Porter Davis homes

lizbf85 · Nov 21, 2016 3:16 pm

Madison_45_Vic

Good luck with all of your builds. Seems there are an array of experiences which can be expected with such a large organisation. Have read some horror stories with other builders that lead us to settle on PD.

Our site scrape is booked for tomorrow so getting just a little bit excited.

I did a drive by this morning just to see if anything was happening by chance. Pleasing to see there is a portaloo on the block.

I will keep you posted on our build in the hopes that is of use to others going through the experience. Wish us luck!

Good luck!!its defiantly exciting.

fademan · Nov 21, 2016 5:13 pm

lizbf85

fademan

I thought I have read here that if you upgrade items to a higher category than the current deals, they take the base price, not the deal price, as a base....if that makes sense?

yes im pretty sure thats right.

That explains why cat 2 stone was almost $4k all up, because they assumed the base was laminate. Kinda sucks. It seems that stone bench tops are 'standard' these days, but probably wasn't 5 years ago.

thejuros · Nov 21, 2016 7:51 pm

fademan

lizbf85

fademan

I thought I have read here that if you upgrade items to a higher category than the current deals, they take the base price, not the deal price, as a base....if that makes sense?

yes im pretty sure thats right.

That explains why cat 2 stone was almost $4k all up, because they assumed the base was laminate. Kinda sucks. It seems that stone bench tops are 'standard' these days, but probably wasn't 5 years ago.

When we were in our appointment with kitchen culture we had the same & I said to our consultant that the price for our cat 4 stone said 'in lieu of laminate' and mentioned we had cat 1 stone in our upgrade package & she said that i was right it should be the price from cat 1 stone in our promo & changed the price for us

fademan · Nov 21, 2016 9:01 pm

Well in that case, that's a good thing. The lesson is that you need to prompt them!

bd3watson · Nov 21, 2016 9:30 pm

fademan

Well in that case, that's a good thing. The lesson is that you need to prompt them!

Yep, you need to be on them like a rash!!!

Another place you can save money is with the Birk Blinds people... They usually quote to a full price and then if you are going with them for your blinds you can actually ask for a 5% discount as that is what you're entitled to as a PD customer... Thought I should let people know as this is what our BC got for us...

aplaceforeverything · Nov 21, 2016 9:37 pm

[/quote]
Great Im glad that made sense.
If you look at it like the 'promo' is basically just standard then its easier to understand. By PD doing it this way it just looks like your getting even more for your money.. The standard inclusions really are the most basic of basic.
I agree, however alot of people still go the laminate and some of them are actually really nice.
We did laminate in our laundry and i freakin love it!!! maybe its just the grain it looks really modern.

Yes you can. I dont know if the current promo is 40mm stone for bench, however i know our island came at 40mm in the promo with the rest at 20mm... Just to throw it out there an upgrade to a cat 2 stone and waterfall edges to both sides cost us $2900 + another $1800 ish for the galley! these so called ' inclusions' become a distant memory once u start your selections :([

/quote]

Yes some laminate is awesome! I've been doing some sums about all the upgrades we'd need with a Metricon Freedom build and it works out more expensive than the PD promo I think ... except that stone pricing is a bit scary!!!

thejuros · Nov 22, 2016 7:47 am

bd3watson

fademan

Well in that case, that's a good thing. The lesson is that you need to prompt them!

Yep, you need to be on them like a rash!!!

Another place you can save money is with the Birk Blinds people... They usually quote to a full price and then if you are going with them for your blinds you can actually ask for a 5% discount as that is what you're entitled to as a PD customer... Thought I should let people know as this is what our BC got for us...

We have gone through Birk for all our shutters, did your BC organise it? We go to tender/ contact in Jan but did our selections quite a while ago. Just wondering if I should email our bc or our Birk consultant and ask

lizbf85 · Nov 22, 2016 9:40 am

thejuros

When we were in our appointment with kitchen culture we had the same & I said to our consultant that the price for our cat 4 stone said 'in lieu of laminate' and mentioned we had cat 1 stone in our upgrade package & she said that i was right it should be the price from cat 1 stone in our promo & changed the price for us

Yes i agree, sorry that is what i meant.

base is worked out from whatever current promo applies

lizbf85 · Nov 22, 2016 9:44 am

fademan

Well in that case, that's a good thing. The lesson is that you need to prompt them!

