Porter Davis homes

bermuda23 · May 08, 2015 8:18 pm

newhouse101

What sink are you supposed to have?
Your cutout looks like it goes with the AFA Cubeline which is what we have.
And installed, ours looks like this picture on reece's website where the cutout follows the lines of the sink.

http://www.reece.com.au/bathrooms/products/afa/afa-cubeline-double-undermount-kitchen-sink-9500399

Mine is Blanco U2 undermount sink. Do you have the photos of yours in reality?

tlblhayward · May 08, 2015 10:05 pm

Partially as expected...
http://bendigowaldorf.blogspot.com/2015 ... ially.html

Completely unexpected...
http://bendigowaldorf.blogspot.com/2015 ... -what.html

tlblhayward · May 09, 2015 6:14 pm

For those that are interested, compare our new and old site plans...

http://bendigowaldorf.blogspot.com/2015 ... plans.html

tlblhayward · May 10, 2015 10:33 pm

Looking forward to a week of finalisation (hopefully)...

http://bendigowaldorf.blogspot.com/2015 ... gs-up.html

Pungentia · May 11, 2015 10:00 am

We revisited flooring decisions this weekend, and ended up locking in our choice with the large supplier/auction room place in Clayton near Ikea.

They have the best display of bamboo flooring of any flooring place we'd visited and it was good to be able to see Embleton and Arc (and other brands) next to each other.

We decided on Embleton in Coffee colour, which was a decision partially based on price. Although we loved Australiana (Arc) and Pilbara (Embleton) the colour variation was a bit to wide for us. Coffee seemed to have enough variation and a rich colour, without managing to be too dark. We also took samples back to the house and looked at it in situ.

The kicker was a discount on the coffee colour - we (and by we, I mean Silverfish) will have a go at self installing the bamboo flooring.

Here's a pic of the coffee colour

We also locked in our carpet (part of securing the extra discount). We went with Quest Venice in Macarena which they will install for us. It's a 48oz solution dyed nylon, which I think is best for us in terms of stain protection with kids and animals. We went for the Airstep StepMax underlay. Standing on the carpet with the underlay underneath on a hard surface it feels lovely.

All up, the flooring will be slightly more expensive than the base PD package, but the quality of carpet is much nicer than the category 3 upgrade, and the bamboo prices in contrast $120 for PD Vs $49 + self install (or extra $25 per sqm installed).

Now that the carpet colour is locked in I can feel more confident looking at window furnishings. I think we will do:

- Woodlike (PVC) venetians for the bathrooms/powder rooms - possibly from Spotlight,
- Custom made rollers for the kids rooms (probably - may do romans)
- Romans for our front feature windows with see through rollers inset behind for privacy and
- Heavy rubber backed block out curtains/sheers for our master bed sliding door and
-a blockout roman for the high window in our master bedroom (probably custom made by a well known place in Dandenong).

There are two upper storey brick walls to be completed on our place - above the garage and the front wall/balconey. I think they will probably get that done today, weather permitting.

I assume that we will be invoiced this week - need to call the SS and confirm we won't be paying this invoice until all outstanding issues are fixed
- we still have bottom frame plates which have been cut to fit pipes etc,
- window frame with visible dints
- sliding door with visible dints
- chunks of mortar stuck to sliding door
- windows which don't seem to seal properly (I can see daylight at the edges, which I don't think is good enough for double glazing)
- bricking over hang of about 4cm to one front pillar,
- incorrect mortar/grouting finish to one garage wall (all are flush, except this one.. wtf?)
- some small grouting gaps
- area near back door needs attention

Hopefully all actually resolved this time.

MichaelQ · May 11, 2015 11:30 pm

totally understand why you opted for the coffee color.
Did you see the samples of the Pilbara and how much they varied from the display?

While we love the Pilbara on display, the risk (of getting a batch with a lot of variation) might be too high so we are now
considering the more solid colors like Coffee and Daintree.

We are also looking to buy the Venice carpet!
Must be their #1 seller.

