Porter Davis homes

Team PD · Aug 30, 2012 9:15 pm

michaelrezk

I went to check the house yesterday and we are deep in the fixing stage..all doors have been installed including the garage door and the house has been fully painted from the inside.
The last surprise was the electrician has installed all lights and power points..
I guess we are waiting for tiles delivery now.
I have a landscape and driveway allowance in my contract but not sure if I should ask for PD to do it or get a cheque and arrange it myself.
Has anyone organised landscape with PD ?

Hi michaelrezk.
If you have bought a house & land package that includes landscaping and driveway, it has not been included as an allowance. During your colour selections appointment at Hopetoun, you should have selected your landscaping option (choose from drought tolerant, formal and native) and the colour for your concrete driveway and path to door. If you have purchased a house & land package with fencing, then this might have been included as an allowance. Probably best to give your BC a buzz to get some clarity, or drop me a Private Message with your details and build address and I can get the office to contact you.
Cheers, Helen.

Mikey_Harrison · Aug 30, 2012 9:39 pm

Hmmm noticing that while my house took 9 months to complete, the one PD is building themselves across the road to sell later (same house specs - 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2 car garage) has taken only 3 months.

Also noticed that the fencers I used on PDs recommendation took 7 weeks to construct my fences, but alas PD have managed to have their fences completed in 1 day !!

Grrr !

J & C · Aug 30, 2012 10:01 pm

michaelrezk

J & C

michaelrezk

I went to check the house yesterday and we are deep in the fixing stage..all doors have been installed including the garage door and the house has been fully painted from the inside.
The last surprise was the electrician has installed all lights and power points..
I guess we are waiting for tiles delivery now.
I have a landscape and driveway allowance in my contract but not sure if I should ask for PD to do it or get a cheque and arrange it myself.
Has anyone organised landscape with PD ?

I don't think they give return you the cheque for the driveway, there is a company called Programmed Property Services that does the driveway and landscaping for PD. You can get the contact details from your BC or SS. We have been informed that our driveway and landscaping will be done once we move in that is after handover. Didn't they give you the options to choose the plants and the colour of the driveway, the only problem is that the driveway is coloured concrete and if you want to upgrade to expose you have to pay extra directly to the company.

Thanks for that.. I will google them.
I remember picking a color and bunch of plants but what about the grass or the cut and fill in General no one talked if that's included or not.
Have you done yours with PD ??

Yes we will be doing us with the PD contactor after handover, if you contact Programmed Property Services at Clayton Road they will give you a drawing, there is some grass in addition to the plants, we will be upgrading to exposed aggregate, they only do Boral for which we have to pay extra in addition to what we have paid PD. Let me know how much they quote you.

Team PD · Aug 30, 2012 10:04 pm

linloch

Had our Tender appointment today -quite disappointing.
There were NUMEROUS inclusions which we had added weeks ago with our SC which were not included. All of this information was emailed and discussed weeks prior to our appointment yet they were still not included.
On top of that our tender document charged us twice for $6000, just as well we had a lot of time to wait whilst they redrafted the tender or we may never have found the discrepancy.
A bit disappointing all 'round. Hope things aren't like this at contract!!!
PD really needs to email tender documents to client prior to tender meetings to ensure that all errors are rectified before the tender appointment.

Hi linloch,
I can appreciate from what you have outlined above that this must have been a very frustrating. Your comments/recommendations have been passed onto the appropriate people at PD to look into this process. If you require any further assistance, please don’t hesitate to send me a private message and I will do whatever I can to help you out.
Cheers, Helen

J & C · Aug 30, 2012 10:04 pm

Team PD

J & C

Is it normal to receive a call from a gas provider that they will be installing a gas meter once one has signed a contract with them or does the builder take care of meter installation.

Hi J&C.

We recently changed gas providers to Tru Energy and they should only be calling you around handover stage to find out if you would like to continue using them as your gas provider. They should be dealing us and our plumber when it comes to installing the actual gas metre. I'd have a chat to your SS about this to get it sorted.

