Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Porter Davis homes 14762Apr 29, 2017 5:44 pm Momiji naziac We've just engaged Darbecca for all their inspections with the first one being done in 2 days. Depending on weather I suppose! With so many positive comments on this forum we didn't look at anyone else. We also went with Darbecca and opted for all the inspections except one. Like you, we didn't look elsewhere because of the comments on HomeOne. Two things to note though: 1. since 2017 (2016 was fine), their bookings are getting tighter and it is being felt by the inspectors. One inspector complained to me about his schedule at one of my inspections and even showed me his iPad calendar and complained that the 'girls in the office' don't care and book all the appointments all over melb with insufficient travel time and not enough buffer time to inspect more complicated jobs. I had to console him even... 2. all inspections where I've been on site, from the get go when meeting the inspector, you will be offered a long lecture of why building with volume builders is not wise and that you should pay an extra few hundred grand to get a proper house. He even gave my Site Supervisor the same lecture at a separate meeting and that he shouldn't work for volume builders!! He was outrightly offending him as well. He is so passionate about being an inspector that he fails to understand the client/business relationship. Offending ppl left right and centre. I asked him to explain what one of the blue markers was for and he replies with "if I have to explain every single defect to you we would be here all day and I wouldn't finish". I had to remind him that Darbecca offer clients to be present so assumed we could ask a question or two, not walk through the entire defect list. (He was happy to use 10min of my inspection time to complain to me about his schedule and how the 'girls' aren't doing a good job though!) He then explained the blue marked defect but continued to explain all the defects in the rooms downstairs but I wasn't interested in those. I had to stop him and remind him to get back to it or he'll be really late to his next appointment. I always walk away feeling like total $hit. I no longer chose to be present for our inspections. In 2016 they were not stressed and the meetings were nicer. So yes, they do offer great inspection REPORTS and my site supervisor always addresses every item, (even though it's caused significant delays/cost) but beware the inspectors are so under the pump that it's impacting their relations with clients and who knows if they have to cut short an inspection because they need to rush off to the next one. The other recommended inspection company is NewHomes Inspection but I never looked them up. My site supervisor said in his experience, Darbecca and New Homes were the most thorough inspectors. Just something to think about for those looking for inspectors. Thanks Momiji...great post. It highlights the need to keep an eye on independent inspectors as well!!! In my view, they get a lot of referrals from this forum, but "With great referrals, comes great responsibility"...time to Inspect the inspector!" I already have Darbecca booked in for a pre-slab inspection but so is almost anyone on this forum building in Melbourne. I'm wondering if there is a way to ensure we are all getting a quality inspection done, and not succumbing to work pressures that Darbecca's & other building inspectors have? Whilst everyone's site may be different, I'm wondering if there is value in everyone sharing their inspection reports on this forum, so at least we can collectively benefit from other inspectors....I'll start a new thread and see if it gains traction... Re: Porter Davis homes 14763Apr 29, 2017 5:50 pm sinbox Momiji naziac We've just engaged Darbecca for all their inspections with the first one being done in 2 days. Depending on weather I suppose! With so many positive comments on this forum we didn't look at anyone else. We also went with Darbecca and opted for all the inspections except one. Like you, we didn't look elsewhere because of the comments on HomeOne. Two things to note though: 1. since 2017 (2016 was fine), their bookings are getting tighter and it is being felt by the inspectors. One inspector complained to me about his schedule at one of my inspections and even showed me his iPad calendar and complained that the 'girls in the office' don't care and book all the appointments all over melb with insufficient travel time and not enough buffer time to inspect more complicated jobs. I had to console him even... 2. all inspections where I've been on site, from the get go when meeting the inspector, you will be offered a long lecture of why building with volume builders is not wise and that you should pay an extra few hundred grand to get a proper house. He even gave my Site Supervisor the same lecture at a separate meeting and that he shouldn't work for volume builders!! He was outrightly offending him as well. He is so passionate about being an inspector that he fails to understand the client/business relationship. Offending ppl left right and centre. I asked him to explain what one of the blue markers was for and he replies with "if I have to explain every single defect to you we would be here all day and I wouldn't finish". I had to remind him that Darbecca offer clients to be present so assumed we could ask a question or two, not walk through the entire defect list. (He was happy to use 10min of my inspection time to complain to me about his schedule and how the 'girls' aren't doing a good job though!) He then explained the blue marked defect but continued to explain all the defects in the rooms downstairs but I wasn't interested in those. I had to stop him and remind him to get back to it or he'll be really late to his next appointment. I always walk away feeling like total $hit. I no longer chose to be present for our inspections. In 2016 they were not stressed and the meetings were nicer. So yes, they do offer great inspection REPORTS and my site supervisor always addresses every item, (even though it's caused significant delays/cost) but beware the inspectors are so under the pump that it's impacting their relations with clients and who knows if they have to cut short an inspection because they need to rush off to the next one. The other recommended inspection company is NewHomes Inspection but I never looked them up. My site supervisor said in his experience, Darbecca and New Homes were the most thorough inspectors. Just something to think about for those looking for inspectors. Thanks Momiji...great post. It highlights the need to keep an eye on independent inspectors as well!!! In my view, they get a lot of referrals from this forum, but "With great referrals, comes great responsibility"...time to Inspect the inspector!" I already have Darbecca booked in for a pre-slab inspection but so is almost anyone on this forum building in Melbourne. I'm wondering if there is a way to ensure we are all getting a quality inspection done, and not succumbing to work pressures that Darbecca's & other building inspectors have? Whilst everyone's site may be different, I'm wondering if there is