Porter Davis homes

Jul 31, 2012
8:29 am

Thanks for the response, J & C. Not looking forward to the slow down after this stage, just hoping it won't be tooooo slow (ha! of course it will be too slow, everything has been as far as I'm concerned

)

Team PD

Jul 31, 2012
11:28 am

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....

Hi jessjjj,

Welcome to the forum. The Drysdale is lovely design so congratulations. I’m sure you’ve noticed that the forum is a great place to get honest and open feedback and advice from other members. Be sure to check out our blog on the PD home page, we have a load of Q&A's and informative topics - http://blog.porterdavis.com.au/. Also, feel free to ask me any questions you may have along the way. Goodluck with everything and keep us posted on what you decide. Cheers, Ebony

Team PD

Jul 31, 2012
11:41 am

Wateman

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.

Hi Wateman,

It’s going to be sad to see you leave the forum but I’m so pleased to read all your feedback and have forward it onto the main PD office for them to read as well. I think it’s a very honest overall experience so thanks for taking the time out to share it with us. No doubt that a lot of people who are considering building will find it very helpful.

Thanks again, I hope you enjoy living your home. Cheers, Ebony

Team PD

Jul 31, 2012
12:42 pm

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!!!!!

Hi linloch,

Congratulations and welcome to the forum. Glad to hear you’re enjoying your experience so far. The forum is a really handy place to get quick answers and advice, also feel free to drop me a private message if you’d like me to follow anything up for you. I look forward to following your build.

Cheers, Ebony

Superdaddy

Jul 31, 2012
1:41 pm

ma2531

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.

Hi ma2531,

Thanks for the welcome and great to join the Waldorf family

I've been following your blog, the pictures are great and your house is looking fantastic

Superdaddy

Jul 31, 2012
1:44 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.

Hi monkeypantz,

Thanks for the welcome.

I've checked your blog and it's so exciting to see the build process. Great pics too

linloch

Jul 31, 2012
5:17 pm

Team PD

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!!!!!

Hi linloch,

Congratulations and welcome to the forum. Glad to hear you’re enjoying your experience so far. The forum is a really handy place to get quick answers and advice, also feel free to drop me a private message if you’d like me to follow anything up for you. I look forward to following your build.

Cheers, Ebony

Thanks Ebony. Looking forward to the process. Hopefully everyone is as helpful and honest as Bien, but having built before we know the downsides! Thanks for the heads up about dropping you a private message, much appreciated.

jessjjj

Jul 31, 2012
8:36 pm

Hello Ebony, thanks for the welcome. We really love the design of the Drysdale and can't wait until we can call it home. We have decided to get an independent inspector in once the roof trusses are completed which should be later on this week. We are really pleased with the progress so far however we are a bit concerned that on two areas of the slab, it has crumbled and broken away. Hopefully an independent inspection won't find any issues and will give us peace of mind.

linloch

Aug 01, 2012
10:22 am

Hi, I have a question about the process. I'm a little confused about the difference between the 'fixed price tender' at week 4 and the HIA 'fixed price contract' at week 6. Given colour/electrical/tile selection isn't until after the tender, how can it be fixed price? Thanks

karmaz

Aug 01, 2012
10:44 am

Hi Ebony,
Hope you have been well. I've still trying to get a few items resolved, one from our 3 month inspection, the rest from the 12 month one, and despite several emails to Maintenance have not had any succcess. I would appreciate your help:

1. Lock on powder room still to be fixed. This is still outstanding from our 3 month inspection.
2. The locksmith said that the bifold door is not aligning and needs to be fixed, also a plate from the front door deadlock is missing.
3. Last but not the least, the balcony leaks. I showed this to the supervisor and he said it was the rain coming through. The tradies who visted on a bright sunny day saw the water that had collected and pinpointed the leaks but said they could not fix it. There are streaks down the sides of the bricks and the moisture is clearly visible on the underside of the balcony and they confirmed that this shouldnt occur. These show the water that pools in the balcony leaking through. I think the water shouldnt be pooling in the balcony either as it get stagnant and mossy, this makes it unsafe.
Love the house, these are few niggling things though are still that need to be sorted.
Thanks,
Karen

monkeypantz

Aug 01, 2012
12:12 pm

linloch

Hi, I have a question about the process. I'm a little confused about the difference between the 'fixed price tender' at week 4 and the HIA 'fixed price contract' at week 6. Given colour/electrical/tile selection isn't until after the tender, how can it be fixed price? Thanks

Linloch, it's my understanding that with PD the tender is just structural, so that element is fixed at the tender appointment. The fixed tender is then incorporated into the contract with all your selections and the whole thing is fixed (unless changes are made). Does that make sense - I don't think I'm explaining it very well!