If they are working out the cost of your upgrade they should be working from your base price. If on a promo like lifestyle that includes stone, then this will be your base. They usually wont tell you the price at WOS as the credits are worked out by tender.
In saying that though your KK rep should be able to work out all the costs if you push.

If you going Vancouver you def qualify so they should be working from stone not laminate.

lizbf85 · Nov 22, 2016 9:51 am

Agree aplaceforeverything !!!

its all very scary...
the price just for upgrade to vinyl wrap the entire kitchen was $10,0000!!!!! an absolute joke.
we ended up going with the silk gloss that still cost us a bit, and after seeing it installed wished we'd had the funds to get vinyl.

BLINDS.................. we got a quote with birk and even with a 5% on top of our quote was insanity. Understand if you need to factor into bank borrowings, but there are much more affordable options out there. We are in this process at the moment.
And already uncovered a difference of about $7-8K cheaper elsewhere.
Birk 15k and current quote eslewhere $7K

thejuros · Nov 22, 2016 10:38 am

lizbf85

Agree aplaceforeverything !!!

its all very scary...
the price just for upgrade to vinyl wrap the entire kitchen was $10,0000!!!!! an absolute joke.
we ended up going with the silk gloss that still cost us a bit, and after seeing it installed wished we'd had the funds to get vinyl.

BLINDS.................. we got a quote with birk and even with a 5% on top of our quote was insanity. Understand if you need to factor into bank borrowings, but there are much more affordable options out there. We are in this process at the moment.
And already uncovered a difference of about $7-8K cheaper elsewhere.
Birk 15k and current quote eslewhere $7K

Birks sheer/ linen curtains were so so expensive it was a joke! We were quoted for our 2 stackers and they came in at the same price that our full house in plantation shutters cost!

sunshine83 · Nov 22, 2016 11:10 am

lizbf85

Agree aplaceforeverything !!!

BLINDS.................. we got a quote with birk and even with a 5% on top of our quote was insanity. Understand if you need to factor into bank borrowings, but there are much more affordable options out there. We are in this process at the moment.
And already uncovered a difference of about $7-8K cheaper elsewhere.
Birk 15k and current quote eslewhere $7K

Where are people going for the best deals and best quality blinds? We took the advice of this forum and didn't even bother getting a quote at WOS.

I'm thinking plantation blinds for the front of the house bedrooms (both stories) and block out curtains for our bedroom and the kids bedrooms. Not sure about the living areas yet… If we even need blinds as we don't use the ones we have now and our yard is very private and the house very insulated (double glazing)

thejuros · Nov 22, 2016 12:36 pm

sunshine83

lizbf85

Agree aplaceforeverything !!!

BLINDS.................. we got a quote with birk and even with a 5% on top of our quote was insanity. Understand if you need to factor into bank borrowings, but there are much more affordable options out there. We are in this process at the moment.
And already uncovered a difference of about $7-8K cheaper elsewhere.
Birk 15k and current quote eslewhere $7K

Where are people going for the best deals and best quality blinds? We took the advice of this forum and didn't even bother getting a quote at WOS.

I'm thinking plantation blinds for the front of the house bedrooms (both stories) and block out curtains for our bedroom and the kids bedrooms. Not sure about the living areas yet… If we even need blinds as we don't use the ones we have now and our yard is very private and the house very insulated (double glazing)

We are getting plantions throughout our whole house from Birk, we got 3 independent quotes of other companies and they were all roughly $2000 cheaper than Birk. For us it was worth spending the extra and going with them to have them installed before handover and be on our loan and is one less thing to do after we get the keys.
Sheer curtains for our 2 stackers however were $7000 through Birk and $1800 through dollar curtains and blinds ? So we are obviously going with dcb.

lizbf85 · Nov 22, 2016 1:00 pm

sunshine83

lizbf85

Agree aplaceforeverything !!!

BLINDS.................. we got a quote with birk and even with a 5% on top of our quote was insanity. Understand if you need to factor into bank borrowings, but there are much more affordable options out there. We are in this process at the moment.
And already uncovered a difference of about $7-8K cheaper elsewhere.
Birk 15k and current quote eslewhere $7K

Where are people going for the best deals and best quality blinds? We took the advice of this forum and didn't even bother getting a quote at WOS.