Hope all goes well rectifying the remaining issues.

Pungentia · May 12, 2015 2:49 pm

The colour samples in their display varied a fair bit, and from extensive googling for images, it looks like they vary a bit too much for our liking.

I liked the Daintree but wasn't super keen on the black striations (I thought it looked a bit like rubber marks from sneakers) and then they discounted the coffee by $6 per sqm which impacted price point and sold it to us.

Which colour are you looking at in the Venice? We liked the Macarena, which was their suggestion. I briefly toyed with a slightly lighter colour (Royal Page), but we ended up going back to our first choice as it should show up less muck (or so I hope).

Apparently bricking should be finishing on our site today, eaves plaster should be installed and painted and scaff should come down this week. Apparently work remaining for the lock up invoice should be completed by early next week.

SS acknowledged that second stage frame work hadn't happened yet (i.e. all the rectifications) and I asked that it be done before we have our inspection and before we are given the invoice. he assured me it would be done prior to plastering. Fingers crossed that it happens without further fuss.

I also confirmed with PD management that absolutely no changes whatsoever, no matter how minor, can be made during our build (we were looking to change from standard R2.5 insulation to R2.5 Sound Screen, which is being used in other places in our build).

It really hit home that if I was to do this building thing again I would not chose a volume builder next time.

sogg · May 12, 2015 2:58 pm

Pungentia

I also confirmed with PD management that absolutely no changes whatsoever, no matter how minor, can be made during our build (we were looking to change from standard R2.5 insulation to R2.5 Sound Screen, which is being used in other places in our build).

Bollocks...
I have had numerous changes made, some initiated by me and some by Porter Davis...

katemorley91 · May 12, 2015 2:59 pm

sogg

Pungentia

I also confirmed with PD management that absolutely no changes whatsoever, no matter how minor, can be made during our build (we were looking to change from standard R2.5 insulation to R2.5 Sound Screen, which is being used in other places in our build).

Bollocks...
I have had numerous changes made, some initiated by me and some by Porter Davis...

I Have had changes made too. mostly by PD

knyght · May 12, 2015 9:23 pm

Pungentia

The colour samples in their display varied a fair bit, and from extensive googling for images, it looks like they vary a bit too much for our liking.

I liked the Daintree but wasn't super keen on the black striations (I thought it looked a bit like rubber marks from sneakers) and then they discounted the coffee by $6 per sqm which impacted price point and sold it to us.

Which colour are you looking at in the Venice? We liked the Macarena, which was their suggestion. I briefly toyed with a slightly lighter colour (Royal Page), but we ended up going back to our first choice as it should show up less muck (or so I hope).

Apparently bricking should be finishing on our site today, eaves plaster should be installed and painted and scaff should come down this week. Apparently work remaining for the lock up invoice should be completed by early next week.

SS acknowledged that second stage frame work hadn't happened yet (i.e. all the rectifications) and I asked that it be done before we have our inspection and before we are given the invoice. he assured me it would be done prior to plastering. Fingers crossed that it happens without further fuss.

I also confirmed with PD management that absolutely no changes whatsoever, no matter how minor, can be made during our build (we were looking to change from standard R2.5 insulation to R2.5 Sound Screen, which is being used in other places in our build).

It really hit home that if I was to do this building thing again I would not chose a volume builder next time.

Maybe discuss with your SS to see if he will let you swap out the insulation yourself?

I haven't had any luck getting PD to make any changes since site start... Unless initiated by them have had no luck. Even tried to delete some lighting around bulkhead but was told it was too late.

tlblhayward · May 12, 2015 9:55 pm

PD have released a page on their website dedicated to the Waldorf Grange. With 46 photos in total there is plenty to look at...

http://www.porterdavis.com.au/homes/pre ... orf-grange

MichaelQ · May 12, 2015 10:42 pm

Pungentia

The colour samples in their display varied a fair bit, and from extensive googling for images, it looks like they vary a bit too much for our liking.