Cheers,
Helen

Hi Helen,

Thanks for this!

Tru energy person called again asking us to sign-up first with them so that they can install the gas meter else there will be no gas meter, is this the process. We were thinking the gas meters will be installed and all we have to do is to call the provider we want to be with.

Team PD · Aug 30, 2012 10:37 pm

J & C

Team PD

J & C

Is it normal to receive a call from a gas provider that they will be installing a gas meter once one has signed a contract with them or does the builder take care of meter installation.

Hi J&C.

We recently changed gas providers to Tru Energy and they should only be calling you around handover stage to find out if you would like to continue using them as your gas provider. They should be dealing us and our plumber when it comes to installing the actual gas metre. I'd have a chat to your SS about this to get it sorted.

Cheers,
Helen

Hi Helen,

Thanks for this!

Tru energy person called again asking us to sign-up first with them so that they can install the gas meter else there will be no gas meter, is this the process. We were thinking the gas meters will be installed and all we have to do is to call the provider we want to be with.

Hi J&C,
That's correct, Tru Energy should be dealing with PD or the plumber about the installation of the meter, and you don't have to sign up with them for this to happen. Your SS is your best point of contact to sort this out for you. In the meantime, as True Energy is a new supplier to PD, we will get in contact with them again to ensure they fully understand our processes. Please let me know if you have any further issues.
Cheers, Helen

Team PD · Aug 31, 2012 5:12 pm

J & C

We received a water bill from the water company for water consumed during construction phase ($172). The house is yet to be handed over. Who pays this bill ?

Hi J&C
The link below outlines who is responsible for utility payments during the build process. Hopefully your gas meter issue has now been sorted by your SS. If you have any other questions, just let me know.
Cheers, Helen

http://blog.porterdavis.com.au/index.php/2011-04/split-the-construction-cost/.

Team PD · Aug 31, 2012 6:01 pm

cinderella_375

The suspense is killing us over here waiting for SS to ring and let us know when they are going to site. We were hoping this week, but no action so far!!

Question on site clean up; When did you do yours/did you know when it needed to be done for? There are just a few bits of rubbish that might need to get removed perhaps.
And also, were you required to/did you put up a sign on your property with the LOT No etc?

Hi cinderella_375
PD does a final site clean, internally and externally, at the completion of your home where all of the rubbish is removed. There is also a final tidy up after the appliances are installed.
As the builder,we obtain the lot number from the subdivision plan that has been provided by the developers. You should get your house number sign from your council when you receive your rates notice.

Hopefully this answers your questions but if you need any further assistance or clarification, please don’t hesitate to send me a private message.
Cheers, Helen

J & C · Aug 31, 2012 9:50 pm

Hi J&C.

We recently changed gas providers to Tru Energy and they should only be calling you around handover stage to find out if you would like to continue using them as your gas provider. They should be dealing us and our plumber when it comes to installing the actual gas metre. I'd have a chat to your SS about this to get it sorted.

Cheers,
Helen[/quote]

Hi Helen,

Thanks for this!

Tru energy person called again asking us to sign-up first with them so that they can install the gas meter else there will be no gas meter, is this the process. We were thinking the gas meters will be installed and all we have to do is to call the provider we want to be with.[/quote]

Hi J&C,
That's correct, Tru Energy should be dealing with PD or the plumber about the installation of the meter, and you don't have to sign up with them for this to happen. Your SS is your best point of contact to sort this out for you. In the meantime, as True Energy is a new supplier to PD, we will get in contact with them again to ensure they fully understand our processes. Please let me know if you have any further issues.
Cheers, Helen[/quote]

Hi Helen,

Thanks for this, I'm waiting for our SS and BC to return from their holidays. There has not been much progress in the last two weeks. The temporary SS has not done much work, neither has he returned my calls / messages or replied to my email. Hopefully our original SS will close all pending issues soon.

cinderella_375 · Aug 31, 2012 10:28 pm

We have a portaloo!!!!!!

monkeypantz · Sep 01, 2012 8:30 am

cinderella_375

We have a portaloo!!!!!!