I'm thinking plantation blinds for the front of the house bedrooms (both stories) and block out curtains for our bedroom and the kids bedrooms. Not sure about the living areas yet… If we even need blinds as we don't use the ones we have now and our yard is very private and the house very insulated (double glazing)

So far i have had quote from Blind Factory and Superb Window Furnishings ( which was recommenced by another member on this forum) so far so good, meeting with them tomorrow to discuss option and get the full measure up.

We are getting a mix of shutters, sheers, and roller blockout.

Madison_45_Vic · Nov 22, 2016 1:41 pm

lizbf85

sunshine83

lizbf85

Agree aplaceforeverything !!!

BLINDS.................. we got a quote with birk and even with a 5% on top of our quote was insanity. Understand if you need to factor into bank borrowings, but there are much more affordable options out there. We are in this process at the moment.
And already uncovered a difference of about $7-8K cheaper elsewhere.
Birk 15k and current quote eslewhere $7K

Where are people going for the best deals and best quality blinds? We took the advice of this forum and didn't even bother getting a quote at WOS.

I'm thinking plantation blinds for the front of the house bedrooms (both stories) and block out curtains for our bedroom and the kids bedrooms. Not sure about the living areas yet… If we even need blinds as we don't use the ones we have now and our yard is very private and the house very insulated (double glazing)

So far i have had quote from Blind Factory and Superb Window Furnishings ( which was recommenced by another member on this forum) so far so good, meeting with them tomorrow to discuss option and get the full measure up.

We are getting a mix of shutters, sheers, and roller blockout.

I'm interested to hear how your appointment goes lizbf85 as we too were horrified at the quote from Birk during our WOS appointment. It was a shame because the guy working there was very knowledgeable and had some good ideas. The quality looked good also. But $17k nearly knocked me over haha.

lizbf85 · Nov 22, 2016 1:55 pm

Madison_45_Vic

I'm interested to hear how your appointment goes lizbf85 as we too were horrified at the quote from Birk during our WOS appointment. It was a shame because the guy working there was very knowledgeable and had some good ideas. The quality looked good also. But $17k nearly knocked me over haha.

Will keep you posted, we are meeting our NEW ss tomorrow on site so will be keen to here what is happening.
Followed by the appointment and measure up. We have 14 windows to sort! Will keep you posted

keepwatch · Nov 22, 2016 8:40 pm

I'm looking between 15-20k with downlights, carpets, tiles, kitchen cabinets...

kyle9600

Broke into a few building sites today in Armstrong Creek that have the Vienna 19's.
Nice little houses for a first home buyer, especially since i am looking for my first home and think I was running my expectations a little high before looking at these.

Anybody else who is building these care to share how much they ended up spending on upgrades?
Want to try and get a ball park figure for upgrades on top of the H&L package price

sinbox · Nov 22, 2016 9:56 pm

sinbox

How much did people pay for an independent inspector like Darbecca to assist in reviews right from Contract all the way to handover ? Also, we are scheduled for our tender appointment soon, so keen to know what contract clauses people had reviewed/modified? The key one seems to be around the staged payments. Anything else to be aware of?

Reposting a related question again - did anyone get their contract modified to add a specific condition to allow for independent building inspections -i.e that Progress payments would be made only upon successful inspection. If so, could you please share the wording that you used in your contract...

sunshine83 · Nov 23, 2016 7:50 pm

How did the new SS go and the blinds appointment lizbf85?

Doc Freeman · Nov 23, 2016 10:00 pm

sinbox

Reposting a related question again - did anyone get their contract modified to add a specific condition to allow for independent building inspections -i.e that Progress payments would be made only upon successful inspection. If so, could you please share the wording that you used in your contract...

From Consumer Affairs Victoria:

https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/busines ... completion

Essentially,
......... (the homeowner or their agent) automatically has rights to visit the building site.

They have these rights even if they sign a contract otherwise (for example, a contract that limits visits to business hours only).

By law, the builder must allow the owner and/or the owner’s agent ‘reasonable access’ to the site during construction (Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995, Section 19).