Porter Davis homes

We were told that we would be in in Feb 2011 - hello still not in so dont count on the days and dates they give you

An Update - we had our PCI over 3 weeks ago, got to week 2 after our PCI and still nothing had been done so I asked to meet with the head honcho of the region and he bought 2 of his blokes with him - poor bloke had no idea what we had been through - suddenly we are getting updates on almost an hourly basis with PICS!!! sad that we had to go to that stage to get someone to act on our house !! so my advise to all is to email everything you discuss - print it out and keep them in date order - mr Head honcho was a little surprised re the amount of non correspondance his staff hadnt offered.... and now today we are feeling a little more confident that the final quality of the house will be up there like their display homes....
Good Luck to everyone else

People tell me that PD usually completes a house within a month or so before the contract date. I might believe this if they have many houses on the go in an estate and it’s easy to get to each house, but where I’m building all houses were built years ago. Tradies will have to travel from all locations to get there.

Not as many days as PD will want to believe. Plus it has been informed many times more then 48hrs notice (preferably a week) will be required as we are both professionals with multiple clients and cannot just drop everything.

Luckily we have taken it on ourselves to go to hopetoun, austral and national tiles, we have made most of our selections already. Electrical I am beginning to work on now.

My next month is a disaster in terms of time in Melbourne.

NZ all next week
Sydney 3 days week after
NZ for a week
Perth for 3 days
Sydney for 2days.

Thats 18 days not in melbourne out of a possible 25.

Interesting to know! Our "PCI" was three weeks ago on Monday and we have emailed our CSC, SS and the person Jess put us in contact with because our CSC was useless with both the independent inspection and our own list of things we would like considered to be fixed and have heard nothing. We have tried to call our SS but so far he is not answering our calls or returning them. I say "PCI" because our SS called a halt about 5 minutes in (after he turned up 45 minutes late, and then only because we called him to find out where he was), because we were not happy with the quality of the paint work (among other, fairly major, things). He said there was not any point in continuing with the official PCI because we would need to have a separate PCI with the paint rep and someone else, but I've yet to hear a word about that either.

I'm so sick of this, I honestly really wish there was a way we could just walk away from this build and start afresh with someone else. I would happily cop the delay because I strongly suspect that when our house is finally finished, and who knows when that will be as last time I saw it only one thing had been fixed...and botched again, the quality will be seriously sub standard.

At this point I'm over stressing about it, my family and I have all been sick since Easter and I'm done doing PDs job for them chasing up tradies and having to hound our SS to get anything done, especially since I know from other people building with PD that our SS badmouths us to all and sundry when we do (as he does to us about them). They have until early July, I believe, to finish our house and if they're not done in that time they can pay us until they are. We will not be accepting handover until it is finished and actually done properly, none of this "move in now and we will come back and fix x,y & z" and then 18 months later it still isn't done like some of the other people on the forum!

Once the house is done, anyone who wishes will be welcome to come over for a cuppa and have a look for themselves. We are building about 3 lots down from a brand new display village and I've no issue with inviting people in on weekends to see for themselves what they think of the quality you can expect when you build with PD.


Puppyso and anyone else starting out, or thinking of starting out with PD....the best advice I can give you is get everything in writing and keep a diary of every time you contact someone from PD and why, and keep a record of how they respond, if they actually do.

Our log is already being done, and I am seriously considering starting a 3rd party blog instead of a thread here... As someone starting out its quite a daunting exercise when you read stories like this. Keeping them honest and making sure my build is in the public eye will be the most interesting point. I have no problem at all making sure the build, every step of it is documented and published. That way, I know I am keeping a open and honest flow of information for both them, us and anyone else wishing to take a look.

4.30pm on a Friday, so thats it for this week. Cant wait for my call next week to advise of the tender appointment. Maybe I will answer it with a 'choice bro, cant make it cause I am in New Zooland, Sweet As'

Hi Twiggy,

Thank you for your post and interest in the Mernda Prestige displays. You are correct, two of the homes, the Marriot and Sandhurst, have evolved to maximise energy efficiency and achieve a 6 star rating.

The Marriot home has been replaced by the new and improved Waldorf design, and the Sandhurst has been replaced by the new Sandpiper. Both designs include many impressive new features.

It's still worth checking out our Mernda display as the general feel of the homes and floorplans are very similar to the new homes. You can see these new features here:

http://www.porterdavis.com.au/#/display ... /mernda2_p

If you have any further questions, feel free to pop into our Mernda display centre and speak to our friendly consultant.

Cheers, Jess

Hang in there and stand your ground.

tstr1a, in our case, they finished a day over nominated contract days, build times do vary. I told the CSC/SS I would be claiming compensation if they crossed over the nominated days as per the HIA contract and things happened rather quickly.

Pup I agree, keep everything in writing and even bits of paper that the sales people quoted on. That saved us a mini fortune at tender, as what was quoted at tender was much higher. PD did honour the sales people's quotes as we had the evidence.

Papers are due in from Consumer Affairs on Monday, will keep you posted on how we go on the porch. I for one, will not give in unless is a logical, fair and reasonable explanation as to why I should.

Karma, yes we chose the ashmont!

Keep me updated on the porch
I agree no porch should leak! Arghhhh

Hi everyone,
I've started my very first blog for those who are interested

http://ourwaldorf44.blogspot.com/

cheers *^_^*

In the beginning, I have been quite satisfied with PD but since the construction of my new house, I've been incredibly disappointed.

Firstly, the supervisor that's in charge of my house is rude. When I call him, he does pick up or return my calls. I leave a voice message and does not even bother to contact me back. His attitude.... He did not call me to meet on site in the beginning and I had to call him. Then he reports on 24/7 that he called and meet me. Really now... That's only the first of many problems I've had with this person. Sigh.