Woohoo!

J & C · Sep 01, 2012 10:41 am

Just discovered that the builder has forgotten to add some heating vents in our house...can these be added once the ceiling is complete.

Superdaddy · Sep 01, 2012 1:41 pm

We have finally signed our contract on Monday! The process so far has been relatively smooth, had ensured all our changes are included in the contract drawings as well as follow up on some queries. Our presenter has been patient with us and noted our concerns to follow up and presented well. She has done a great job for us. *thumbs up*

A cons about the contract time was while the changes and queries were being followed up, we were left waiting for a long time.

Our colour and electrical selections were done the week before contract time. It was quite tiring for a long day appointment especially when there's only a short break between colour and electrical. Electrical time was great, we can see the $$$ kept adding up... lol The real benefit is to be able to see the changes on the screen and costs.

A bit disappointing from colour selection was not able to get prices on some items especially staircase. We were advised prices will be given at contract. An improvement for PD would be to provide a price list guidelines so customers can work out costs before those appointments.

Overall, we are happy with our contract and now can't wait for the demolition and site start.

Lisjac · Sep 02, 2012 3:07 pm

Áfter a long and stressful time, we've finally been given a site start for tomorrow!! Just wondering for anyone that has recently built with PD in Point Cook what the timeframe is to handover?? I know they say 18 weeks but wondering if there has generally been any delays or if people have found handover to be earlier?? Any info would be appreciated

cinderella_375 · Sep 03, 2012 9:15 am

Yay! Just drove past our block this morning to see this...! Looks like we are starting....
Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅

Edit; photo not working! Just imagine you can see a big yellow digger parked on our vacant lot..!!

monkeypantz · Sep 03, 2012 10:07 am

Sounds like exciting times all around

We went over and checked out the house on Saturday and painting has started, and our benchtops have been installed :z:

Sounds like a small change but the difference is huge! I will hopefully update the blog tonight.

We are currently getting quotes on blinds. We are planning on having roller blinds throughout the house, and if finances permit perhaps some plantation shutters in our study voids. We went to visit the Birk showroom at Hopetoun and were pretty disappointed. We didn't find the salesperson particularly helpful (although she wasn't unhelpful), and their 'priviledge pricing' was more expensive than all the other estimates we have recieved so far. It was handy that she had the plans available, and it is appealing to have someone co-ordinating with the SS to have blinds in before we are in, but it looks like it might come at too high a cost

Has anyone looked at (or had installed) fly screens for bifolds? We are keen to have some sort of screen. We have had a look at the retractable screens which seem great, but for the $$ we want to be sure they are the goods!

sencillez · Sep 03, 2012 3:31 pm

hi everyone. I never asked Ebony/Helen for help before because I put so much trust on my BC and SS. This time, I've just had enough of all the mistakes and inaccuracies of PD. They made major mistakes in the past these are now minor compared to those, but I'm just so tired of complaining and begging for the issues to be fixed. It feels like everything that can go wrong has gone wrong during our entire build.

Mid june, our ensuite benchtop was installed incorrectly. According to the BC, there were some typographical error in our colour selection document. I sent them a photo of the caesarstone to ensure that they replace with the correct one. We went out of the country on August, prior to our trip we were told that settlement will be around mid september.

