Porter Davis homes

HI, I don't have a blog,
I have attached some pictures during brick work.

Sorrey ,pic are not uploding i will upload soon.

How do you guys communicate with your CSA usually? I sent her email last week but she didn't reply. I called her at the PD office but no one pick up the phone. What should I do now?

Also, the other thing, I'm trying to confirm my appointment time with Hopetoun but it Always goes to answering machine.

All seems weird....

Hey mq,

Communication (in my experience) between customer and CSA is ultimately when the CSA decides it will occur. During our build we have had the same problems as you, especially when calling the office, noone seems to have voicemail and the front desk simply does not answer the phone.

For a company that wins 'most professional' awards quite regularly, the fact that something as basic as voice mail doesn't seem to be a feature is quite weird. Hopetoun is normally quite good at returning calls though.

We are nearing the end of the build and have not heard from our CSA in 8 weeks (I know, it's crazy), luckily we had an Site Supervisor who was happy to take our queries otherwise we would have known nothing.

My only advice is to keep emailing. At the very least you have documented evidence that you have tried to engage, just in case when you do get a response and they say 'sorry, the process has moved along too far to allow that' you can demonstrate that you tried to contact them and got no response.

Alright , now I know it is for everyone, not just me. This will be a big issue down the track because I can't easily finish work early to see the SS quite often. I'm hoping the CSA is more proactive.

Why they have policy like that (no returning a call, no replying email)?? Is it the same for other builders? or PD is just a bit better compare to others??

We are buying a hundred thousands house. Even I got a good customer service with my mobile provider, that cost me like 1K in 2 year.

I usually email her or use the 24/7 to contact her. She usually replies within 24 hours. She also called me on several occassions to update me on what's going on.

In my experience, my SS is the one who is unresponsive & my CSA has been very good with her communications. I usually communicate with my SS through emails & text messages because he doesn't answer his calls & doesn't return call if I leave messages on his voice mail.

Hi Jess,

Thanks for the reply.

Ref Boral Bricks, we visited their offices and were able to find the missing bricks. The catalogs currently printed do not include these missing bricks but that should be resolved soon. They were extremly helpful in supplying us with addresses of homes which have built with those bricks.

Reference Hopetoun Interiors, as of yet we do not have an official appointment. However, in an attempt to make the selection process easier for us we visited their offices on Saturday and to be honest, we weren't overly impressed with the "Weekend" staff. They seemed to prefer to stand around and chat rather than actually answer questions. I'm sure the staff that attend the actual appointment are completely different though.

We have raised our concerns about the choice of std & upgrade fixture items with our Sales person and she has promised that she would look into it. For us, one of the reasons for choosing the home were the type of fixtures (tapware , basins, etc) used throughout it, so it seems strange that we can't actually upgrade to using those specific items.......

So much for the 30 week guarantee, I have been told that if any change whatsoever is made to the basic plan then they will not honour it and pay your rent beyond that.

So they are now over the 30 weeks for my build, we have only added a few walls and a few doors, and now they will be at least 4 to 6 weeks more.

Not happy yet again Porter Davis. They shouldn't be promoting something they will not honour.

Hi Fallen_Apple,

Have you actually checked what the nominated construction period is within your contract?
As that will be the figure specific for your build taking into account what the estimating team would have deemed reasonable to take into account your changes.
Also worth noting its after that period has lapsed from site scrape or whatever is deemed in the contract to be the beginning of the construction period when damages will apply.

IMO it would be in your best interest to confirm the details in your contract rather than relying on generic marketing.

I agree, they sent us a letter after the site scrape & told us it would be completed in 127 days (which is less than the 20 weeks advertised). They subsequently added 13 days due to the weather which make it 140 days (20 weeks).

Hi Yellow,

You have asked some great questions here. I assure you we have nothing to hide, we always aim to provide you with the best quality home we can, it is what our reputation is built on. The reason why your Site Supervisor does not show you the BSS inspection report is because the reports are full of builders jargon and are usually misunderstood by owners. The only inspections that BSS do a re-inspection on are Final inspections. If a final inspection has failed due to a compliance item, e.g. if the home has a defect that is not to the standards laid down in the BCA or Aust standards, then there will most likely be a re-inspection.

Getting your own inspector in is a great idea for giving you a second opinion and with it some reassurance, but please keep us informed if you chose to do so as we prefer that the inspector is qualified as a Building Practitioner or engineer/architect. Always remember to bring up any questions you have with your CSA or SS, keep them up to date with what is on your mind. I hope that helps. Cheers, Jess.

Hi mqtutor,

I am sorry to hear that you have experienced difficulty contacting your CSA. Phone, Email or like SSAZ suggested, the 24/7 tool are the best methods for contact. Try logging into the 24/7 and use it to contact your CSA, they will usually respond within 24 hours. If you have no luck, send me through a private message with your name, lot address, phone number and name of your CSA and I'll see if I can help out. Cheers, Jess.

