Porter Davis homes

humble · Jul 26, 2012 10:27 pm

jessjjj

Hi all, this is my first post on the forum, however I have been reading it regularly. We are first time builders, building the Drysdale 30. Our progress has been relatively smooth (except for a few unexpected costs) and very fast! We were informed of the slab date one week prior to it being completed (24/7) and have been informed that the frame should be finished on Monday!!!!
I was wondering if many people had independent inspections carried out on their build stages. I know that Porter Davis say that they have independent inspectors at every stage however I am almost 100% certain that one did not occur at our slab stage. When I requested a copy of the report, our consultant said that they are only informed if there are no issues so all is good. I am not so sure....

Yes you should get a inspector. Frame/Slab and then Lockup. Then at the end. It will cost you $1k. But seriously well worth it.

jessjjj · Jul 26, 2012 10:43 pm

Thanks for your advice Humble. I have read some pretty scary stories and I am thinking that although it is an extra cost, it will be worth it if only for the peace of mind. Do you know of an inspection company that you can recommend? Thanks again

monkeypantz · Jul 27, 2012 9:26 am

Hi jessjjj, great house choice :wink:

. We are building the Drysdale 30 as well, currently in fixing stage. We have had independent inspections at slab and frame, and will have another at PCI. So far our inspector hasn't picked up anything that the PD inspectors haven't, but better to be safe blah blah...

lewispa · Jul 27, 2012 12:17 pm

new home inspections did a great job for us and some friends - highly recommend them.

Superdaddy · Jul 27, 2012 2:23 pm

Has anyone installed floating or laminate floor boards in their builds? I am interested in the Category 2 Timpressions Brushbox floorboards at Hopetoun, however PD don't have it installed in any of their displays. I wanted to have an idea how it looks after being laid on the floor as I am concerned whether there will be gaps or spaces between the laminate pieces when joined together.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Wateman · Jul 27, 2012 2:41 pm

Well we've been in our house for 3 months and had our maintenance check, so I guess I'm not going to have anything interesting to say on here any more (not that I was always all that interesting). So I thought I should post my review, which I just put on the product review website.

We built the Montrose from Porter Davis Access in Pakenham. We have now been in the house for just on 3 months, and had our 3-month maintenance inspection yesterday. Overall we are very happy with our home, and the quality provided. We first approached Porter Davis in June 2011, and construction ended up starting in January after a delay with our land settling. We had a completed home by the end of April, so speed wise there definitely wasn't anything to complain about!

The admin side of things was probably the toughest early on. Trying to get things added and changed in time to get our contract and finances all sorted wasn't easy as our first building coordinator was terrible. It took some frustrated complaining, but we ended up with a new coordinator after the other one was let go, and from that point onwards the whole process was immensely better.

I could go ahead and detail the little frustrations we experienced along the way, but honestly it's not worth it. I have a number of friends that have built recently with various other builders and all of them experienced similar frustrations. I think really it’s all just part of the building game. By all means don’t let any problems go – make sure you complain to your building coordinator, your site supervisor, head office, or building forums, wherever you need to for your complaint to be heard – but then make sure you are open to allowing them to fix the problem, and get past the issue. No point holding grudges for the whole building journey!
We love the house, they were much more professional than the other builders we had approached, even after moving in to the house when we found issues they were resolved, and at our maintenance check there was only 1 minor issue, which was agreed to be fixed straight away.

Overall I would only suggest that they should keep a closer eye on their new staff eg building coordinators. From the beginning we were given a new one that was still on trial, that couldn't keep up with the work, made mistakes and didn't help much, and she nearly ruined everything - we were seconds away from walking. However from the moment she was out of the picture the whole thing was fantastic.
Building is a tough game no matter whole you build with, but if I was to build again I’d definitely give Porter Davis another go.

monkeypantz · Jul 27, 2012 3:37 pm

Glad you're settled in and happy Wateman. Great review, I completely agree with the gist of it (so far anyway) - be vigilant and insist on quality, but maintain perspective when you come up against roadblocks.

jessjjj we have used finalinspect for our inspections and so far we're very happy with them.

Swedil · Jul 27, 2012 4:33 pm

Hi wateman,

Its good to hear that you have settled down in your new home and also thanks for your inputs along the way. My build is about to start very shortly..fingers crossed..Thanks for your honest review of your build with PD..and Good Luck.

jessjjj · Jul 27, 2012 7:12 pm

Hi monkeypants, we think that the Drysdale 30 is pretty great too! It's a great design that really suits our family. Thanks for the recommendation, will definately look into it. I have had a look at your blog and your house looks amazing, great colour selections!!! It must be very exciting to at fixing stage.

J & C · Jul 27, 2012 9:17 pm

jessjjj

Hi all, this is my first post on the forum, however I have been reading it regularly. We are first time builders, building the Drysdale 30. Our progress has been relatively smooth (except for a few unexpected costs) and very fast! We were informed of the slab date one week prior to it being completed (24/7) and have been informed that the frame should be finished on Monday!!!!
I was wondering if many people had independent inspections carried out on their build stages. I know that Porter Davis say that they have independent inspectors at every stage however I am almost 100% certain that one did not occur at our slab stage. When I requested a copy of the report, our consultant said that they are only informed if there are no issues so all is good. I am not so sure....

I would recommend that you use a private inspector, they pick-up a lot of things a lay person would not have picked, guess it all comes down to experience and depending on how major the issue is you can get your site supervisor to rectify. We've had our SS rectify several issues which otherwise would not have been rectified. We used for frame/slab, pre-plaster and will be using again at handover. We used Kevin at New Home Inspection...he is a busy man but good at his work.