We were so excited to visit the house on the exact day that we landed only to find out that the following were installed incorrectly:
1. Bolero timber flooring - wrong color
2. Bathroom and WC floor tiles - wrong type, they installed matte instead of glossy
3. Ensuite benchtop - wrong color, for the 2nd time! first time they installed laminate instead of caesarstone, 2nd time they installed the wrong caeasarstone color

We notified our BC and SS about these issues since our settlement is due in a couple of weeks.
Item 1 was addressed quickly
Item 2 SS said it will be hard to remove and replace the tiles this since it might cause damage to the property, but it can be done
Item 3 BC said that the original color that we chose has been discontinued. We chose the floor and wall tiles of the ensuite to go with black benchtop, they've installed white.
BC said if we want to have a black benchtop, we can upgrade to cat2 and pay 250aud. According to the BC, they weren’t alerted that the actual colour we wanted was discontinued. Now we don't have much choice since the floor and wall tiles were already installed, so we only want to go with our original benchtop selection, which is black

All these mistakes plus the fact that we have to pay additional to have a black caesarstone are just unacceptable.
Is it fair for the customer to pay if the supplier forgot to alert PD that an item has been discontinued?
Or they could have at least informed us that it has been discontinued before the tiles were installed so we can redesign.
If they have drafted the colour document correctly and ordered the item correctly the first time, I bet we wouldn't even be having this issue.

Shouldn't anyone be checking if PD's internal documents are correct and that they match the items that have been delivered?? It's just really frustrating. Imagine spending your hard earned money every month on mortgage and in return you get all these errors and mistakes. I don't think I'll be recommending PD to my friends.

I'm done with all these errors and mistakes, PD can't you just deliver what's on the contract?
Helen if you're reading this, I need your help. Thanks in advance.

Team PD · Sep 03, 2012 5:29 pm

sencillez

hi everyone. I never asked Ebony/Helen for help before because I put so much trust on my BC and SS. This time, I've just had enough of all the mistakes and inaccuracies of PD. They made major mistakes in the past these are now minor compared to those, but I'm just so tired of complaining and begging for the issues to be fixed. It feels like everything that can go wrong has gone wrong during our entire build.

Mid june, our ensuite benchtop was installed incorrectly. According to the BC, there were some typographical error in our colour selection document. I sent them a photo of the caesarstone to ensure that they replace with the correct one. We went out of the country on August, prior to our trip we were told that settlement will be around mid september.

We were so excited to visit the house on the exact day that we landed only to find out that the following were installed incorrectly:
1. Bolero timber flooring - wrong color
2. Bathroom and WC floor tiles - wrong type, they installed matte instead of glossy
3. Ensuite benchtop - wrong color, for the 2nd time! first time they installed laminate instead of caesarstone, 2nd time they installed the wrong caeasarstone color

We notified our BC and SS about these issues since our settlement is due in a couple of weeks.
Item 1 was addressed quickly
Item 2 SS said it will be hard to remove and replace the tiles this since it might cause damage to the property, but it can be done
Item 3 BC said that the original color that we chose has been discontinued. We chose the floor and wall tiles of the ensuite to go with black benchtop, they've installed white.
BC said if we want to have a black benchtop, we can upgrade to cat2 and pay 250aud. According to the BC, they weren’t alerted that the actual colour we wanted was discontinued. Now we don't have much choice since the floor and wall tiles were already installed, so we only want to go with our original benchtop selection, which is black

All these mistakes plus the fact that we have to pay additional to have a black caesarstone are just unacceptable.
Is it fair for the customer to pay if the supplier forgot to alert PD that an item has been discontinued?
Or they could have at least informed us that it has been discontinued before the tiles were installed so we can redesign.
If they have drafted the colour document correctly and ordered the item correctly the first time, I bet we wouldn't even be having this issue.

Shouldn't anyone be checking if PD's internal documents are correct and that they match the items that have been delivered?? It's just really frustrating. Imagine spending your hard earned money every month on mortgage and in return you get all these errors and mistakes. I don't think I'll be recommending PD to my friends.

I'm done with all these errors and mistakes, PD can't you just deliver what's on the contract?
Helen if you're reading this, I need your help. Thanks in advance.

Hi sencillez,
I am reading this and can hear your frustration. Could you please send me a private message with your name and contact details so I can look into this for you?
Cheers, Helen

monkeypantz · Sep 03, 2012 9:57 pm

Blog update for last week is done

cinderella_375 · Sep 03, 2012 10:14 pm

The paint does make such a big difference Monkeypantz! Looking great!!