinator (PD staff) all have been absolutely WONDERFUL and been a HUGE help.. but geez the non PD staff...

I haven't signed my contact yet but I asked my BC about changing the liquidated damages to reflect real interest and rent and she said no $250 is standard and we can not change it. Is this correct? After Z inners experience I definitely want to get it changed! Has anyone successfully got it changed and to what amount? Thanks

After reading lots above, I am now looking into our own Building Inspections, just for peace of mind.

Chrystee, we were told that we were able change it to what ever we wanted but the flip side is that if you are late in anyway with your own payments, they will charge the same amount.
If you really want it changed, fight it. No contract is set in stone.

We have just had our slab poored (and received an invoice within half an hour of it being finished which i thought was not very customer service friendly) and are now looking at having framing and roof done before christmas - very excited.

We are building in the Geelong region, does anyone have any recommendations of buidling inspectors?

New Porter Davis display opening at Mernda Villages, Mernda this Saturday - December 1
Come down to Mernda Villages this Saturday to see some new great new Porter Davis home designs and new World of Style interior themes.
Take a look through the Sandarah 45T (new design option) from the Prestige range which features the all new Greek Islands World of Style, the Oakdale 28 (new design) from the Lifestyle range which showcases the all new Californian Desert World of Style, the Dunedin 29 (new design) also from the Lifestyle range showcasing the all new Fifth Avenue World of Style and the Livingstone 23 (new design) from the Access range showcasing the very popular Bondi World of Style.
For those of you who are yet to have the colour selections appointment with Hopetoun, this is a great opportunity to see first-hand the latest interior design themes available from Porter Davis.
It will be a great day all round, with free face painting for the kids, barista coffee and a visit from Mr Whippy!
Melway Ref Map 390 E8

Same here.. they started pouring the slab around 7:45am and probably still going till around 12pm ... but got sent the invoice at 1pm.. and to think that when I went to see the slab... I get greeted with a compromised finish

hope it wouldn't affect my later stages

updated the blog to show the slab pour etc....

We are building Amalfi 29 at eastern suburb and is currently ongoing. A few friends who has built their house kept advising me to regularly speak to our SS. One of them even built with PD. Guess what, chasing him up is harder than chasing Julia Gillard for her autograph. I left a message he never called back. He never gave us any update of the progress or give us what will happen next, when it happens and the phase after the other.

When I had some issues, he didn't even try to, maybe, meet me onsite and let me explain why this became an issue and work it out. I was asking him if possibly meet me regularly, this is exactly his answer: Nope, mate, can't do it. Too busy!! How about possibly fortnightly! I also hate his tone when talking to me on the phone. He always speak so fast like he wants to end my call immediately.

Looking back at dealing with PD, once the contract was signed, it's so hard to talk or contact the BC with majority of response only by email, even the sales rep who gaved the rap of how we could call anyone if problems arise, that's why we need to keep their contact numbers, cannot be contacted or return our call. Guess what?? Contact number in the end always ended up in the reception desk where the girl asked me to leave a message for that someone.

Anyone who have been there, your advise is really really appreciated. I am really stressed out with this situation.

R.

I would HIGHLY recommend it... I felt since I wasn't a builder.. needed expert advice to pick up issues that would crop up.. I only just got a slab and I can tell you, so far the inspectors reports have been very useful to picking up errors.. (like they missed a section of the house completely when framing the slab / failed to frame correctly etc ... albeit a small section... but if PD is actually supervising properly... it shouldn't have been missed to start off with!)

I am a type A personality so organised for EVERY stage to be inspected....in all honesty... now I am actually seriously considering having 2 separate independent inspectors inspect every stage! If one pair of eyes are good... 2 should be better!!

Sorry to hear your problem re: contacting people ... well.. On my side, I only just started my build. My BC is overworked and probably underpaid .. so it is hard to contact by phone... so I just email and my BC has been excellent in replying via email. She's kinda doing the work meant for 2 pple... I'd email so at least there is written evidence of your complaints rather than just leaving voicemails. So far, contacting my SS, he has been really good where if I leave him a voice mail, he replies as soon as he can. I haven't met him in person yet but then again I am only 16 days into the build and my slab just got poured.

Maybe try pm the PD person who monitors this forum if you continue to have limited success.... I haven't had to do so yet... but others have had success getting issues resolved

Hi Risardi,
I’m concerned about what you have outlined here and would like to look into this for you. Could you please send me a private message, via this forum, with your contact and build details and I will work towards finding a resolution.
Cheers, Helen

Is there anything else I should have put in my contact? Any other tips you can give me? Thank you

Hi chrystee,
Some of the great ideas we've picked up to add to our contract have been from the Porter Davis upgrades forum, if you don't know it, the link is on my blog (which is 'clickable' at the bottom of this page - not on phones though, just a PC)
Here are some things I remember:
Plumbing behind the fridge for fridges that have water dispensers or ice makers.
Plumbing to any area you might like an inbuilt coffee machine
Outside powerpoints
Plumbing for a BBQ in the alfresco
Obviously lots of powerpoints
Gas point for any future fireplace you may have in mind
Think about how you will use your kitchen pot drawers, and they can be reconfigured if necessary. (I didnt want 8 shallow ones, so changed that)

Those are just a few things, hopefully the upgrade forum will help and good luck!!