Looking great MummaDJ. Love the chair made out of the decking material. We really want to do the same thing.
Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Porter Davis homes 10801Jan 16, 2015 8:14 am MummaDJ Hi all, I have finally updated my blog with some internal and external photos after now being in our house for over 12 months. We are enjoying being in our house. Great to finally see our garden take shape and enjoy living in our house. Looking great MummaDJ. Love the chair made out of the decking material. We really want to do the same thing. Re: Porter Davis homes 10802Jan 16, 2015 11:22 am Our 3 month old home lost hot water today, PD sent someone out within hours. All good now and happy with the service Re: Porter Davis homes 10803Jan 16, 2015 11:23 am Jackula Our 3 month old home lost hot water today, PD sent someone out within hours. All good now and happy with the service Not good you had a cold shower but great to hear PD was onto it. Fantastic service! Re: Porter Davis homes 10804Jan 18, 2015 3:20 pm Some questions about signing the contract. At the time of signing the contract I believe that the plans are not finalised and approved by council, is this correct? A relative of mine who is a solicitor and a close friend who is a builder both said this is very weird and both said I should not sign the contract until the plan has approval. They said I would be responsible financially if council requires any changes before approval and those variations could be expensive. Also, I have been told by my BC that I have to sign everything on the day and been told that there are no conditions or amendments to be made. I cannot take it away and show my solicitor before signing a contract worth big dollars to me, this seems reasonable and very unusual. The sample contract that my BC sent me had heaps of amendments by PD and stuff crossed out etc. seems a bit rich telling me nothing can be amended. Anyone here able to share their experiences with me regarding the above? Building a Rochford 34M Re: Porter Davis homes 10805Jan 18, 2015 3:37 pm eastla Some questions about signing the contract. At the time of signing the contract I believe that the plans are not finalised and approved by council, is this correct? A relative of mine who is a solicitor and a close friend who is a builder both said this is very weird and both said I should not sign the contract until the plan has approval. They said I would be responsible financially if council requires any changes before approval and those variations could be expensive. Also, I have been told by my BC that I have to sign everything on the day and been told that there are no conditions or amendments to be made. I cannot take it away and show my solicitor before signing a contract worth big dollars to me, this seems reasonable and very unusual. The sample contract that my BC sent me had heaps of amendments by PD and stuff crossed out etc. seems a bit rich telling me nothing can be amended. Anyone here able to share their experiences with me regarding the above? Yes you are correct. You sign the contract before getting any approvals from the council or your developer design committee. We were told that if something was to go wrong and we changed our minds (didn't want to build with PD anymore) the loss would be whatever costs PD has incurred (plus a little extra I'm sure). You have to remember that it costs them money to make up the drawings and take them through the approval process. There are a lot of resources involved in this process. So yes it is risky but we had no issues like those you mentioned. Things can always be amended. Remember until you sign you have the power. At the end of the day you need to decide based on the information you have been given whether you want to take the 'risks' involved in this process. To me they are negligible but that's just my opinion. P.s to avoid any issues, read the design guidelines for your estate and make sure your design meets those. I spotted a few things that I asked PD to change. They have a team that does this but I wanted to be 100% for myself. Hope that helps! Good luck Re: Porter Davis homes 10806Jan 18, 2015 5:30 pm Thanks for your input. My land is not in an estate, we are going a knock down rebuild in an established area. Any company that will not allow me to do due diligence by involving my solicitor worries me greatly. At least I only lose the 2k if I walk away. Very disappointing because we have come so far down the road with PD and we're looking forward to starting in a few months. Very disappointed with our BA who is quick to say no to each question I have asked and finds is near impossible to respond to emails and phone calls. Not what you want when you are spending a large amount of money with a company. Building a Rochford 34M Re: Porter Davis homes 10807Jan 18, 2015 5:57 pm eastla Thanks for your input. My land is not in an estate, we are going a knock down rebuild in an established area. Any company that will not allow me to do due diligence by involving my solicitor worries me greatly. At least I only lose the 2k if I walk away. Very disappointing because we have come so far down the road with PD and we're looking forward to starting in a few months. Very disappointed with our BA who is quick to say no to each question I have asked and finds is near impossible to respond to emails and phone calls. Not what you want when you are spending a large amount of money with a company. If it's not an estate you will still have some design guidelines/limitations you will need to abide to right? You get given a contract that is exactly the same the one you sign (without the figures and names filled in) to take home. You can pass that to your solicitor to review and provide feedback. Exactly, the amount of money you are risking is low (in the scheme of things). Just remember you have to pay the balance of the 5% deposit at contract stage. Regarding phone calls and emails, welcome to PD. Lack of communication is a regular complaint made by members of this forum building with PD. I think most big volume builders are like this to be honest. Re: Porter Davis homes 10808Jan 18, 2015 6:02 pm eastla Thanks for your input. My land is not in an estate, we are going a knock down rebuild in an established area. Any company that will not allow me to do due diligence by involving my solicitor worries me greatly. At least I only lose the 2k if I walk away. Very disappointing