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Hi
Do you know when PD's SS and CSA goes on christmas break? The display house is shutting from Dec 12 to 3rd Jan. How about SS and CSA over christmas break?
Thanks
Yellow.
Hi Yellow
our build was happening during the christmas period last year, they will send you a letter with generic dates. Our plaster stopper kept on working during the christmas / new year break. Think it usually depends on the subbies or deliveries.
Cheers
Our build was supposed to start in December (yes, THIS December) and after a stuff up at council approving the build i'm guessing we won't start until January, as I doubt very much PD will be doing anything on our site on the 20th December of after
Nothing I can do, i'm just venting more than anything...
Can you sue the council for stuffing you around? I want somebody to blame
Contract Signing Appointment AdviceHello All,
For those following our process we had our colour and electrical appointments today. Although we felt we were well prepared beforehand it still took us 2hrs for our electrical and
3hrs for our Colour appointments !! What a long day !!
Anyway, our next (and final) appointment is the Contract Signing which takes place next week.
Consequently, for all those who have already signed, may I ask what advice / tips you may have which could help us to be as prepared as possible for our appointment?
Many Thanks in advance,
Chorlton
Our build was supposed to start in December (yes, THIS December) and after a stuff up at council approving the build i'm guessing we won't start until January, as I doubt very much PD will be doing anything on our site on the 20th December of after
Nothing I can do, i'm just venting more than anything...
Can you sue the council for stuffing you around? I want somebody to blame
Hi Building,
On a positive note, as you will be starting your build in Jan at least there shouldn't be a period of time where your build is left unattended for a few weeks (due to the Xmas period). Also, with the weather hopefully improving this may also mean you miss any future heavy rain, which we have been experiencing recently.
Just trying to offer a positive spin
Hi building1,
It is disappointing to hear that you are experiencing delays due to hold ups with the council. Chorlton has offered some great insights, hopefully the new year will bring steady progress to your build. Just remember to keep in regular contact with your CSA. I hope all goes well. Cheers, Jess.
Hi
Do you know when PD's SS and CSA goes on christmas break? The display house is shutting from Dec 12 to 3rd Jan. How about SS and CSA over christmas break?
Thanks
Yellow.
Hi Yellow,
I can't believe its Christmas already! Just so you know, all of PD's Site Supervisors and Customer Service Administrators will be taking a break from Thursday 23 December and will return on Tuesday 4 January.
On that note, I will also be absent from the forum from the 23rd of December and will be back on the 4th of January. Cheers! Jess.
I email my CSC because whenever we ring she's never available and don't even get an email back!
Anyway it doesn't get any better, I am still chasing up some minor stuff from 3 month maintenance and we moved in late Feb/early March. I understand its hard to track when tradies don't show up but I have called about a particular item 6 times (thats just the times I got through and talked to someone - about a 20% strike rate I find) and he still hasn't come.
Hi gumboots,
I just wanted to follow up on your maintenance issues. Did you manage to get in contact with your CSA and get things sorted? Let me know if you have any questions. Cheers, Jess.
Another thing to take into account is if they do a crap job of the tiles you will generally have the "protection" of a large builder to fall back on.
If you have any specific questions feel free to PM me, happy to help
Don't count on it. My tiling was an absolutely appauling job. They came back to fix it and the second attempt was just as bad so the SS fired them and got someone in to fix the worst of it. To this day it is still the worst 'professional' job I've ever seen. Thank god I didn't pay extra to have the kitchen and family areas done. At least if you get it done later you can choose who the tiler is rather than having some random hack employed by PD. To be fair you may be lucky and get a good tiler but my personal experience is that if its a bad job they will not be as understanding as you may have hoped.
As for the ducted aircon - worth evey penny. I'd get the tiling an carpet done after handover - that way you can choose exactly what you want and shop around to get a better qaulity carpet for the same price.
edit - I read you post Octopus and my story was similar - not quite as bad though. It's the greatest con by PD when they offer you handover with a promise to come back and fix things because it seems 9/10 times they never do. You end up with a huge struggle to get it eventually finished. If there was one thing I'd have done differently it would be to not accept handover until 100% completion. They will tell you ANYTHING to make you take the keys and the sheet of paper they give you showing what needs to be done for completion is worth nothing.
Hi Mozzie,
I am sorry to hear that you were disappointed with your tiling and repairs post handover. Did you bring these complaints up with your Customer Service Administrator or Site Supervisor? If you would like me to put you in contact with someone to discuss these issues, then please send me your full name, lot address and phone number in a private message and I'll see what I can do. I appreciate your feedback. Regards, Jess.
Has anyone ever claimed damages for late completion of building work?
Our hand over is this Thursday (142 days - building period as per PD's letter is supposed to be 127 days + 13 days weather delay = 140 days) & PD had 1 week to rectified whatever in the PCI & Independent Inspection Report which I doubt they'll be able to. I'm thinking of exercising my rights to claim for damages if hand over has to be delayed.
I have not got there yet but I intend too. We will loose $3k first home owners stamp duty concession as we have not completed the build within 12mths of buying the land. If PD finished on time we would have been there.
127+13 days seems very short, are you sure you are over? - ours is 175 days (20 week guarantee -140 days +35 days due to modifications like having down lights, choosing a non-standard tap (from the PD range) and installing a door to the ensuite)
127+13 days seems very short, are you sure you are over? - ours is 175 days (20 week guarantee -140 days +35 days due to modifications like having down lights, choosing a non-standard tap (from the PD range) and installing a door to the ensuite)
Yes, I double check their letters, original build time was 127 days then they claimed additional 13 days for weather. Site Start was 27 July, they claimed site start was 28 July, so 140 days will be Wednesday.