I liked the Daintree but wasn't super keen on the black striations (I thought it looked a bit like rubber marks from sneakers) and then they discounted the coffee by $6 per sqm which impacted price point and sold it to us.

Which colour are you looking at in the Venice? We liked the Macarena, which was their suggestion. I briefly toyed with a slightly lighter colour (Royal Page), but we ended up going back to our first choice as it should show up less muck (or so I hope).

Apparently bricking should be finishing on our site today, eaves plaster should be installed and painted and scaff should come down this week. Apparently work remaining for the lock up invoice should be completed by early next week.

SS acknowledged that second stage frame work hadn't happened yet (i.e. all the rectifications) and I asked that it be done before we have our inspection and before we are given the invoice. he assured me it would be done prior to plastering. Fingers crossed that it happens without further fuss.

I also confirmed with PD management that absolutely no changes whatsoever, no matter how minor, can be made during our build (we were looking to change from standard R2.5 insulation to R2.5 Sound Screen, which is being used in other places in our build).

It really hit home that if I was to do this building thing again I would not chose a volume builder next time.

Hi Pungentia,

Wife also thought that the black marks on the Daintree looked like rubber marks.
Re the Venice, didn't put much thought into the color at this stage. We took a sample of the Fossil Beige which is a light color.
With carpet, its really important to look at a sample against your wall color and in the prevailing light.
As long as you stick the Venice range, shouldn't be an issue to change the color once the house is nearly handed over as they
carry the Venice in stock.

Re the R2.5 insulation, is this for the external walls and the R2.5 sound screen in the internal walls?

tlblhayward · May 15, 2015 10:36 pm

PD's blog has been overhauled...

http://bendigowaldorf.blogspot.com.au/2 ... rhaul.html

thewoodies · May 15, 2015 10:56 pm

We have our contract appointment on Monday... any advice? Our BC (who, unfortunately, has been with PD a few months) called me yesterday to confirm a couple of things and she said she'd be able to send through a pricing breakdown today but - no surprise - that never eventuated. Couldn't give us a total either. I had to say this part of PD's system is the most frustrating, is it too much to ask to want to go over the pricing in our own time before we get in front of her?

Anything else we should be thinking about before Monday? With our level (access) there's no tender appt which makes it even more stressful.

tlblhayward · May 15, 2015 11:47 pm

thewoodies · May 16, 2015 12:04 am

Thanks for that, it's helpful. We're freaking out about it, we don't like the constrained timeframe, we dont like the unknown of pricing and I only have about 80% confidence in our BC. Then to top it off I've just realised I took the wrong day off work and I'm scrambling to find someone to cover for me, otherwise my husband will have to go it alone. Not good!

Doc Freeman · May 16, 2015 10:10 am

tlblhayward

If I've missed anything... it's no because of a lack of trying!

Missed a 't'. :)]

(everything else - great advice)

.

tlblhayward · May 16, 2015 3:17 pm

Doc Freeman

tlblhayward

If I've missed anything... it's no because of a lack of trying!

Missed a 't'. :)]

(everything else - great advice)

tlblhayward · May 17, 2015 10:17 pm

Looking forward to the week ahead... week 50:

http://bendigowaldorf.blogspot.com/2015 ... ahead.html

Pungentia · May 19, 2015 8:23 pm

I will try and just stick with the facts as they stand.

Bricking has theoretically "finished" on site... By that, I mean bricks have been laid. The ground floor is apparently bricked fairly well. The upper storey (where the bricking supervisor was off site having moved on to another job) has two walls very visbly bowed and bricking for second storey was generally very sloppy.

All the bricks have run out and when I last spoke with the CS last week there are plans to take down the scaffolding down as soon as eaves have been installed (any day now).

Frame stage issues (like split bottom plates and lack of blocking) still persist. No idea if/when they will be resolved -we've been hearing they will be resolved for the past couple of months.

We are expecting to be issued with a lock up invoice in the next week.

If the above issues aren't resolved payment will be withheld until such time as the building will pass inspection.

Not enjoying the process in any way or means.

Hoping someone else has something positive to offer about their build.