Porter Davis homes

Osprey IS CAT 1.

as previously mentioned, grab a sample from The Caesarstone website (takes a few days to send to you). You can also ask for sample surfaces eg crystalgloss / vinyl wrap from Laminex. Their website has a number to call. The samples (some of which you can't get from Hopetoun) are very useful when you do your tile selections.

Oh we really liked osprey too, I like the smaller flecks too, much more subtle.
We chose 600x600 tiles which were porcelaine, so there went the budget!!! I wasn't impressed with the tile range, there wasn't too much to choose from but I have a feeling that the range might change regularly (not sure though) You can go down to national tiles in Port Melbourne on a Saturday and check out the cat 1 range, it's the small back wall only (the furtherest wall from the entry) Tiles were what we found the most difficult due to a fairly limited choice!!
Good luck with it though, when are your selections?

Hi everyone

Newbie here! Loving this forum, I've read so many threads and got a lot of tips already, such a great resource!

I was wondering if anyone has a copy of the PD retail price list for the lifestyle range prior to the Spring promotion which was launched in September 2012? The reason I ask is we have a quote from December based on a $32k 'discount' as part of the stimulus. The discount is off the retail list price of the house however, in the January 2013 pricing, the retail list price of the house is only $2k different to our 'discounted' price!!!!! So between September and now, PD has dropped $30k from the retail list price of the house! I am a little confused because that is a huge drop. I did raise this with the sales person however I couldn't get an answer.

I am hoping to find an older price list so I can compare to see if the retail list prices were increased during the promotion, or if they have in fact gone down at the beginning of the year.

I've done a lot of googling and searching but haven't found much so if anyone has one, I'd really appreciate it!!!

Many thanks

Does anyone know if the manhole can be locked so that no one can enter the house through the roof.

Yes can be done I was going to move ours to the garage with a lock but wasn't worth it

Hi everyone.

I'm back again, have been extremely busy the last few months with work, looking for rental, moving house, demolition, etc...

So far our progress and communication with PD has been great. We have a new BC, she has been wonderful, polite, returning phone calls and emails. This has been a huge difference compared to our previous BC.

Last Wednesday we signed the construction drawings, nothing major to be changed which was good. Now waiting for the confirmation of site start date.

I have also updated our blog, so feel free to read and provide any comments. The URL is
http://micwaldorf44.blogspot.com.au/

Cheers.

Answer - PD simply inflated (greatly) the price of their homes, then advertised a HUGE 30k, 50k off sale etc. It's simply the marketing campaign they chose to run with... so in other words its a load of rubbish, simply an attention grabber. Builders use many varying methods to market their product (bonuses for extras / upgrades etc). Purposely inflating prices before advertising big discounts is one of the more immoral offerings I've seen in recent times IMO. I saw the so called 'rrp' on their homes last year, which I recall were completely ridiculous!! Compare them yourselves to the other builders if you think it's not true. Is it legit to advertise grossly inflated retail prices? Obviously PD think so. Consumer affairs?

It's amusing that you asked the sales person about it... They'll be totally aware of it but unlikely to give you a straight answer. After all, it's their job to dodge such questions and make you feel like you're their best friend. Bottom line, the bigger builders will all work out similar in price at the end of the day. They are just constantly testing different marketing methods to see which will draw in the most business.

Welcome to the world of new home sales... We'd all love for it to be as nice as it seems initially.. not the case.

[quote="ftdt7882"]Hi everyone

Newbie here! Loving this forum, I've read so many threads and got a lot of tips already, such a great resource!

I was wondering if anyone has a copy of the PD retail price list for the lifestyle range prior to the Spring promotion which was launched in September 2012? The reason I ask is we have a quote from December based on a $32k 'discount' as part of the stimulus. The discount is off the retail list price of the house however, in the January 2013 pricing, the retail list price of the house is only $2k different to our 'discounted' price!!!!! So between September and now, PD has dropped $30k from the retail list price of the house! I am a little confused because that is a huge drop. I did raise this with the sales person however I couldn't get an answer.

I am hoping to find an older price list so I can compare to see if the retail list prices were increased during the promotion, or if they have in fact gone down at the beginning of the year.

I have a few older price lists here, mostly the prestige range. But there are a few lifestyle ones kicking around too. Did you have a specific house in mind?

Heres an example of how the prices have changed for a few houses:

Waldorf 44
04/01/2011 - $336,900
10/09/2011 - $330,900
11/02/2012 - $327,900
26/05/2012 - $307,900
05/01/2013 - $304,900

Ashdale 27 - Lifestyle
26/05/2012 - $196,900
05/01/2013 - $178,900

The big issue with these price comparisons are that you need to take into account the promotions and inclusions on offer at the time. Yes the prices have decreased, but so have the inclusions, for example when the waldorf was at its higher price this price included all flooring (valued at about $11/12K) and we were offered a site start bonus of $15,000 off and bonus range of 'luxury inclusions' (which really seem to be on offer in most promotions)

So effectively the waldorf base price was $327,900 less $15,000 cash-back promotion and including $12,000 worth of flooring so for comparisons sake it was $300,900 in Feb 2012 and its $304,900 now!!