Hi Yellow,

You have asked some great questions here. I assure you we have nothing to hide, we always aim to provide you with the best quality home we can, it is what our reputation is built on. The reason why your Site Supervisor does not show you the BSS inspection report is because the reports are full of builders jargon and are usually misunderstood by owners. The only inspections that BSS do a re-inspection on are Final inspections. If a final inspection has failed due to a compliance item, e.g. if the home has a defect that is not to the standards laid down in the BCA or Aust standards, then there will most likely be a re-inspection.

Getting your own inspector in is a great idea for giving you a second opinion and with it some reassurance, but please keep us informed if you chose to do so as we prefer that the inspector is qualified as a Building Practitioner or engineer/architect. Always remember to bring up any questions you have with your CSA or SS, keep them up to date with what is on your mind. I hope that helps. Cheers, Jess.[/quote]


Hi Jess

I am not a builder but why does PD assumes that we don't understand builders jargon. These days the home builders are doing a lot of research. At the start it was all a builders jargon for us. Now we understand a lot better than what builders think. Reason is that we love our house and devoting more time to get to know it. Kids think we have got the house bugs.

We are happy to look over the BSS report. At work when we do projects with say 200k we also send the test plans on how we done our test to the clients so they know which part of the system has been tested and how it has been tested. With our house we are spending 500k and why is it that we don't get to see the inspection report?

When choosing a building inspector we make sure that he is registered Building Practitioner so he points out when things doesn't meet BCA or Aust standards. We have informed our SS and CSA well in advance and they are both ok with it.

Regard
Yellow

Hi Chorlton,

I am glad you visited the office and found the staff there helpful. Hopefully those catalogues will be updated soon. I am sorry to hear about your disappointment regarding your visit to Hopetoun on the weekend. I have made note of your feedback and will pass it on to Hopetoun, thanks for your honesty, we are always looking for ways to improve our service. I'm glad to hear you are keeping in contact with your sales person. Let me know how your official appointment with Hopetoun goes. Cheers, Jess.

We got no such letter, but they were unable to find bricklayers for 5 weeks and claimed an extension for materials being unavalible (even though the bricks sat ther for 5 weeks) so I guess that is now our problem. I think it is pretty unreasonable for them to claim it will take 30 weeks and then when they can't get sub-contractors it is the owners problem. It is also pretty unreasonable when a house around the corner with similar variations and the same wait for brickies was finished in under 30 weeks and when ours often sits with no one doing anything for weeks at a time, it becomes more unreasonable.

Given that the "guarantee" becomes void if you were to change a sink, it seems like a pretty useless guarantee designed more for the purpose of luring in customers and giving a false sense of security than actually providing customers with any protection.

We were mislead by the 20-week "Guarantee" as well. When I asked about this I was told that it's just "marketing" and to check the number of days in the HIA contract. Seems downright dishonest to me as I doubt anyone builds the stock standard house ...

Hi Yellow,

It is great to see that you are researching so thoroughly into your build, I can see that you have a clear understanding of what you are doing. Unfortunately, not all our customers are as diligent as you in their research so we cannot assume all of them will understand our jargon. Our policies are put in place to avoid adding unnecessary confusion for people that do not have the level of understanding that you have. I'm glad you have selected an inspector and have kept your CSA and SS up to date, always refer back to them for any questions you may have. Hopefully your inspector can provide you with that extra level of reassurance and insight into your build.

Hello All,

Ref: Building Inspectors

Can anyone recommend one who operates within the Mornington Peninsula area of Melbourne?

Also, on average, how much do inspectors charge and at what stages of the build do they come out to inspect?

Thanks in advance,
Chorlton

We have found out the hard way how overpriced their floor coverings are.
Being charged about $60m2 for something that is $3 over the standard price with no rebate on the standard ones that we didn't choose, I have the price pics to prove it.
The response? The upgraded tile prices include labour, adhesive, GST and wastage.
Were they going to leave the standard Portofino tiles in my lounge room in their boxes for me and not lay them? Surely the standard tiles come laid??
I wonder how much of everything we're paying twice for??

Hi, mel_mox
At last i can upload my house pic.


http://yfrog.com/65picture343cj
http://yfrog.com/nbpicture342wj

Hello Building1,

Can I ask what type of upgrade tile you were asking for, and where it was going to be laid? We visited National Tiles recently and to change from the standard 300x300 ceramic to a 600x600 porcelain tile was around $45/m2 upgrade. According to National Tiles, the upgrade price included labour, glues, etc. This seemed "relatively" fair as the labour cost would be much higher given the bigger tile.

However, in your case is the area being tiled already part of the standard area for tiling or have you requested tiles in an area which is currently specified as carpet? If its the latter, then unfortunately the price seems about right!! We were told that if we wanted to tile an area which was not already included, that the price would be $60/m2 for a standard 300x300 tile PLUS any upgrade price on top.

Chorlton