Porter Davis homes

sliick · Dec 25, 2014 8:04 am

tlblhayward

Our bank severely undervalued our house. We were $1200 off being rejected. The major part was that they completely reject the value of the extras and upgrades that we had.

or they correctly identified the overinflated markup of PD's upgrades

emily14 · Dec 26, 2014 3:50 pm

sogg

emily14

In addition to receiving this building variation today, I received my ‘lock-up stage’ invoice at 11am. According to PD, ‘as soon as the brickwork is complete and external doors are hung the home is at “lockup stage”'. On checking the build at 5.30pm today, the brickwork is NOT complete; there are several areas around the home that still need to be completed. Someone at PD must be a little bit confused. Or perhaps PD has conveniently sent out invoices to all customers whose homes were close to completing a stage today, so the money can sit in PD’s account over the Christmas period and they can earn some more interest!

Same thing happened to me with the fixing stage invoice, invoice sent at 11:15am... Office closed that day at 12pm... The fixing stage isnt even close to complete, heaps of doors, skirtings and arcitraves not installed. I reckon ur right, PD wanting to collect interest over the holiday period.

sogg, assuming that you will be withholding payment until the stage is complete? That's my intention, however I know that the only time PD is capable of acting fast (or acting at all really) is when it comes to taking your money, so I'm sure they'll kick up a fuss if the money isn't sitting in their account when they return on 5 January...

sogg · Dec 26, 2014 3:59 pm

emily14

sogg

emily14

In addition to receiving this building variation today, I received my ‘lock-up stage’ invoice at 11am. According to PD, ‘as soon as the brickwork is complete and external doors are hung the home is at “lockup stage”'. On checking the build at 5.30pm today, the brickwork is NOT complete; there are several areas around the home that still need to be completed. Someone at PD must be a little bit confused. Or perhaps PD has conveniently sent out invoices to all customers whose homes were close to completing a stage today, so the money can sit in PD’s account over the Christmas period and they can earn some more interest!

Same thing happened to me with the fixing stage invoice, invoice sent at 11:15am... Office closed that day at 12pm... The fixing stage isnt even close to complete, heaps of doors, skirtings and arcitraves not installed. I reckon ur right, PD wanting to collect interest over the holiday period.

sogg, assuming that you will be withholding payment until the stage is complete? That's my intention, however I know that the only time PD is capable of acting fast (or acting at all really) is when it comes to taking your money, so I'm sure they'll kick up a fuss if the money isn't sitting in their account when they return on 5 January...

Yep, im not paying them anything till the actual work has been finished, they can kick up asmuch of a fuss as they want, the havent finished the stage as per the contract and thats all there is to it.

tlblhayward · Dec 26, 2014 4:01 pm

Both times that PD have claimed stage completion early I have asked them why I was not asked to get my inspector to check it?

J & C · Dec 27, 2014 8:00 pm

Does any know what is the warranty on the Airflow exhaust fans and if I should contact PD New Home care team if the exhaust does not work.

jotor0 · Dec 27, 2014 8:41 pm

Signed our contract last week.....Cant wait to see the slab poured now

JP79 · Dec 27, 2014 9:52 pm

jotor0

Signed our contract last week.....Cant wait to see the slab poured now

Congratulations jotor0! I look forward to reading the progress on your build.

We're in the very beginning process of signing up with Porter Davis after issues with another builder, so our fingers are crossed PD are the builders for us.

Great win for you on having the bushfire levy removed from your build. Our block sits 'just' within a bushfire zone (the back half that is). Perhaps I can have half of the cost removed? ::wink::

jotor0 · Dec 27, 2014 10:02 pm

Thx jp79
Speak with your states building authority and they should be able to email you a letter stating that you should not have to comply if your building envelope does not sit on the shaded area.
You can then show your BC when discussing this extra cost

KB_PETERS · Dec 28, 2014 11:22 am

hi all, my wife and I are looking at building the Montague 21 and have selected most of the packages that are for the access range of houses but just wondering approx how much more you spent when selecting all the fittings and colours etc.

Would like to try and keep the cost down but I would imagine the standard inclusions are quite basic, so any advice would be much appreciated!

emily14 · Dec 28, 2014 6:37 pm

tlblhayward

Both times that PD have claimed stage completion early I have asked them why I was not asked to get my inspector to check it?

It seems like this must be a global issue within PD's processes and they rely on people not contesting them. I'm glad to see there are people who do though, they shouldn't get away with this.

emily14 · Dec 28, 2014 6:55 pm

KB_PETERS

hi all, my wife and I are looking at building the Montague 21 and have selected most of the packages that are for the access range of houses but just wondering approx how much more you spent when selecting all the fittings and colours etc.

Would like to try and keep the cost down but I would imagine the standard inclusions are quite basic, so any advice would be much appreciated!

Hi,

I am building the Montague 19. I selected the 'kitchen bliss' and 'stunning details' promotion packs. For me, these two packs covered a lot of the things that I would have liked to upgrade anyway. I had initially selected the flooring package as well, until I saw the quality of the carpet. The category 1 flooring is hideous, and of very poor quality; it is certainly not worth the price of the package.

I spent very little on other upgrades/colours, only about $5,000. This included sliding doors (ensuite and pantry), niche in each shower, extra power points, tv antenna, and category 2/3 tiles. This has left me with a fair bit of work to complete post-build, but it can all be achieved at a much lower cost than PD offered.

Hope this helps!