because we have come so far down the road with PD and we're looking forward to starting in a few months. Very disappointed with our BA who is quick to say no to each question I have asked and finds is near impossible to respond to emails and phone calls. Not what you want when you are spending a large amount of money with a company. Chances are there will be a whole heap of mistakes and corrections to be made on the day so it would be unreasonable to sign then and there. Suggest to have the revised contracts emailed and signed at a later date. 'Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.' Blog: http://prestigebuild.blogspot.com.au Re: Porter Davis homes 10809Jan 18, 2015 6:08 pm sliick Chances are there will be a whole heap of mistakes and corrections to be made on the day so it would be unreasonable to sign then and there. Suggest to have the revised contracts emailed and signed at a later date. That's what I did. Re: Porter Davis homes 10810Jan 18, 2015 6:25 pm tlblhayward sliick Chances are there will be a whole heap of mistakes and corrections to be made on the day so it would be unreasonable to sign then and there. Suggest to have the revised contracts emailed and signed at a later date. That's what I did. Us also just because they couldn't finish everything and it was already 630pm so we took it home unfinished and signed the following day. Over a few days after that errors picked up were put into a post contract variation to correct errors straight away that just time wise couldn't be finished. Even getting pricing of glass shower panels instead of shower screens took weeks post contract (despite asking since pre tender) and it worked out cheaper in the end. They were great with changing lots of things on contract day too (changed all windows to awnings and size of a few too) and really had we known this we wouldn't have been so stressed similar to yourself. We did knock down rebuild too and council suddenly said our house too tall and have to drop it by a meter! I refused to loose our higher ceilings so they simply dropped the pitch of our roof which wasn't any drama cost us a few thousand but it was better than loosing internal height. Also our setback variation was approved by council just before site start which really was hard to not have before contract as influenced our pool dig location. Overall pre contract really stressful but once there things just seemed to fall into place. Good luck Re: Porter Davis homes 10811Jan 18, 2015 7:27 pm knyght joea RedHotMike If it were me, I'd have sarking for condensation reasons alone on a sheet roof. Secondly unless you are in Tasmania I'd also to the whirly bird just to keep the roof space cool in summer. Thank you. I appreciate the advice I've emailed the builder for a quote. Can't believe we are still changing things 3 weeks before start. Hi joea, have you received anything from PD regarding site start? I've been trying to get a hold of my BC for the past 10 days and as usual no luck. When I saw her to sign our final drawings pre Christmas she said she was returning 06/01, however email last week came back with an out of office. Follow-up calls and emails remain unanswered. We originally signed up for a December site start, they slipped in January on our contract, so I'm hoping we still start this month. I need to find out how I get another BC... this one really isn't cutting it! If you continue to experience poor levels of communication, I definitely suggest getting in contact with the regional manager to express your disappont at the customer service you are receiving. Issues seem to be resolved very very quickly once they become involved.. Re: Porter Davis homes 10812Jan 18, 2015 7:48 pm I will get in touch with the regional manager shortly. At this stage it is looking unlikely that I will bother going to tender. Seems to be too many obstacles being thrown in front of me. If I can't show a solicitor the tender/contract docs and make suitable amendments it will likely be a deal breaker. The sour taste in my mouth from the very poor service I'm experiencing from my BC is pushing me to the door. When I asked if I can take home tender docs and show solicitor she said "no". She said if you don't like what is on the tender docs don't sign, don't pay and just walk away. How pathetic a response! All the hours I've soent with the sakes man who was excellent getting to this point. I'm talking 3-4 weekends in the office and many phone calls and visits to World of Style. Apparently it is not common with all builders to expect contract sign off without approved plan either. My friend who is very experienced with this stuff and is a builder himself spat the dummy when he saw the PD procedure I signed when I handed over the original 2k deposit. Building a Rochford 34M Re: Porter Davis homes 10813Jan 18, 2015 8:00 pm eastla I will get in touch with the regional manager shortly. At this stage it is looking unlikely that I will bother going to tender. Seems to be too many obstacles being thrown in front of me. If I can't show a solicitor the tender/contract docs and make suitable amendments it will likely be a deal breaker. The sour taste in my mouth from the very poor service I'm experiencing from my BC is pushing me to the door. When I asked if I can take home tender docs and show solicitor she said "no". She said if you don't like what is on the tender docs don't sign, don't pay and just walk away. How pathetic a response! All the hours I've soent with the sakes man who was excellent getting to this point. I'm talking 3-4 weekends in the office and many phone calls and visits to World of Style. Apparently it is not common with all builders to expect contract sign off without approved plan either. My friend who is very experienced with this stuff and is a builder himself spat the dummy when he saw the PD procedure I signed when I handed over the original 2k deposit. I completely agree with everything you've said. PD's processes are exceptionally poor! I was shocked that I wasn't allowed to see the contract before signing or take the contract home to consider. It really makes you wonder what they have to hide. I also have never heard of this happening with other builders. It's one of the biggest commitmens a person will make on their entire life and PD has absolutely no respect for that. That is an incredibly pathetic response that you receieved! I was in a similar position having spent several weekends driving to the