Porter Davis homes

I just made my BC, Slab Supervisor and Site Supervisor aware of it. I also provided them the company name and contact details.

As for the invoice, if you receive it and still have 'open items' then you need to let accounts know that there are some open items still needing to be rectified based on your independent report and payment will be made once they are attended too.

All done via email.

No worries. Just keep in mind they won't always remember you have an inspector so remind them when the time comes before they keep progressing.

Especially lock-up. Inspector is best to go in there pre-plaster otherwise a lot of work that has been done cannot be 'inspected' as such. Not through a naked eye anyway.

So your build commenced and you hadn't signed final construction drawing yet??

Interesting concept... Good luck next week!

Hi dran15,

Got a post on my blog with some details.

http://www.dunedin29.blogspot.com.au/20 ... essed.html

Thank you

Building work continues at a cracking pace onsite, and on the one hand, trades seem lovely and generally seem to be doing a good job.. on the other hand, bricking is now part way done and all the issues raised in regards to the frame haven't been addressed. There are still issues with the frame going over the edge of the slab too.

Our CS still hasn't indicated he has received the inspection report for frame stage (this has now been sent multiple times) and our first inspection with him on site will be this afternoon. Also no response a week on from our BC, in terms of trying to resolve issue with Report and Consent that wasn't applied for.

Not satisfied with the communication from both our CS and our BC and don't feel this is good enough from PD - administration is letting the side down.

Trades are booked and materials are being delivered but no one seems to be checking works, controlling documents and issuing correct plans to trades or communicating time lines, issue resolution etc with us.
Fingers crossed this afternoon's site meeting resolves outstanding issues and the game is lifted.

I don't want the frame (and slab) issues bricked over. If we don't have some serious progress this afternoon I will be addressing these issues with management later today and will be requesting works are stopped until we have a resolution of all issues. If they are mostly minor issues, they should be quickly resolved.

Site meeting this afternoon.

CS was straight down the line and opened with an opportunity to share the positives and negatives of our build process thus far. We indicated we were far from happy with communication and resolution of issues, but that the trades onsite seemed to be doing a good job.

We expressed great concern that things seemed to be barrelling along with no aparent regard for the issues raised in our report. He noted that the site had also been inspected by their inspector who had assessed our inspectors points, but that the area of frame overhanging the slab was measured differently by their inspector and was within tolerances. He felt that, without disrepect, that our inspector had measured incorrectly with slab overhang. I looked whilst onsite, and without a measuring tape, overhang was pretty close to 1cm, probably not 1.4 as we had been advised.

We raised the frame issues like the bracing at corners interally and he explained their process which consists of frame being built, invoiced and then internal issues such as ensuring walls are straight etc, being refined and resolved prior to plastering.

We also raised the issue of trades not having correct plans, which he at least listened to.

He felt that the issues raised in our inspection will all be resolved by the 4 day stint being done by the follow up framing person, and that this is the routine way they work. He noted that according to their framing inspectors our job was more perfect than the standard job and that by the brickies continuing nothing was being skipped over.

The slab issues were not issues according to PD and all major indentations to the edge of the slab have been rectified. We noted that this is the kind of information we feel it is vital to discuss with us.

We discussed our window overlooking issue and he acknowledged we should be refunded for the service not provided in the instance of the report and consent on the window and also acknowledged the issue with our other windows - and that if they must be obscured PD should absorb the cost of report and consent and potentially glazing, as it was their error. It's a shame that this issue wasn't resolved in a timely manner by our BC.

Build is currently on track, with bricking to continue next week I think to complete the first storey, plaster will then be delivered, and then scaffolding to arrive again for the upper storey to be wrapped and then bricked. Somewhere in there the frame guy comes back for the second time to do all the rectifications/planing/ensuring walls are straight.

We also discussed the broken fence (broken by PD) and advised the neighbour is ok for it to be removed to enable better access for brickies, if they confirm they want that, on the proviso PD accept they will need to replace later.

So outcome - we have a straight down the line CS who will play by the rules, we have our concerns acknowledged, a promise of better communication, a committment to follow up with our BC, an acknowledgement of liability, and I've let the CS know I am on the OCD end of the scale with needing things to be lined up nicely and straight. A crooked light switch or window frame will leave me swearing for years, unfortunate as that is.

We will still be holding firm with the next stage that we must meet with the supervisor and talk through any issues and timeline for resolution before the stage is paid. He was also happy with a fortnightly communication with us, but requested phone conversation.

Apparently things are on track to be completed by end of October worst case, but if all goes well, it could be September. Hopefully the communication is much better and we don't have any further issues with BC literally saying she is avoiding us as she knows we will be greatly annoyed by an issue.

I gather the site will be locked in about 2 weeks time - I am hoping the lock up invoice isn't supplied then. I don't think I can pay it without a garage being constructed.

Here's hoping things improve from here.

So you no longer trust your inspector?


So you don't expect your house to be built according to requirements?


Were the issues raised by your private inspector? If so, why are you paying for an inspector when you are going to allow their professional advice to be ignored?

Sounds like we have the same BC.

Hope things are better for you, going forward.