KB_PETERS · Dec 28, 2014 8:02 pm

emily14

KB_PETERS

hi all, my wife and I are looking at building the Montague 21 and have selected most of the packages that are for the access range of houses but just wondering approx how much more you spent when selecting all the fittings and colours etc.

Would like to try and keep the cost down but I would imagine the standard inclusions are quite basic, so any advice would be much appreciated!

Hi,

I am building the Montague 19. I selected the 'kitchen bliss' and 'stunning details' promotion packs. For me, these two packs covered a lot of the things that I would have liked to upgrade anyway. I had initially selected the flooring package as well, until I saw the quality of the carpet. The category 1 flooring is hideous, and of very poor quality; it is certainly not worth the price of the package.

I spent very little on other upgrades/colours, only about $5,000. This included sliding doors (ensuite and pantry), niche in each shower, extra power points, tv antenna, and category 2/3 tiles. This has left me with a fair bit of work to complete post-build, but it can all be achieved at a much lower cost than PD offered.

Hope this helps!

Thank you very much it has definitely helped

mirz · Dec 28, 2014 10:30 pm

KB_PETERS

hi all, my wife and I are looking at building the Montague 21 and have selected most of the packages that are for the access range of houses but just wondering approx how much more you spent when selecting all the fittings and colours etc.

Would like to try and keep the cost down but I would imagine the standard inclusions are quite basic, so any advice would be much appreciated!

I would suggest this based on our experience with PD:

1. About $12-$15k site cost.
2. Around $15k for upgrades.
3. Around $8k for flooring.

But always ask your sales person to add packs for free (kindly) that will help a lot with points 2 & 3.

We had VB as sales person, and she was the best.

Also never waste money on cat3 cabinet handles. They charge you $45 per handle. You can source them easily for $10 each post handover.

There is another thread here about PD upgrades and costs, you will find that very informative.

KB_PETERS · Dec 29, 2014 12:52 pm

Ok cool I will check the PD upgrade thread, thank you!

Sandy45 · Dec 29, 2014 3:21 pm

Slab quality - anyone had issues with sections of slab. We just reviewed our slab and noted edges are not square and look a little crumbly. Also the water tank slab section cracked and loose within a week since pour. What did you do if you had this?

tlblhayward · Dec 29, 2014 11:36 pm

Sandy45

Slab quality - anyone had issues with sections of slab. We just reviewed our slab and noted edges are not square and look a little crumbly. Also the water tank slab section cracked and loose within a week since pour. What did you do if you had this?

My advice... get an independent inspector. If they say that it needs to be redone then that is what you should tell PD.

Sandy45 · Dec 30, 2014 8:04 am

tlblhayward

My advice... get an independent inspector. If they say that it needs to be redone then that is what you should tell PD.

Our inspector came before concrete pour and picked up various things but wont be back until frame up. They fixed what he recommended but wondering if they do listen to us now slab is paid for. We have had concrete expert review our photos if slab and written letter to pd. Hopefully when office opens again it will be fixed, especially the water tank slab which is awful.

joea · Jan 03, 2015 3:35 pm

Sandy45

tlblhayward

My advice... get an independent inspector. If they say that it needs to be redone then that is what you should tell PD.

Our inspector came before concrete pour and picked up various things but wont be back until frame up. They fixed what he recommended but wondering if they do listen to us now slab is paid for. We have had concrete expert review our photos if slab and written letter to pd. Hopefully when office opens again it will be fixed, especially the water tank slab which is awful.

It seems that it might be worthwhile getting the inspector to come after the slab pour too. At least you can send an official 'fault' report to PD before they keep going full steam ahead with the build as we have been seeing with other builds.

Hopefully all gets sorted for you Sandy45. Please keep us up to date.

Sandy45 · Jan 03, 2015 7:05 pm

joea

Sandy45

tlblhayward

My advice... get an independent inspector. If they say that it needs to be redone then that is what you should tell PD.

Our inspector came before concrete pour and picked up various things but wont be back until frame up. They fixed what he recommended but wondering if they do listen to us now slab is paid for. We have had concrete expert review our photos if slab and written letter to pd. Hopefully when office opens again it will be fixed, especially the water tank slab which is awful.

It seems that it might be worthwhile getting the inspector to come after the slab pour too. At least you can send an official 'fault' report to PD before they keep going full steam ahead with the build as we have been seeing with other builds.

Hopefully all gets sorted for you Sandy45. Please keep us up to date.

Good idea. Hopefully all back at work next week to help & will keep u updated.

Pungentia · Jan 04, 2015 12:21 pm

Hi everyone

Silv3rfish and I visited the new display at Harcrest, Wantirna yesterday which features a brand new version of the Hoffman coming in at 34 squares. It was interesting to see the design as it was pretty much what we told PD was missing from their stable of designs in that it had two rear bedrooms with decent size windows which could look over a rear yard.

It looks to be in Austral Melbourne Newport bricks and features the 4.5m A&L Boutique stacker door that we have upgraded too, plus the extra lounge windows we added in. The stair run was mostly straight which allowed for a different shaped laundry. The one thing I disliked was the upstairs rumpus seemed a bit too squishy.

We will probably post a few pics of the new display to the blog as soon as we can find the camera transfer cable in our sea of cables.

We're feeling excited that theoretically our Hoffman build will begin *this* month!! eep! Wonder if that will actually happen or if everything will be slowed down by council because of flood dispensation issues.

Anyone want to take any bets as to our site start date? We plan to fix up the time lapse camera again today so we can continue to share our progress