Porter Davis homes

Hey Marto
No help to you al all but I wasn't impressed with the wood floor options on offer. My advice would be to get them to cancel your flooring if you can get a credit and do it post handover to get exactly what you want. Not a pretty on PCI / key day but probably a lot less hassle if you can get it measure and ordered for installation within the first few days (remembering to allow for appliance install for a day).

Thanks
Mikey

Hi Cinders
Enjoy your slabness ! I envy you actually. The first half of the build is very exciting once started as you literally see it all happening before you get locked out.
Good luck with everything

Hooroo
Mikey

Hi Marto,

We also wanted to have solid timber floors and were told the same due to safety and because when you build you actually turn the site over to the builder, therefore they are responsible if anything is damaged or stolen.
We had PD tack the skirtings on then after handover the flooring company removed them, layed the boards, then reattached the skirting after the final coat. They were very precise around the kitchen and island benches leaving around a 5mm gap which was then filled with a type of wood coloured putty/silicone.
We still need to give the skirting a final coat of paint, but we are very happy with the floor boards and feel it's worth the inconvenience.

I have heard that PD would never tack skirting, but have now seen a few people mention this is now possible, so that's great. Looks like we'll be doing the same. Do you know if they painted the skirting at all before tacking them?

The whole skirting board thing is a bit of a mess with PD.

Their general rule is either:

1. skirting boards on properly (nailed / glued & painted) or,
2. not on at all (they'll leave you the lengths, uncut & unpainted).

We were dead against beading / quad / scotia on our floorboards, so told them to leave it off completely, and we'd get it done privately after the flooring went in after handover. Our SS didn't realise this was written into our contract and we ended up with them all cut and 60% of them nailed in properly. It was at this point he realised they weren't meant to go on (didn't know if that was a must, or our best choice of 2 bad options), but after talking to us, agreed to get the rest tacked in, but he would be unable to have them painted as the painter's fee was already agreed and would not have included paint for the skirtings (per the contract).

This ended up being okay, as we ripped off the skirting boards on the day of handover, painted them ourselves and put them back on after the floors went in. A bit of work, but a much better result.

Best thing would be to talk about this with your SS, but if you dont want to cut and paint them yourself, get PD to put them on, as it is MUCH easier to remove them (regardless of paint / nails), than have to cut and paint them yourself.

We actually asked to have the skirting boards left off, but were told this was not possible as it wouldn't pass for the occupancy certificate. I did argue that I had seen very modern homes that had no skirting boards at all so how is this possible if they are a requirement for the OC, but they wouldn't budge.
Ours were fully painted and tacked on.

Electricians have been in this week! Hubby went out to the site yesterday and we have lights and an alarm, as well as heating and cooling ducts and controls. Hopefully I can get out there myself this weekend, it's a wee bit exciting

Good luck it is very exciting times .. I had a look yesterday and the guys were rendering my house and inside the house everything is finished except 1 power point and paint touch ups !!!
I am so excited about the PCI.

Wow thats a super quick build time.

Woo hoo, good luck Humble... it's an exiciting time !!
regards
Mikey

SS is good and the tradies have done a good job. ( except for the render guys they can't read the plans but it will get fixed)
Building time still hasn't ticked 4 months although we waited for our land to settle almost 12 months watching the grass grow before starting.

Have started a blog for anyone interested. Not much going on there at the moment but will update over the next week with more specific details like our colours, time line etc.

Cheers!

Guys
Nice house and very nice alfrecso...
Enjoy the process
Mikey

Looking forward to seeing your build progress

I have updated the blog for those playing at home

its looking great. we are at the same stage now, ill have to update the blog, we havn't got long now to go now.

Hi seashoremontague21,
Congratulations on your purchase of the Montague 21, it’s a great first home and the alfresco option makes it even more appealing. I look forward to watching your build progress and hope all runs smoothly for you. Please remember that your BC and SS will be your primary contacts and that they are there to help - keeping the lines of communication open with them is really important. If I can be of any assistance, you can also contact me via private message on this forum. Good luck with it all.
Cheers, Helen

Can someone please let me know if the pre-wired cables are left inside the wall or is to be pulled out.

They'll be pulled through and terminated appropriately. The guys that do that are different to the ones that do power and lights.