Please correct me if I am wrong as I am not 100% sure of the inclusions they are offering now but I think you pay about $12K for flooring and the luxury inclusions are about the same (IE 40mm caeserstone in kitchen, extended ceilings, soft closing drawers, window locks etc)

Also important to keep in mind are the increases to the facades (which have gone up according to the price lists I have here) and things like hebel (which has just gone up) and all the extras as I am sure they would vary a bit over time too.

Let me know if you're wanting anything specific as I have a few bits of pricing info here from a while ago.

Hope that helps

Just an update to advise that my SS called me late this afternoon with the wonderful news that the problems have been resolved... THANKS!!

That's great news!!

Hi Jnkbids,
Really pleased to hear this news. Hope the rest of your build goes smoothly. I'm looking forward to seeing the photos when it's completed.
Cheers
Helen

Hi Helen,
(and everyone else who was interested in the 24/7 portal issues that were discussed here recently)

I did get a reply from my BC regarding the 24/7 site and its lack of information, this was her response:

"I would like to advise that the 24/7 website is unfortunately an ongoing issue that we are trying to improve. All of your selections I believe would be your initial selections and I am unsure if your progress payments are shown. In relation to your site photos I will chase this up with (SS) and get him to take a few in future for me to then upload for viewing. I apologise that all of the information is not up to date however if you would like any of the latest versions of selections I can send them to you or if you require any invoices I can request these from accounts, just let me know."

This left me none the wiser as I really didnt know what 'ongoing issues that we are trying to improve' really meant so naturally I queried that and her reply was as follows:

"In relation to the 24/7 website we are currently having problems with the site itself. Sometimes things may show up and others it may not. Unfortunately the documents will not be replaced or added as I have tried to do this myself with no luck. If you would like me to send everything through on one big email I am more than happy to do so."

So while it's a real shame that the 24/7 portal site isn't what it's made out to be by the sales guys it was lovely for our BC to offer to email through everything (updated) which she has now done.

Hope that clears things up for anyone else out there who was becoming frustrated with the site and it's lack of information or incorrect information. It would be a good idea for PD to either get it working correctly or not promote it from a sales point of view, as it just leaves their customers feeling conned and disappointed.

Hi Marto

Thanks for your response. You are right, the builders do work out to be similar in price at the end of the day! Naturally the sales person dodged my question, I knew that they knew... I just wanted them to know that I knew!

It's all new to me (and my husband!), I'm sure the shine will wear off soon!

Thanks once again

Hello

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Love your blog, it is one of the first ones I came across!

The house we are looking at is the O@kdale, it is relatively new I think. I would love to look at the prices for the lifestyle range from May if you had that handy? Happy to DM you my email address. You're probably right, if the prices were higher I imagine the inclusions would have been better

The promos for the 'Spring Stimulus' were:
- $7099 for Cat 1 flooring to non wet areas + Cat 1 carpet to bedrooms
- $7099 for 'Gourmet Kitchen' which has a dual fuel cooker, dishwasher, 20mm caesarstone benchtops (including island), shadowline feature to benchtops, soft closers to cupboards + drawers, double door overhead cupboards to kitchen, flexible sink mixer with vegie sprayer
- $999 for the 'Designer Indulgence' which has an upgraded shower head to the ensuite, flyscreens, locks to all windows, internal access from the garage, extended laminate benchtop in the laundry + an upgraded trough (I think)
- $4799 for the 'Street Appeal' which includes render to the facade, upgraded garage door, 2590mm high ceilings.

As I typed that I thought 'wow, that is a lot in terms of upgrades' but I think they are offering the same type of things at the moment anyway. I think you are right, prices go up the inclusions might be more, prices go down, inclusions are less. I honestly didn't think of that. Can you tell I am new to this?!

Just a quick reply, I'm running out the door but I'll have a proper look later and PM you any details I find.
The May retail prices for the O@kdale are as follows:
The 26 - $189,900
The 29 - $198,900
Then it mentions a $10K lifestyle cashback.... I'll look more into that when I can

Hope that helps

I hope so too.. thanks again Helen. My BC and SS sorted everything out for me and all the corrections were done to the affected windows today. The windows look so much better now The tradespeople even managed to finish the windows on the 1st floor.

Updated the blog to reflect the latest changes to the house.

Our land finally settled yesterday and our Building Coordinator tells us we're penciled in to be on site on 15th February - 3 weeks away! So excited now that we can finally get moving. We signed up way back in May so it's been a long wait just to get here!

Have updated the blog for anyone interested.

Congrats guys...
We has a 9 month wait from signing to start - mostly waiting for land...
It's so exciting how quick it all goes. Are you living far from your block ?
Mike

Hi there, we are in the process of moving closer to a rental (taking on a friends place as they are moving into there new home) about 10km from the build so we can keep an eye on it otherwise we would be about an hour away in melbourne.

Tiles Tiles Tiles is all I have to say. I think I will dream about Tiles till our appointment on Tuesday. So confused.