Porter Davis homes

When are you building?

They have stopped making them but they still have couple of months supply. If you build with in the next 3 months I think you may be ok!

PD you should know this stuff and pre-plan.

July start.. so maybe.. maybe.. hmm.. what to do, what to do.. should i ring pd? I want those bricks!

call them and get them secure stock for your build (not to sure if they can do this as they get direct delivery). No harm in trying.

Good luck

Emailed my CSC.. Its lunchtime..

Flagstaff, we didnt get any crushed rock around the perimeter of our house. Would have been nice to have.
Ebony, Jess said someone would call me weeks ago. No one has.
Jewelbaby, I hear you.
Humble, good luck! Pics tonight I promise.

hehe. thought you had forgotten. lol

Humble, if you are desperate for the Hawthorne bricks I agree with tstr1a you need to ring PD and get them to hold them for you. But when I spoke to Austral Bricks the girl mentioned that they will do specials for Volume Builders. They will look after them first but the people who have put orders in with PD, Henley etc... before you will get them first. I am also July start but will see what PD says to my partner. Funny that you mention that aren't (PD) aware of this. Also something to think about. If anyone has already signed contracts and you are told afterwards the bricks have been discontinued and if you pick a higher catergory brick they have to give them to you for the same price. FIXED PRICE CONTRACT. This happened to a friend of mine last year who built with PD.

Just got off the phone with my other half. He spoke to PD and they are not aware that some of the Austral bricks are being discontinued. She did mention to him that if we get in early we still may be able to get the (discontinued) bricks we want. He also queried them on Carpet Court as we were told by Carpet Court employee that PD were stopping business with them in a couple of weeks. PD were also not aware of this and the girl mentioned she will speak to her manager and get back to us.

Waiting on a reply. Lets see what happens. Its hawthorns or bust though.

Now, quick question, what are driveways and fencing worth?

Humble, we paid $1500 or so for fencing (thats for two sides, we border a reserve), $10k for driveway and backyard. Driveway was in exposed aggregate so a bit more in terms of $$. But looks good. Lots of fencing dramas - details on my blog. Today I promise.

Just got off phone with my other half again. PD got back to him and said that we could still possibly get the bricks we wanted if we get in asap but she will confirm with her manager. Hubby mentioned that we also liked a similar brick in the boral range and he was told we couldn't purchase from them. He said that we aren't taking 2nd best. It's our home, our money we are putting into this and that it's there problem that they need to fix because we went into this knowing these bricks were available thru Austral and they are still listed on their website as available until you ring them and they tell you otherwise. In the end he told PD that if we can't get the bricks we want then we are pulling out. Her response was, I understand but I will need to speak to my manager regarding the Boral bricks. Oh yes, and he told her that it's out in the homeone forum website and you will be getting a lot of calls re this matter.

Thanks Karmaz, colorbond or wood fence? lol. I have about 60m to do.

eli, interesting.. its gonna be on me thinks, I might default back to the blackwoods (cat2) as we liked them as well, the burnleys have too much red. Which one did you take in the boral? If Access/lifestyle have access to the the borals, then PD in general have access. So I wouldnt think that would be a issue.

But hey, I just signed up to pay 4k for different bricks that have a 14c price difference each retail. What would I know.

Humble. Yes that is what we were told them about Boral. But we are trying to convince them in case we can't get the Austral brick we want. In the Boral range our first choice is the Cleveland and 2nd is the Ripponlea. It's not a chocolate colour, it lighter, but it was the closet colour to the Austral Brick "Cotham" if you've seen it. Yes we saw and thought about the blackwood (still available), a nice brick, but it would be too dark for our style of home. But don't give up on the Hawthorn if that is your preference. You know the Blackwood is there as a backup. I would ring Austral and tell them to give you a few addresses of the homes they built with the Blackwood to give you a better idea. If they give you lot numbers then call the council of that suburb and they can tell you the street number. There is a website that can do this for you but I left the web address at home I can't remember it off by heart. I will try and get it for you tonight or tommorrow, this way you will have a clear idea how the blackwood looks on a home instead of a slab of 30 odd bricks put together. Good luck!

Ours were

Hawthorn
Blackwood
Homestead Tan

We have seen all of them in use already, we were after the darker look for the most part. Lets wait and see what happens. Very Interesting however.

Humble, there is also a newly released brick at Austral called the Aurburn which we saw on their sample board inside the store at the deer park site on Saturday. Not too bad. It's a chocolate colour but does seem to have a green tinge in small parts of each brick and of course the Hawksburn which they told me is replacing the Hawthorn, but as mentioned in a previous post Deer Park didn't have that sample of that brick at this stage.

Homestead Tan has changed in colour due to different manufacturing plants. It has red/orange tinge to it now.

Yup. We noticed that on one we drove past.. it was still getting built and it was def red.

Guys on my blog I have uploaded two lists of houses featuring Austral Bricks (Austral sent me this info).

Check it out it’s under the “Useful Building Information” post

http://waldorf44.blogspot.com/

If bricks get discontinued, they get discontinued, there's not much you can do about it except change and it isn't PD's fault if the supplier hasn't informed them. There will be a disclaimer on your paperwork indicating that there is no guarantee that what you select will be available and there may be product substitution, etc, etc, etc.... so if you have already signed and walk away due to bricks being discontinued, you will be in breach, not them. Just something to be aware of.

They will not let you choose from a different supplier. It will not happen. The three different PD banners operate under different supplier contracts and Prestige is Austral, Lifestyle and Access is Boral, end of story.

We could not find a decent Boral brick that would work with our estate covenants, we went to management at PD to see if we could use an Austral brick and it was not allowed. We took Boral or we walked away. In the end we swapped from Lifestyle to Prestige just so we could use an Austral brick.