Porter Davis homes

Re - Demonlition

We used Vic Wide Demo's - and although their communication was poor (called on Friday and they confirmed they would start Monday, then when no one was there Monday I called and they replied 'Maybe next week, we've got a big commercial job...')

However once they started was all good. They also made a deal for cash.

I'm coming onto week 5 since our PCI - also 5 weeks past our build guarantee. Really frustrating seeing the last month go by without seeing any kind of urgency to complete this house. I could understand this if weather was bad, or if one job was holding back the rest - or even if major work was found at PCI, but it's all pretty minor stuff (replacing a cracked window, scratches on gutters, rendering a section of wall, the general paint touchups) No issue with the quality of the build - even the private inspector said it was a well built house with a few things that need to get fixes, just seems like I'm either getting bumped, or their selection of tradies is no thin that it takes weeks for them to arrive.

Indicative handover has been 2 weeks ago, last Friday, last Tuesday, Wednesday, tomorrow and now next Monday. The lead up to PCI was about the same. I have learnt to take a date update with a pinch of salt.

Our roof is up It's so exciting seeing it all come together.

I've update our blog with some photos. http://www.dunedin29.blogspot.com.au/20 ... heads.html

Thank you

Actually we were lucky and got it through a promotion for free. Otherwise, we were going to go with tiles.

We went through the exact same process. The first things we got rid of were the things that we could do after hand over (if we ever wanted to). Next was the 'if only' things or 'that looks pretty'. Basically half the stuff in the display.

To be honest, I am glad we did that as we could have easily blow our budget (Even more!) and the costs of a new home don't end when you hand over. There are so many other expenses it's not funny...

Lotto win would be great

That's the same door we have. Corinthian Infinity.

Mizu Drift tap-ware is ridiculously expensive. We ended up going Milli Edge.

Our sinks Posh Domaine were only $30-40 more.

The rest we pretty much spent the same as you except for the cabinets. We went with standard.

Nice colours BTW.

Thewoodies - yes, feel your pain with trimming things back. Your colours look quite similar to ours - nice choice

We paired down our costs a fair bit:

- trimmed back to cat1 tiles - check out Simplicity Sand tiles (if you haven't chosen them already)
- LEDs downstairs and in bathrooms, and extra batten points elsewhere
- an extra double power point per room - can add to this later and double their size
- cat6 cabling mainly to downstairs, so we could add this later upstairs if needs be
- I thought the Mizu was heaps cheaper than the Milli Glance?? Like huge amounts? Could be wrong. We went with Mizu.
- Flooring will be done after hand over. It will be more expensive than the standard entry level PD, but will be infinitely better quality (Embelton bamboo downstairs and Quest carpet upstairs is the plan). Bamboo will be about $80psqm laid I think, compared to PDs $120+)
- sinks - we didn't much like the standard, but we were able to find bathroom sink upgrades for $13 per sink
- front door - we did lash out on a nice front door and porch lighting with light fittings. The door was narrower in width than their original quote, and that size is totally fine with us (can't remember the measurement, but it's still wider than most front doors)
- we dropped silk gloss and went with standard laminate in Polar White, but I think this will be fine, I haven't had much of an issue with standard laminate to date, but I'm looking forward to stone benchtops (kitchen will be piaza (grey) and bathrooms crystal chalk).

After handover we will:

- paint a feature wall ourselves (if we decide we want one)
- install DIY pendant light fittings to most points (and have a sparky in to do those that aren't DIY)
- organise to have flooring done after hand over - we've already had some quotes and are pretty sure we will go with a mob from Clayton.
- build a back deck
- arrange drive way
- install desk in the study, shelves in the WIR and galley
- hire a mini digger and excavate garden/do landscaping
- tile the front veranda
- purchase curtains and blinds - mostly online for blinds, but possibly curtains through a business in Dandenong.
- eat beans and rice for a long time

You wouldn't have the door price to hand at all? She wasn't able to give us a price. I didn't think ours was called Infinity though? From memory it started with W. Maybe it's changed?

Thank you very much

Thanks for the heads up. I figured that some of the other laminate would be fine in standard but was worried the white could look cheap. I think we'll just have to wear that one.