J & C · Jul 27, 2012 9:27 pm

Has anyone had any water accumulating beside the slab due to the absence of proper drainage. At the start of our build we had a lot of water accumulating beside our slab, think they inserted some agricultural drain but they water still gets logged but not as much. SS said he would be speaking to the drainage guy, we were a bit concerned about the slab heaving (watched it on CA) but SS says not to worry.

linloch · Jul 29, 2012 5:21 pm

Hi all. First time post as we just signed on the dotted line today :))

Sales consultant Bien Lema at Berwick has been wonderfully professional and very helpful. Would recommend him to anyone looking to build with PD.
We will be building a Waldorf starting in October. Yay!!!!!

ma2531 · Jul 29, 2012 8:32 pm

hi linloch, welcome to the waldorf its a great home what size did you chose the 44 or the 48. we are also building the waldorf44 so if u need any info on the upgrdes just ask away.

linloch

Hi all. First time post as we just signed on the dotted line today :))

Sales consultant Bien Lema at Berwick has been wonderfully professional and very helpful. Would recommend him to anyone looking to build with PD.
We will be building a Waldorf starting in October. Yay!!!!!

ma2531 · Jul 29, 2012 8:37 pm

hi superdaddy and also welcome to the waldorf, if you need any help with prices for upgrades just let me know and ill try and help you out.......... goodluck.

Superdaddy

Hi all,

This is my first post in this forum, I have been reading all your posts and they have been extremely helpful as a guide to us in our building project. Thanks for all your inputs.

We will be demolishing our home and build the Waldorf 44. Our tender appointment is 6th August. Between now and tender we will be finalising our selections.

I will start a blog in the near future and share our experiences as we go through our building process.

monkeypantz · Jul 29, 2012 9:49 pm

Welcome linloch and superdaddy, and congratulations! Lots of Waldorfs happening at the moment!

Another week of good progress on our site

. The kitchen and laundry cabinets and bathroom vanities have been installed and are looking great! Cornice is done, door and window frames have started. A few of the internal doors have been hung, and the front door has been delivered. The air-con unit has been installed. Fixing stage is currently scheduled to be completed this Wednesday. I've updated the blog with lots of pictures for those interested.

linloch · Jul 29, 2012 10:26 pm

ma2531

hi linloch, welcome to the waldorf its a great home what size did you chose the 44 or the 48. we are also building the waldorf44 so if u need any info on the upgrdes just ask away.

linloch

Hi all. First time post as we just signed on the dotted line today :))

Sales consultant Bien Lema at Berwick has been wonderfully professional and very helpful. Would recommend him to anyone looking to build with PD.
We will be building a Waldorf starting in October. Yay!!!!!

Thanks for the welcome. Have been viewing your blog and love the photo updates. We have selected the 48 though may need to downsize to the 44 when get our tender doc!! ::dizzy::

linloch · Jul 29, 2012 10:29 pm

monkeypantz

Welcome linloch and superdaddy, and congratulations! Lots of Waldorfs happening at the moment!

Another week of good progress on our site

. The kitchen and laundry cabinets and bathroom vanities have been installed and are looking great! Cornice is done, door and window frames have started. A few of the internal doors have been hung, and the front door has been delivered. The air-con unit has been installed. Fixing stage is currently scheduled to be completed this Wednesday. I've updated the blog with lots of pictures for those interested.

Thanks for welcome. Gotta love the Waldorf!! Must go and look at your blog to check out your pics

ma2531 · Jul 29, 2012 10:43 pm

hey monkeypantz, the house is coming along so fast and you started after us.
we went up today also the place was a mess, mud inside everywhere, was urs muddy? the kitchen looks great..........great work

monkeypantz · Jul 30, 2012 9:46 am

We've been really impressed at how quickly things have been happening so far (touch wood!), although single storeys are typically a bit quicker than doubles I think. Fingers crossed it continues. We haven't had any excess mud inside, despite how muddy our block (and the whole estate) is, presumably another credit to our SS. We'll be making a time to meet with him on the site in the near future, we've actually never met him!

A question; does anyone know when a kitchen bulkhead is installed? We have an MDF bulkhead going in above the overhead cabinets in the kitchen, which isn't there yet. That on it's own wouldn't raise any eyebrows, but the cornice has been done all around the kitchen, including behind where the bulkhead will go. Doesn't seem right to us, but is that normal? Will ask the SS when we speak to him next, but though someone here might have some experience.

J & C · Jul 30, 2012 7:13 pm

monkeypantz

We've been really impressed at how quickly things have been happening so far (touch wood!), although single storeys are typically a bit quicker than doubles I think. Fingers crossed it continues. We haven't had any excess mud inside, despite how muddy our block (and the whole estate) is, presumably another credit to our SS. We'll be making a time to meet with him on the site in the near future, we've actually never met him!

A question; does anyone know when a kitchen bulkhead is installed? We have an MDF bulkhead going in above the overhead cabinets in the kitchen, which isn't there yet. That on it's own wouldn't raise any eyebrows, but the cornice has been done all around the kitchen, including behind where the bulkhead will go. Doesn't seem right to us, but is that normal? Will ask the SS when we speak to him next, but though someone here might have some experience.

Our bulkhead was installed as soon as the cornices were complete just before the painting begins, things do slow down during the painting stage. We are approximately two weeks ahead of your build.