J & C

Aug 01, 2012
1:29 pm

linloch

Hi, I have a question about the process. I'm a little confused about the difference between the 'fixed price tender' at week 4 and the HIA 'fixed price contract' at week 6. Given colour/electrical/tile selection isn't until after the tender, how can it be fixed price? Thanks

All standard colour / electrical / tile selections are included in your fixed price contract, you will have to pay additional for any upgrades. For example a particular room might have one plug point that is standard, you might want to add an additional electrical point, you will have to pay for this additional point, in a similar context you might want to upgrade your floor tiles, you be paying an additional amount for such upgrades. PD will provide you a final price at your contract with all the changes you have made to your selection, should you want to make further changes, you can raise a post contract variation. Hope this answers your query.

mimi23

Aug 01, 2012
2:41 pm

linloch

Hi, I have a question about the process. I'm a little confused about the difference between the 'fixed price tender' at week 4 and the HIA 'fixed price contract' at week 6. Given colour/electrical/tile selection isn't until after the tender, how can it be fixed price? Thanks

The fixed price tender is when you find out the fixed price of all the changes and upgrades you made with your SC and you should find out your site costs. It's also the last time you will be able to make any structural changes, including stairs.

When you select your tiles, they will be able to work out and tell you the cost of your tile upgrades on the spot, the same applies for your electrical appointment. At your colour appointment they will be able to give you costs of say upgrading a toilet suite or tap as it's 1 item but will only give you an estimate on say upgrading your kitchen cupboards as each kitchen is different with varying size/quantity of cupboards.

At your contract appointment is when you find out the fixed price of all your selections including a fixed price from your colour selections. You can still delete items if you are on a budget, so I would suggest adding everything at colour then deleting to meet your budget. A few upgrades we just added in to see came back at a surprisingly small cost.

Hope this helps and have fun at colours!

monkeypantz

Aug 01, 2012
3:02 pm

mimi23

I would suggest adding everything at colour then deleting to meet your budget. A few upgrades we just added in to see came back at a surprisingly small cost.

I have a love/hate relationship with this approach

Our sales consultant and colour consultant recommended we do this (and we did) but I think it's a tactic on their part. It was much harder for us (mentally) to take things out once they were in than it was to not put them in in the first place! It was our plan, but in the end I think we took out nothing

. But you're right mimi, some upgrades cost much less than we were expecting. Oh, and make sure if you do this you make back up selections for your upgrades too, becuase in that tiny room doing your contract you'll need to know what you're replacing things with.

I found that along the way everyone said "put it in and you can take it out/change it at contract", but when we got to contract the person we were dealing with seemed a bit put out by us making changes

. Anyone else have this experience?

linloch

Aug 01, 2012
5:37 pm

Thanks monkeypantz, J&C, Mimi. I think I get it all now!! Very early in the process but really looking forward to all of the selections....oh, so many decisions! Bring it on!!

J & C

Aug 01, 2012
10:37 pm

Has anyone used the standard ceramic tiles (builders range) in your house, is it normal for the tiles to differ. we have discovered that the quality of sample tile we bought from National differs drastically from what the builder ordered for us and the quality of the tile ordered by the builder is of inferior quality. Has anyone encountered a similar situation.

cinderella_375

Aug 02, 2012
8:36 am

We have our final construction drawings signing today. But I have to take my 13 month old. Can anyone tell me roughly how long this appt took?! I was hoping/assuming not the 5 hours our contract took...!

monkeypantz

Aug 02, 2012
9:27 am

cinderella_375

We have our final construction drawings signing today. But I have to take my 13 month old. Can anyone tell me roughly how long this appt took?! I was hoping/assuming not the 5 hours our contract took...!

Definitely not as long as contract for us, but I don't really remember how long it took, sorry! I remember them telling us it would only be 20 minutes, but it was definitely longer than that.

BTW, final drawings

cinderella_375

Aug 02, 2012
9:35 am

Thanks Monkeypantz. I hoped not too long with a mobile toddler in tow!

We are excited for final drawings. We are still battling our bank, but have decided to adios them and move to another so depending on how long that takes, PD are ready to start. Still waiting on us

But, strangely.... Drove past our block yesterday and WE HAVE A TAP!!!!

monkeypantz

Aug 02, 2012
10:15 am

What a pain! I hope you can get it sorted and get underway quickly!

Well, we have our first 'delay'

We were told that fixing should be finished yesterday, but we haven't recieved an invoice yet (and given how quick they have been to issue the invoices up to this point I'm taking it as a fair indication it's just not done). BC and SS have been pretty good with communication so far so we'll just sit tight for the minute and see if someone calls to tell us what's going on.