Just got the word that handover is on Friday!
Happy days!
What's the process? Do we just hand over the cheque to our site supervisor on the day? Do we have to visit the PD office?
Just got the word that handover is on Friday!
Happy days!
What's the process? Do we just hand over the cheque to our site supervisor on the day? Do we have to visit the PD office?
Congrats....
You'll go onsite to go through the house with the SS to make sure everything is ok then you go to the office to hand over the cheque to the CSC & she'll give you the keys.
Contract Signing Appointment AdviceHello All,
For those following our process we had our colour and electrical appointments today. Although we felt we were well prepared beforehand it still took us 2hrs for our electrical and
3hrs for our Colour appointments !! What a long day !!
Anyway, our next (and final) appointment is the Contract Signing which takes place next week.
Consequently, for all those who have already signed, may I ask what advice / tips you may have which could help us to be as prepared as possible for our appointment?
Many Thanks in advance,
Chorlton
Hi All,
Just thought I'd "bump" this post up in case anyone who would like to answer missed it......
Contract Appointment on Wednesday.... 2 days and counting !!
Hi everyone
We are very new to this, I have come across some very useful issues people have raised. It will be nice if one of you could advise us on things to watch.
Cheers - J & C
Contract Signing Appointment Advice
Consequently, for all those who have already signed, may I ask what advice / tips you may have which could help us to be as prepared as possible for our appointment?
Have all your paperwork with you and add up your prices that you have now, you can bet there will be more than one or two suprises. We took in a laptop so we could compare, it took a while before our total matched PD's total
Check over drawings very carefully, this is the part where we missed and cost us an extra build changes when it could have been done earlier for less than a couple of hundred. We found that PD had a habit of changing spec, for instance our island bench only contained 4 cupboard doors and was much shorter than the display home. We only noticed this after it was installed so cost us around $1000 to have it fixed. Feel ripped off about it as now it matches the display home which we thought we were getting. We had a similar problem with the ensuite cupboards which also cost us
Have you chosen your plan from a display home? if so, take your plans and go through each room to make sure everything matches what you thought you were getting
In hindsight, its more important to make sure your drawings match than the costs. After all, once you sign - this is the house that you are getting regardless of what you thought you were getting. (unless of course you jump up and down and pay through the nose to have things fixed)
Contract Signing Appointment Advice
Consequently, for all those who have already signed, may I ask what advice / tips you may have which could help us to be as prepared as possible for our appointment?
Have all your paperwork with you and add up your prices that you have now, you can bet there will be more than one or two suprises. We took in a laptop so we could compare, it took a while before our total matched PD's total
Check over drawings very carefully, this is the part where we missed and cost us an extra build changes when it could have been done earlier for less than a couple of hundred. We found that PD had a habit of changing spec, for instance our island bench only contained 4 cupboard doors and was much shorter than the display home. We only noticed this after it was installed so cost us around $1000 to have it fixed. Feel ripped off about it as now it matches the display home which we thought we were getting. We had a similar problem with the ensuite cupboards which also cost us
Have you chosen your plan from a display home? if so, take your plans and go through each room to make sure everything matches what you thought you were getting
In hindsight, its more important to make sure your drawings match than the costs. After all, once you sign - this is the house that you are getting regardless of what you thought you were getting. (unless of course you jump up and down and pay through the nose to have things fixed)
Hi Lunchbreak,
Thanks for the reply. Some great advice there especially about checking the drawings carefully .......
As a side note, I still don't understand why we can't receive our floor plans once we have paid the initial deposit (at Tender) rather than having to wait til the Contract appointment before they are presented to us !!!
Seems a bit late if you then pick up an issue especially with everything else going on during this final meeting.
As a side note, I still don't understand why we can't receive our floor plans once we have paid the initial deposit (at Tender) rather than having to wait til the Contract appointment before they are presented to us !!!
Seems a bit late if you then pick up an issue especially with everything else going on during this final meeting.[/quote]
I agree, if we are the ones who need to sign off then surely it would be considerate to make sure we have the time to do so. Its like we are suppose to put all our faith in the builder as they are the experts but we are responsible for the stuff ups
As a side note, I still don't understand why we can't receive our floor plans once we have paid the initial deposit (at Tender) rather than having to wait til the Contract appointment before they are presented to us !!!
Seems a bit late if you then pick up an issue especially with everything else going on during this final meeting.
I agree, if we are the ones who need to sign off then surely it would be considerate to make sure we have the time to do so. Its like we are suppose to put all our faith in the builder as they are the experts but we are responsible for the stuff ups
In short Lunchtime, PD expects you to walk in and sign up.
If you find an issue, they will certainly fix this and you go in again to check this if you have not signed already. Sometimes you are also told that this will be taken up in Post contract variation .... again you may be required to get there.
You would have to make time for all this...
Hi All,
Have been reading this thread over the last couple of days and found it very useful! My other half and i are building with PD (the Waldorf 44) on our own land. Knocking down the existing in February and looking at site start in April 2011. It's still early days yet with PD but i think after all the good and bad things i have read, will be well equipped on what to ask/look for when dealing with PD/SS etc over the coming months. Like in any business, you have the good and the bad, it's just how you deal with the situation that is important. Work on finding a solution is key, not dwell on the problems.
I haven't read of anyone building the Waldorf on here but if anyone has built the Marriott (Which is similar but we couldn't fit it on our block) would love to hear of any additions/options that you have done?
I'm also inspired to start up a blog as most have done...this is our forever home so would love to have the project documented.
Cheers,
Mel
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