Then PD did a reverse building where they placed in the plaster first before the brickwork. PD does this to they slammed us with two payment processes that we had to pay and not in the proper stages. I did not want a reverse building site because it had been raining heavily for the past few days and if they placed the plaster, it'll get wet. When I discussed this with the supervisor, he said "It'll be alright mate, it's not going to rain." I'm not your mate, that's not how you talk to me MATE. Guess what? It rained. And still they went with whole process.

Next is the interior of my garage. Shouldn't there be complete brickwork from the floor all the way to the ceiling? Well, my garage, the brickwork doesn't even reach the ceiling, there is a gap where some type of timber material is infused. I've tried to discuss this to the supervisor but at this stage, there is not communication. Don't get my started on the windows and doors outside. At the top, there should be a metal fused then brickwork. Instead, it's timber fused, THEN metal, then brick. I've seen a lot of PD houses and I've had friends who've built with PD and it's only my house that's looking like this.

I am incredibly angry at the state that my house is being built. I forgot to mention, after the whole plaster fiasco, the supervisor BANNED me from the building site and said I could not enter due to OHS rules and regulations. THIS IS MY HOUSE. If this was true then WHY could I enter several times before the plaster fiasco?

I am pretty sure the supervisor has a grudge against me and pretty much screwing with my house in every legal way he can since the building laws are so vague. Next is my tiles. I have to reselect my tiles again because it's going to take a while for it to arrive to Australia. Only a week ago, the supervisor said that the tiles will be in next week. I wonder why... was this because I sent an email asking the reason why the window and doors were done this way? I wonder...

This isn't my dream house anymore. I am a dissatisfied customer. I've already started lodging a complaint against them. I've decided that I'm going to sell this house after a year. This is very disappointing for me.

There's more stories but I'd be writing all day.

Well that's my experience with PD. I'm sure there's other more satisfied customers out there and I'm happy for them. I just wish I could have been one of these satisfied customers.

oh my god - and I thought I had it bad - get an independant inspector and insist that everything on the list is completed it may cost you but it will cost PD more to fix the mistakes... good luck thats all I can wish you

Sorry to hear all your trouble. Unfortunately if the SS doesn't do his job then the tradies won't bother to do theirs as well. Try to PM Jess from Team PD, probably she'll be able to help you get in touch with someone who can look into your problems.

It is stated in the building contract that the owner shouldn't enter the building site. I made my SS aware that I would go to the site daily. He was fine with it. On top of that, I did a walk through the house with the SS at least monthly.

Email your SS at least that way you have everything in writing & cc your CSC as well. Explain to your CSC of your problem & get her to get the construction manager to call you.

Just remember that according to the signed building contract, you only have to make progress payment once the building work for the stage is completed. Just make sure you communicate with the SS, CSC & accounts department if you are doing this.

In regards to your brickwork compare the drawings in your contract to what has been done, it's all there, the drawings are detailed with all materials used shown, if it's wrong show them the contract.

Your plastering, not sure why you'd be banned since then, our SS's (all three of them) have been very upfront and have immediately actioned any issues that we had, meeting us on site, making notations on plaster where things have not been right, these are yet to be fixed before PCI but the marks have not been rubbed out, they are there to see plainly so that when they're fixed the marks will be noticeably gone.

They also know we go onsite all the time (almost daily) and it seems they've welcomed what we've had to say because it makes their job easier and it has made fixing issues easier rather than letting them go so they snowball until they're out of control.

Your SS has nothing to gain from screwing with your build, PD want the job done, the house finished and money in the bank.

With your tiles the things that are needed are ordered (not too far in advance) and the SS books in the tradies for the jobs, unfortunately sometimes things do get dragged out on other jobs and next in line has to wait a little longer.

Get an inspector to go through the house with the SS as well, don't pay each stage unless it's completed satisfactorily, money talks.
Be diplomatic in your wording with them, don't go in heavy, it doesn't do you any favours straight off, sad but true.

Sorry that your build isn't everything you've wanted, it is a very stressful time.

I keep reading these stories and I really wonder, cmon guys, you have rights. You have access to legal representation and independent inspectors! Use them. This is 200k++ your talking about!

tanggnat, check your contract, does it specify where the brickworks are? If it does then challenge them on it. I have learnt so much about building from these threads. Just more to add to the 'do not forget list'

tanggnat, sorry to hear about your troubles. Building is a very stressful time and sometimes it's easy to get caught up emotionally, especially when you are putting so much money on the line.

Yes there are some people out there that are just plain lazy at their job and don't give a damn, but there are also some people that are overworked and scrapped for time and it gets tiring when you are constantly secondguessed when you are the qualified professional. Sorry, i don't mean to offend in saying this, but sometimes you have to put yourself in the other persons shoes rather than go on the attack and assume that PD or their representatives are intentionally being malicious or deceiving. I'm pretty sure that they are aware of the laws that bind them and the reperscussions that will fall on them should they breach these.

Work together on getting to the end goal rather than against each other (there's too much of that these days...). Maybe get a meeting with your CSC, CM and SS to talk out your issues in person, rather than via mixed media. It's amazing the results that can happen when one talks to a person face to face rather than behind an email. Less chance of misunderstandings...

Regarding you plaster, our SS mentioned that there might be a possibility of a reverse build occurring on our house and he explained to not stall the build process, this would only be an option if the brickies etc was held up (as they can't obviously brick in the rain). I would imagine that the house would be wrapped with sisalation, so this would provide some form of protection for the plaster.

Cheers,

Mel

Effective Communication
Reasonable expectations
Emotions in check
Put things in writing when necessary
Compromise

5 lessons I learnt which is helping us through our process!

Where is that "like" button when i need it?

hahah oh what did we do before Facebook???