Building a Waldorf or Marriot by Porter Davis

Hey guys,
I just got a quote back for blinds from Kreative Design from the PD rewards, which we will be going with. All Australian made, and they use Cedar for the shutters. That company is the one who does the displays, the quality is great.

We are getting 8 shutters, 11 Romans (4 of which span the bifolds x2) and 1 drape for the theatre/rumpus (spans the whole wall floor to ceiling with a pelmet). The Romans and drape are high quality fabric with full block out backing.

The price is 12.3k including a colour/design consultation and install.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Rups,

Sounds like you are getting a good deal. I give them a call.

That's a pretty good price. What's their website/contact details?

Its not in my PD rewards booklet. I suspect mine could be outdated. Anyone has the latest one?

The web address is http://kreative-design.com.au/

You can access the rewards information online through 24/7

thanks Rups! does sound like a good price for all those windows will have a look now...

or i should say Leanne!

Yeah it's Leanne...I am the helpful one

Remember to drop my name...so I get more of a discount (Leanne building the Sandpiper)

Hello guys, hope everyone’s build is coming along smoothly.

We had our eaves painted yesterday and my dad was there and was talking to the painter, painter told my dad that they are scheduled (booked in) to start paining the internals in 3 weeks time. Can’t believe that it’s all coming together. Next week stairs, cabinets and architraves are getting installed.

Cornices where installed on Monday and I’m really happy with the craftsmanship. No even one joint is out of sync.

My dad & mum went to the house and they are building our staircase today..........

I am sooooo happy. I can’t concentrate anymore at work, I wanna go and check it out.

it'll go by in a blink of an eye Tony! our stairs have been stained, portico has been painted, theatre room has been painted, shelving installed, and we are absolutely locked out! Peered through the windows not long until we're in our house...now the countdown has begun..yippee!

Hey Mel,

Have you decided on furniture, landscaping and the rest... This is going to fast for me and I need to start thinking about what to do with landscaping.

i've tried going into furniture stores and walk out dejected..they all are same same and nothing is catchiing my eye. Also i get so overwhelmed coz i have such an eclectic taste and want to make sure that i get it right, not buy up all this stuff and put it in the room to find that it doesn't gel. I said to Rob as long as we have the basics i don't mind having somewhat bare rooms, we can always add the touches afterwards once we have a feel for the place.

We've bought new couches so i am going to build around that. Also we had fairly new slimline tv stands in our old house which we will use. Main things i need are the likes of side table, coffee table and some sort off shelving...ikea is my friend!

With the outside, i'm starting to get quotes for the driveway and we're going to hit the nursery's this weekend to check out plant life...it's creeping up so fast!

What quotes have you had for the driveway? per sqm?

We are the same, the only thing I have purchased was a new 64" LED tv. EVERYTHING else will wait.. we want to see the rooms and work out our current stuff, and cull what doesnt work. We have a lot of modern stuff already. So its not a big deal, I know we need a new couch for the family room..

Its a waiting game.

Haven't received any as yet, just collecting numbers (referrals from friends) and then going to meet them on site to work out costings.

Lol...as long as you have good tv viewing and a comfy seat, i say that is all that is important...haha...priorities humble!

Rob and i got rid of a lot of stuff when we moved back in with my mum (we had merged two households and had crappy mismatched stuff before)...so our first purchase for the house was the couches for the living room and a comfy lazy couch for the theatre room. Can't wait to sink back in that one. Mum's furniture is still pretty modern looking (but some pieces aren't really our taste). She's got a huge dining table that we are going to reupholster the seats to co-ordinate with our colour palette for the interim. But i think down the track i'll be getting my huge square dining table with the leather chairs that i love. (It is so hard to find really good square tables!).

Here's a pic of our house so far...

Hi everyone

Great forum you have here! I'm a first time poster.

Unfortunately my first post is to make a complaint. My partner and I had our heart set on builing the Waldorf (about 52 squares in total!) but the one thing I said to the sales consultant when we sat down is that I'm an electrician and would have to be able to do my own electrical work. He assured that wouldn't be a problem. 6 weeks later and MANY wasted hours and a lot of arm twisting from the sales consultant trying to get my $1000 they are now saying "it would take too much time to do the wiring I wanted to do" this has made me very angry how would they know how long it will take to do the wiring?! They NEVER even asked me! Never gave me the chance to explain I could have 10 electricians on site and have it wired in a few days! I'll be installing CBus in my house (amongst other systems) and I've installed far too many systems (and had to fix far too many other companies work) to just let anybody do it for me. Have you checked out the Argus website?? They actually have a photo of a "completed" home theatre with the projector projecting onto a wall ... yeah no thanks I say!!! I also read they charge over $100 a downlight.. thats just gouging people!

The only conclusion I can take from this the PD just doesn't want my business. Has anybody else heard of the idiotic approach and had similar problems?

Thanks for reading my rant!

$110 actually.. lol

I sort of understand them, you were never going to be allowed to do it. My brother is a licensed cabler, and they wouldnt under ANY circumstance let him do anything. Doesnt mean some bits were not done.

do the minimum with PD and pre-wire the house during the frame stage.

Landscaping is going to be a huge project for me and I can’t wait, once it’s finished its going to look awesome (well I hope).

Hey there Cableman,

You'll probably get the same feedback from most people building with PD, they never allow you to supply your own trades as a standard business practice. From what we can gather, this is done for several reasons:

- post- handover warranty. They can't guarantee your work, and conversely, if there is some other problem with the house, they would fairly and squarely be blaming your wiring. Imagine how much that would cost going through the courts?

- delays. It's frequently documented that you must not cause delay to construction works. Having your own trades in could result in that, again, a potentially expensive outcome.

- Health & Safety, certified trades, insurance, workmanship etc. How does your SIte Supervisor have control over a non-contracted trade?

At your own risk, and if you decide to proceed with PD (you will find pretty much all volume builders will not allow your own trades on site), you can see if your Site Supervisor will allow you to do some work. This has occurred before according to members of this forum, but generally for very minor things. In this case, I am referring to you maybe doing the c-bus wiring or home theatre cabling (not the standard electrical stuff). I honestly think your hard up against it on this one mate...

We had the same issue with flooring. We didn't want PD's stuff, so engaged a third party. Would have been great to get them to do it during the build, but we have to do it after. If they didn't allow flooring to be done by us towards the tail end of the build, I'm fairly certain they won't allow stuff to go in behind walls!!

If you feel really strongly about it, PD can sell you the floor plans and you can engage an draftsman / builder at probably a ridiculous fee, but you would get everything done EXACTLY on your terms.

...and don't forget - how else are PD going to make money

Good luck!

Thanks for your replies everyone. You all make some good points! I just wish the salesman didn't lead us on like that! If we do move forward with them I think it will be with a different salesperson.

Has anybody had them install additional battern holders (standard globe holders) with the plan to replace after handover i.e. four battern holders in one room? if so do you know how much it was?

Also has anybody had a house wired for future CBus?

Thanks again everybody. If I can be of any assistance just PM me!