Porter Davis

Does anyone can tell me why site cost building with Porter Davis is so expensive ?

I don’t know that they are anymore expensive than others. Carlisle were a lot more expensive for site costs for us. It all depends on the site and soil reports.

Our PD site costs were double what we were expecting and we walked from PD. We signed up with Henley and their site costs came back very similar. As we preferred the design and quality of PD we went back.

During this process we learnt that a house down the street may have different soil types and slope so you can not compare site costs. Site costs at sales are usually a lot less and it isn't until you get soil tests that you get an accurate estimate.

We started looking at Henley but back tracked due to the reviews on product review. Now looking at PD love their plan but the costs in general are higher.

What made you move away from Henley apart from design, you have mentioned quality in what way was PD better.

Thanks.

G

There are a few reasons.

We loved the Hillside design at Porter Davis as I really wanted a ranch style house.

I spoke to a few builder friends who all told me the quality of the build is good at PD compared to some of the other big builders.

For the designs we were looking at, PD came in a bit cheaper.

All the big builders have bad reviews so we found it hard to decide based on those alone. As we have built before we know it can be a stressful process because there will be mistakes, tradies are human after all. It is how they manage the mistakes that is important to us. We try and look at the end game. After the build process is a memory, will we love the house we built?

Good luck with your decisions.

I would love to know, as a percentage of builds across the large builders, how many were built with the 'included slab'.

I bet it would be in single digits.

It's basically a hidden extra cost on every build, for almost all builders.

When we went through the sales process our PD sales guy whacked $50k for site costs straight up, which is a huge number for a block that is completely flat.

It ended up being $35k extra, which is still significant, again, for a completely flat block.

It's rubbish. The sticker price should assume an average slab, imho

I built with Henley and my soil test came back M but had rock about $5k extra - no slab upgrade required

Hey guys, we are still in process of committing to PD. they have given us 16K for a block with 600mm fall for site costs and confirmed that they are fixed regardless of what comes out form second soil test.
Its hard to trust anyone and we haven't reached the process to sign the contract yet.. Just wanting to know if anyone has experience about fixed site costs with PD. Any help will be much appreciated.

Regards

Heyy, Did you get your site costs fixed in your contract ? and if you did... did you still had to pay for rock excavation ??

Thanks

If you have managed to secure fixed site costs, just make sure it is clearly stated in your quote document and that the wording continues throughout all subsequent quotes/Tender document/Contract documents.

We have a house and land package through PD which included fixed site costs, we had to have our slab increased from M to P-H2, there was no extra cost added to our contract for that

So if they commit to Fixed Site Costs, then they stand by their word and honour it

I was checking this posts and want to share our story. Hope it helps someone planning to go to PD. Just to have this info will help you to get the head around.

We went with Poter Davis and our site cost was $55k, and they haven't confirmed until the contract signing day morning. ( in the initial quote it was $20k) with the pressure and the excitement of the day, we decided to sign the contract and paid 5%. They said that it's based on the initial soil test and they will be doing another one, once the land gets titled.

Later we decided to do our homework and went for few other builders. Henley and Carlisle Homes managed to the fix the site costs with bigger houses compared to PD house. Henleys - $27k and Carlisle Homes - $30k. Those are fixed site cost and looks like they have a good team behind fixing the site cost.

The most annoying thing is PD have done the actual soil test( our land got titled and we did the settlement) and they will only tell the site cost at the very end which will be another 6-8 weeks. And it can go higher, lower or stay same but we don't get the right figure for 8 weeks and it will be another pressure situation if they decided to charge more.

So we are planning to terminate the contract and it will cost us $7k as they are adding the admin fee on top of the cancellation fee. The problem is if we stay another 6-8 weeks to get the final site cost and if the site cost goes higher and if we want to cancel, they will charge more. This looks like a process they created to charge you more even if you cancel at the very last minute.

Overall, the whole process with PD is very stressful whereas my future neighbour who is building with Henleys is enjoying the whole process by knowing the total amount 3-4 months before the settlement. We started the whole process in Jan 2018 and we still don't know the total building cost. What a shame

Its a shame, we have to change the builder at the very last minute which will drag the whole process another 2-3 months, but we don't have any regrets or the money we are going to lose with PD(around $7k) and we think it as a very good lesson learnt and hopefully this info will help someone to get an idea about the PD process.

We respect their process but as a consumer, it is a VERY stressful process without knowing the costs, and I hope no one will fall into a situation like ours...

A contract is a legally binding document and not something you sign because of pressure and/or excitement.

Maybe (obviously) the homework should’ve been done before the signing.

Anyway better to rip the bandaid off fast as you have done, take a small financial hit but learn a big lesson.

Yeah agree. We have terminated the contract today morning. And we felt very relieved!!!
[/quote]

I'm building with Fairhaven Homes and I was able to go with the included slab. My soils came back as P though H1 with piers would be suffice (which was standard). My block is relatively flat and my house is 19sqs, and the site fees were less than $7k. I couldn't believe it when I was told.

I haven't started building yet but so far Fairhaven has been great.

I would not sign a contract unless the final cost is known.

I hope you have a better experience with your new builder.

Guys just to give you an update about our current status... We got our money back from Porter Davis. We initially paid $16500 and they refunded $9300. We never got any email or follow up call or anything from PD to discuss this matter and we are very glad that we terminated the contract.

By the way if you are planning to go to PD, please keep in mind that they don't give you any indication of prices of any upgrades until you go to the actual colour appointment where as Henley and Carlisle will give you all the prices after your first visit to the sales consultant. What a shame all the time we went blind with Porter Davis. The whole process is not transpatent.

Based on our experience you should avoid Porter Davis or should be the last option. I am more than happy to share our whole experience if someone needs our honest opinion.

We are now with Carlisle Homes : )

Hey glad you resolved it but wow that’s a fair chunk of money to lose. Good luck moving forward 👍🏻

Good on you for taking the hit and moving on. Sometimes you have to cut your losses to get a better outcome in the long run.