Porter Davis homes

Hi jLo, can you expand on what new PCVs you are forced with? I thought it was fixed priced contract unless these were specified as variable or subject to something.

This sounds like a Bushfire Levy is being applied.

And on my own home front, I received an email from PD yesterday saying get ready for PCI

Hi Sambogirl

How did you go with PCI???

What's happened is that PD has made changes to our contract without consulting us first and then they hand us a PCV after it's too late for us to have our say on certian items they decided to remove or replace. We are told that since it is in construction phase (slab hasn't even been poured yet) that it's too late to have our say and to just sign what PD give us.

One of main items we are not happy with is the change in cooker. Fair enough that the distributor ran out of them but PD should at least allow us a say in a replacement. Our promo offers the FD9085FX which we were happy with, but we don't like the aesthetics of the new cooker (BFD9058FX) and would prefer the CGG905WFFC and BOSE67XP instead which I see PD offer a choice between; however we are not offered that luxury.

Hi jlo,
Could you please send me a PM, via this forum, with your contact and build details, and I will look into this and have someone get back in touch with you about this ASAP?
Regards, Helen

Hey everyone, I just had a couple of quick questions I was hoping somebody might be able to help with;
For those who have had their driveway done with PD – how is this handled in regards to PCI/Handover etc? Is it done and ready to use prior to PCI, or done at handover?

Also, I have a friend that is currently building with a different builder and they mentioned that they get part of the council asset protection bond back once the house is complete – does anyone know if this is the same with PD?

Is anybody else dealing with warranty problems (trouble getting things done, rather than things breaking) long after handover? We got our keys in September, yet I'm still attempting to get some pretty basic things sorted out almost half a year later. Is it just me, or are there others in the same boat? PM if you don't want to post.

FYI still no reply from Porter Davis via the forum or my building coordinator. Getting pretty pi**ed off with this situation. My old small time builder was less of a headache.

Anyone got the 450 eave and 2590 ceiling height in 1st floor ? Could u pls tell me what is the max height your window head can go (window at eave bottom as required)

Is 2300mm window head height possible ?

Thanks

Wateman, it was def. not done for PCI, driveway was done in the days prior to handover. The landscaping was done just after.

2

Hi jlo,
I can assure you that your concerns were passed onto the Regional Business Manager. I understand that the initial delay was that the BC was away on Monday. I will follow-up again with the manager and you will be contacted tomorrow without fail. Apologies for the delay.
Regards, Helen

Can someone please explain to me how much you can change your structural floor plan at Contract? I have a few 920mm doors that need to be custom made which worries me because of cost. Are you able to go back to 820mm doors at Contact?

I asked this a while ago but didn't get any reply... question for all currently building with Porter Davis.... How often does your BC contact you? What are your expectations of them regarding communication?

Just wondering as our build seems to have ground to a halt really since we got our new SS (2 days of work in 3 weeks), our previous one made the commitment to call us Mondays or Tuesdays to give us an update, but that has not happened with the new bloke...

We also have only heard from our BC once through the build, and this was a PCV to refund us for the temp fencing they didn't have to use... I'm not really sure what our expectation should be in regards to comms from our BC but that doesn't seem right.

Anyone have a similar or different experience?

I get a weekly email and a phone call every week from my BC.

Wow... Seriously? WTF. Clearly our BC has no interest in doing their job. That really annoys me as we feel like we aren't being kept in the loop at the moment and it's very very frustrating seeing no progress.

I'm not defending PD....but I was told each BC has up to 70 cases going on at any given time.

So that basically equates to 35 mins for each case each week.

So leave it up to you to work out if that is enough or not.

Then I suggest they get more building coordinators!

Honestly I can't see each BC having 70 builds going at once, surely that's not true???? There are 3 Porter Davis houses being built in Ballarat at the moment I believe.

So increase the number of Building Coordinators = increase prices for PD customers......
So which would you prefer?

My BC is awesome I have said this frequently on these forums, my SS I don't hear from often, but the 3 of us made a deal kind of thing Every week after my BC and SS have their meeting about my home, I get a quick email just outlining the progress and expectations of the coming week. It is a short email, no in depth discussion, just a quick outline.

My advice to you is to email any or all concerns to your BC, I know mine is sometimes too busy to get straight back to me but as soon as she can take a deep breath I hear from her.

I remember at the start feeling like everything was spiraling out of control, and I was definitely concerned about what lay ahead with my build. I am now 2 to 3 weeks away from settlement, and let me tell you my home is looking magnificent. Any concern I have had during these final works has been immediately addressed, I cannot speak highly enough of PD at this stage.

I would prefer that Porter Davis offered a consistent level of service to all of their customers - perhaps they can use some of the $5000 they gouged out of us for their ridiculous regional zone surcharge to pay for 1 bloody email a week?

Regardless of each BC's workload, we are paying for a service - If Porter Davis decide to under resource their workforce in order to make more profits - that's their prerogative, but when it affects the service to such a degree that our building coordinator has not provided us with ONE update on our build (which started on the 6th of December) then it is unacceptable.

One more thing, we did email our BC at the start of the build in order to have a small change done with our electricals - it took them approx 20 days to reply to our message, we had in the mean time spoken directly to our SS (who has now left the company) and he organised the change. Surely the price we are paying includes a higher standard of service than that

Country Lifestyle: Had a look through your blog and your place is looking great, think I will need to send an email off to our BC and try and organise a similar 'deal'