value in everyone sharing their inspection reports on this forum, so at least we can collectively benefit from other inspectors....I'll start a new thread and see if it gains traction... We've had Darbecca do a pre pour inspection and shared the 8 defects from the report in the blog. Pre-pour inspection – waldorfgrangebuild https://waldorfgrangebuild.wordpress.co ... nspection/ Re: Porter Davis homes 14764Apr 29, 2017 6:02 pm Thanks for sharing Waldorf_Grange_Build... I should also add to my previous post...in retrospect I was thinking of a conversation I had with my slab supervisor yesterday, which I thought of after posting the above...he said something on the lines of "we know all the Darbecca inspectors very well, and they are aware of our standards too..." I'm not trying to say there is anything wrong with that, but as a consumer of independent building inspection services, I'd like to see the relationship b/w them and the bulk builders take a path of introspect and caution, rather than one which morphs into "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours...." Re: Porter Davis homes 14765Apr 29, 2017 8:34 pm Now I'm not sure if I should go with NewHome inspections or Darbecca... Re: Porter Davis homes 14772Apr 30, 2017 7:41 am Liz what are the dimensions of your island bench? Your house is looking amazing! Re: Porter Davis homes 14775May 01, 2017 1:43 am sencillez Hi guys, who did you choose for your building surveyor? PD is recommending the following options: Checkpoint Building Surveyors, DJM Building Consultants, Advance Building Strategies I don't trust any building surveyor engaged by Porter Davis. I would recommend regardless of which one you pick you also engage an independent inspector to look at each stage of the build. Re: Porter Davis homes 14776May 01, 2017 8:36 am Waldorf_Grange_Build sencillez Hi guys, who did you choose for your building surveyor? PD is recommending the following options: Checkpoint Building Surveyors, DJM Building Consultants, Advance Building Strategies I don't trust any building surveyor engaged by Porter Davis. I would recommend regardless of which one you pick you also engage an independent inspector to look at each stage of the build. I think the surveyor is different to the building inspector, pretty sure they mark out where the slab etc goes and check your house is on your land etc rather than inspecting the quality of the build. We went with DJM but only for the sake of choosing one out of the three and apparently they do more work where we are building than the other two. Building a Kew 28 with Porter Davis Re: Porter Davis homes 14777May 01, 2017 8:43 am Hurrow Waldorf_Grange_Build sencillez Hi guys, who did you choose for your building surveyor? PD is recommending the following options: Checkpoint Building Surveyors, DJM Building Consultants, Advance Building Strategies I don't trust any building surveyor engaged by Porter Davis. I would recommend regardless of which one you pick you also engage an independent inspector to look at each stage of the build. I think the surveyor is different to the building inspector, pretty sure they mark out where the slab etc goes and check your house is on your land etc rather than inspecting the quality of the build. We went with DJM but only for the sake of choosing one out of the three and apparently they do more work where we are building than the other two. The surveyor is different to the inspector. It's just that the law has recently changed in that previously builders just engaged a surveyor company on your behalf (free of charge) now you get the choice to use your own company if you like but you do pay the cost of that. We just went with one of the companies porter Davis use regularly so it was free, there are about 3 companies to choose from Re: Porter Davis homes 14778May 01, 2017 9:36 am thejuros Liz what are the dimensions of your island bench? Your house is looking amazing! Thank you all its 1080x2690 and the colour is Blanco Maple, it was a cat 2 at the time This is also continued in the galley Re: Porter Davis homes 14779May 01, 2017 10:09 am Hurrow Waldorf_Grange_Build sencillez Hi guys, who did you choose for your building surveyor? PD is recommending the following options: Checkpoint Building Surveyors, DJM Building Consultants, Advance Building Strategies I don't trust any building surveyor engaged by Porter Davis. I would recommend regardless of which one you pick you also engage an independent inspector to look at each stage of the build. I think the surveyor is different to the building inspector, pretty sure they mark out where the slab etc goes and check your house is on your land etc rather than inspecting the quality of the build. We went with DJM but only for the sake of choosing one out of the three and apparently they do more work where we are building than the other two. The surveyor also checks over each stage of the build and prepares a report (which is very limited in detail) and they give the tick of approval to go to the next stage of build. Our site supervisor made the concreters come back and fix a range of things with our slab after the PD appointed surveyor had already signed off on it so it doesn't give me much confidence in their quality control. Re: Porter Davis homes 14780May 01, 2017 11:04 am Waldorf_Grange_Build Hurrow I think the surveyor is different to the building inspector, pretty sure they mark out where the slab etc goes and check your house is on your land etc rather than inspecting the quality of the build. We went with DJM but only for the sake of choosing one out of the three and apparently they do more work where we are building than the other two. The surveyor also checks over each stage of the build and prepares a report (which is very limited in detail) and they give the tick of approval to go to the next stage of build. Our site supervisor made the concreters come back and fix a range of things with our slab after the PD appointed surveyor had already signed off on it so it doesn't give me much confidence in their quality control. We're getting Darbecca to do all the checking so I'm not overly worried about who PD has as the building supervisor. As you say the surveyor doesn't seem to do much in which case I don't really care which one I choose for it, the real inspection as far as I'm concerned will be done by Darbecca. It would be great if you could trust building companies and tradies to do a good job without needing an inspector but sadly that doesn't seem to be the case. A couple of years ago my mother bought a just built townhouse that was built by some division of Simonds, seems that they didn't bother with waterproofing two of the three bathrooms or much of the rest of the house at all. You wonder how on earth that got past the supervisor, but apparently it did. Building a Kew 28 with Porter Davis Three options 1 Ask the liquidator 2 Find another PD customer and ask the source of their report 3 Pay for new report 3 12182 Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74219 I would never build with Fowler homes. I built with them in 2021 and till date maintenance issues are pending. All their existing trades and businesses don't work with… 14 105129 |