display home (over an hour away) and browsing colours/fittings at the showroom. This was perhaps the only reason I went ahead - I felt so invested and attached to the house that I found it difficult to not go through. And I think this is exactly what PD prays on - the psychological attachment people form. After a very rocky six months dealing with my BC I thought it would be an easier road when construction began, but unfortunately their complete inability to communicate and inform me of anything has shone through again. Very disappinting. I'm sorry to hear that you're having a terrible experience with your BC! Good luck - I hope that the regional manager can help you out or that you have a much better experience with another builder! Re: Porter Davis homes 10814Jan 18, 2015 8:10 pm eastla I will get in touch with the regional manager shortly. At this stage it is looking unlikely that I will bother going to tender. Seems to be too many obstacles being thrown in front of me. If I can't show a solicitor the tender/contract docs and make suitable amendments it will likely be a deal breaker. The sour taste in my mouth from the very poor service I'm experiencing from my BC is pushing me to the door. When I asked if I can take home tender docs and show solicitor she said "no". She said if you don't like what is on the tender docs don't sign, don't pay and just walk away. How pathetic a response! All the hours I've soent with the sakes man who was excellent getting to this point. I'm talking 3-4 weekends in the office and many phone calls and visits to World of Style. Apparently it is not common with all builders to expect contract sign off without approved plan either. My friend who is very experienced with this stuff and is a builder himself spat the dummy when he saw the PD procedure I signed when I handed over the original 2k deposit. Sounds like you need to complain about your BC and get a new one ASAP. Good luck with it all and I hope it becomes a more positive experience for you! Re: Porter Davis homes 10815Jan 18, 2015 8:52 pm One point for clarification. What is the difference between plan approval and building permit? Are both of those organised by PD after contract sign off? I just checked another major volume builder and their procedure is: approved plans available and then sign off of contract. Then after sign off they apply for building permit. This is not how PD seems to want to go, right? Building a Rochford 34M Re: Porter Davis homes 10816Jan 19, 2015 6:56 am eastla One point for clarification. What is the difference between plan approval and building permit? Are both of those organised by PD after contract sign off? I just checked another major volume builder and their procedure is: approved plans available and then sign off of contract. Then after sign off they apply for building permit. This is not how PD seems to want to go, right? From our build I understand it this way. Design approval = Estate design committee or council (depending if it's an old or new are) approves your design based on the guidelines/covenants of the area. Building permit = Site surveyor is appointed to the build. He/she reviews the plans and then issues the permit. This is done in conjunction with the council. Yes that is correct, PD are a little 'backwards' in their process. If I have miss understood the process please correct me. Re: Porter Davis homes 10817Jan 19, 2015 7:16 am Thanks, Either way, it seems nothing is approved until after I sign a contract. The fact that they already have a major part of the deposit at tender means you have a pretty large commitment financially even before you have seen a contract and then who knows what happens after signing the contract and paying the remainder of the 5 percent when the plans go for approval. Feels quite risky to me and the more I investigate PD competitors it seems this is an unusual way of doing business. Building a Rochford 34M Re: Porter Davis homes 10818Jan 19, 2015 7:23 am eastla Thanks, Either way, it seems nothing is approved until after I sign a contract. The fact that they already have a major part of the deposit at tender means you have a pretty large commitment financially even before you have seen a contract and then who knows what happens after signing the contract and paying the remainder of the 5 percent when the plans go for approval. Feels quite risky to me and the more I investigate PD competitors it seems this is an unusual way of doing business. Hi eastla, I'm interested to know which of the other volume builders let's you pay after council permit / approval? 'Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.' Blog: http://prestigebuild.blogspot.com.au Re: Porter Davis homes 10819Jan 19, 2015 7:24 am eastla Thanks, Either way, it seems nothing is approved until after I sign a contract. The fact that they already have a major part of the deposit at tender means you have a pretty large commitment financially even before you have seen a contract and then who knows what happens after signing the contract and paying the remainder of the 5 percent when the plans go for approval. Feels quite risky to me and the more I investigate PD competitors it seems this is an unusual way of doing business. I understand your concern and I agree with you. The way I see it you have two options: 1. Walk way, now is the time to do so. The more time you invest with this builder the more attached you are to the house and the more money you will loose. 2. Talk to management about slightly modifying the process to suit your needs. They might request payment for the drawing creation and approval process instead of a X% deposit. Re: Porter Davis homes 10820Jan 19, 2015 8:19 am sliick Hi eastla, I'm interested to know which of the other volume builders let's you pay after council permit / approval? A friend built through Orbit and they did not sign until approval. It also appears that Metricon operates this way. "7. Final contract signing Once your home plans are approved and final costs established you’ll sign the building contract. At this stage you’ll pay the balance of 5% deposit of the contract amount." http://www.metricon.com.au/metricon/med ... f?ext=.pdf Building a Rochford 34M Three options 1 Ask the liquidator 2 Find another PD customer and ask the source of their report 3 Pay for new report 3 13316 Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 76944 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 107519 |