Porter Davis homes

Wow, they really don’t like them do they. In saying that, our SS has been great with Darbecca and we haven’t had any issues or delays. But our Darbecca reports have also come back pretty good which may also be why. But yes if someone is doing all the inspections that would add up to 2 months to there build.

It’s interesting. At guess I think this is coming from a corporate side, meaning it’s an excuse to add more time to your build therefore less penalty for going over has to be paid to the client.

We advised PD early on that we would be engaging Darbecca and didn't have the days added on. We signed contracts in December 2017.

When we had our initial phone call from our SS he said, "oh I see you're engaging Darbeeca. Every inspection you have will delay your build". As it's not in our contract my response was that we will only be delayed if there are any items in the report which need rectifying. I will be making sure we keep to our 308 days.

Worth a note as well, after two attempts at meeting our SS, we're 98 days into our build and we're still yet to meet him.

The 7 day delay is actually in the sample contract we were given (we are going to tender tomorrow), we are trying to reduce that to 3-4 days.

For people that have built the Waldorf Grange/Astor Grange or anything with a double storey void, what did you install in terms of window furnishings and how did they install and how much did it cost? In the same vain, chandeliers over the void/staircase I assume will require some sort of scaffolding or did any of you try to use a chandelier winch/hoist?

e.g. https://www.micalighting.com.au/lightin ... -50kg.html

We're going to ask to put extra noggins so that we can install the chandelier hoist over staircase and void.

Hi There,

We went through Contract stage at the same time and we have no clause that specifically allows them to claim delays due to Independent Inspectors. It sounds like from the comments below that the new contracts do. In our Contract, there is a clause (34.1) where you can dispute in writing their 'Builders right to extension of time' within 7 days. You need to give a detailed reason why you dispute their claim.

I know what I'll be reading before I go to bed tonight

I also received 2 letters from Porter Davis 3 weeks ago adding 7 days for each independent inspection.


My problem with this situation is that I have signed a contract that stipulates that my house will take 266 days to construct. Now that they can see that my construction won't be done in time they are fabricating reasons to extend their time frame and not pay me the liquid damages due. I will need to pay rent and mortgage for longer than budgeted and there will be financial hardship due to their inability to construct my house to their original deadline.
This is not their first rodeo, they know that trades will need to be scheduled to come back and correct mistakes, that's just the nature of construction, these extra days must surely already be allowed for within the original 266 days of my construction timeline.

They have an obligation under the contract to construct my house to the minimum quality standard set out in the National Construction Code. I have engaged an inspector who has shown their trades have incorrectly constructed my dwelling and are therefore bound by law to correct these mistakes. Why should I be further penalised by extending my construction deadline because they have employed less than competent trades people. The decision to utilise those trades where made by Porter Davis, therefore the costs associated with their mistakes are 100% the responsibility of Porter Davis. I should not be financially penalised for their choices.

I should still expect my house to be finished construction within the 266 days specified in my contract, there should be no reason that my contract should be extended just because I decided to engage the services of a professional who can help me understand if my house has been constructed according to code or not.

This is just another blatant action on the part of Porter Davis to save money. I would suspect that they have more work than they can cope with and are looking for ways to extend contracts and save on paying out liquid damages. I know that all new contracts for similar size houses to ours now have 308 days written into the contract, I would say this supports my theory that they can't keep up with the number of houses they have taken on in recent months.

It would appear that they are sending out letters to people who have signed their contracts last year, which do not have any indication that extra time will be added on for any and all independent inspections. From what I have read on forums, they are now specifically including a clause that states 7 days will be added for every inspection.
But I do not have that specific clause in my contract and they are trying to use clause 34 of the HIA contract to claim the extended time.

"Anything done or not done by the owner or by an agent, contractor or employee of the owner"

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I have attached the clause for reference, given the other reasons mentioned within this particular clause, I don't think that they are using this clause in the right context, but are clutching at straws to try and extend our build time without justification.

The following response from our BC (after 3 weeks delay from when we sent our email)



Apologies for the late reply in regards to your dispute email below.

I have discussion with your site supervisors manager and my manager and the expert HIA contract in Porter Davis. So basically in the HIA contract, the clause in regards to the extension of time is always there, however we haven't been putting a clause to clear this with clients in Porter Davis contract document.

So based on the discussions, in your case, for the 2 inspection (Frame stage and Lock up Stage) below are the breakdown on the days required on top of normal supervisor day that (name removed) had to spend in order for him to action the items on the Private inspection list:
1. 1 day for the site supervisor to meet your private inspector onsite (your private inspector day).
2. 1 day for the your private inspector to issue the report - please note your site supervisor could have been organising things for the next stage of the build, but have to hold off waiting for the result of the inspection
3. 1 day for your site supervisor to review the report
4. 1 day for your site supervisor to organise for trades to action the lists agreed to be fixed on the report

We will be claiming 4 days for each inspection at Frame and Lock up stage, in lieu of the 7 days previousy stated in the letter.
Once the letter is amended, I will re-send them to you.

Please let me know if you still have any other enquiries.



So it would appear that they are willing to compromise and meet in the middle. But I'm still not sure of the legality of this action and feel that I need to seek some legal advice

Do you have a quote for the scaffolding hire/setup/teardown? I've seen it as cheap as $100 on airtasker but my handyman reckons it might take a whole day to setup and another to teardown! It might just be that a scaffolder can do it quicker and cheaper, just wanted to know costs. We did extend our ceilings to 2.7+2.5 so approx 5.5m to the ceiling (including subfloor).

For all sorts of reasons spent a couple of hours yesterday reading the NSW Government's conditions of contract for projects under $1 million and the builder contract signed by a private punter. The thing that is totally clean is how the favour of the document in the private area is toward the Contractor rather than the Principal. I found myself reflecting as to how what is considered appropriate for the Government agency isn't considered appropriate for the citizenry. And then I realised where I was!