Porter Davis homes

blog updated for anyone interested http://porterdavismontague21.blogspot.com.au/

We had our colour and electrical appointments today. Really happy with how it went!

I've updated the blog and my thread with our colour selections. Tile selection is on Saturday.



Bricks: Boral Rouge
Windows: White Birch
Feature Render: Dune
Roof, gutters, facia, downpipes: Woodland Grey
Garage Door: Dune

Will add our info to the cost and upgrades thread in the next few days...

BTW - White Birch is available for Lifestyle homes (but I didn't check the other colours). Caesar stone is available to those people who paid their first deposit before Christmas.

Enjoy Tinker, we have an Aluminium 2100mm high x 3000mm wide 4 leaf - $4,121. Plus my favourite piece is getting "providing a concrete rebate and recessed frame to Bifold Door" so there is no lip to fall over - $135.

Now that's a dynamic basin thread !
We upgraded to that one too (Access range). I loved the round one, it was so cute, but a tap on the bench is just asking for trouble, either the dripping mess or rotting benches when they leak.
And yes, $110 in April 2011... so that price is reasonable.

Enjoy
Mikey

Thank you for the info ftdt7882 & MummaDJ. I was told during tender it would cost over $6000 for 2010 mm high x 3900 mm wide timber bi-fold door (indicated we would have to more for staining) and that the aluminium would cost about $1500 on top of the $ 6000 plus??? can there be such a big difference?
i wanted a recessed frame to Bi fold Door (after reading the forum) but she said they don't do it. I'm wondering who i should i clarify exact cost & details with as this happened during tender.

There was another problem during tender i was quoted approx $10200 for 6.8 x 3.4 alfresco. we believe this they are charging us the price of the grand alfresco as there was a mix up i the PD system they had saved the standard alfresco as a grand alfresco. my understanding is a similar size alfresco is approx $ 8500. This is for double story Lifestyle house. Is the above price reasonable? has anyone built a grand alfresco for a life style double story?

greatly appreciate any info on the above.

Our 2100mm x 3600mm aluminium bifolds were $5,446.

Sorry, electricity was paid by the builder while building. The water bill came straight to me so I just paid it never knowing I could claim on it.

You might need to double check with your sales consultant. I know for windows timber is more expensive than the aluminum windows... I would assume it would be the same for doors but I could be wrong.

Just wanted to provide an update on eaves. I had asked for 600mm eaves and was initially quoted $4326 for eaves to the upper floor and $958 for the ground floor.

It turns out that the ground floor eaves was only for the garage and it wouldn't even go all the way around as the side of the garage is being built to the boundary fence, so its only the front of the garage and a bit of the back!

So for those asking for eaves, may be worthwhile considering whether you need ground floor eaves!

It's frustrating that PD seems to be quoting a higher price for the bi fold door than normal. When I called the sales consultant and double checked how much the bi fold door to the house we want build would cost she too said it would cost $4500-5000. Just like some of you had mentioned. But the building coordinator and tender coordinator seems to be quoting a figure that's $1500 more. Which is ridiculous. Disappointed with PD we selected PD to build our first home thinking it would be a smooth process.
Sales consultant was pretty good. Love floor plan but other than that its starting t feel like too much of a effort to get the correct prices and details.

PD is starting to drain the excitement and happiness of building our first home.

I have been told by many forum members that 2100mm x3600mm bi fold timber door stained Ina's cost them around 5000. Even my sales consultant told me so in the v beginning and I double checked. But tender coordinator seems to be quoting a much higher figure $6500.
For 2100mm x 3900mm door which sounds ridiculous. If this wasn't a standard size we should have been informed we just wanted a bi fold door for the family alfresco entrance. (The 6500 is after crediting back the cost of the standard aluminum door window and brick work that was there as standard. Feel it's a rip off.

How can there be a difference in charge between two similar looking alfresco for the rochford and Hoffman floor plans similar alfresco size similar layout similar but 1500 plus difference.

We are starting to wonder wether walking out and going to the 2nd builder we were considering initially is worth it even though it means $2500 deposit s peace of mind. They seem to offer transparency seem to tick all the boxes that PD did.

Been first home buyers We choose PD in the first place cause its finish floor plan promise to respect our dreams I don't see that so far. Utterly disappointed. Most things we ask can't be done , but by reading the forum we see that those things have been done.

Hi J&C
Thanks for this information, I will pass this onto the New Home Care General Manager. He has already responded to my e-mail to him tonight and said he will speak to the inspector tomorrow and get back to you. If you have any further concerns, you can always PM me and I will follow-up for you.
Cheers, Helen[/quote]

Hi Helen

Thought I'd provide you an update. No one from the home care team has contacted me as yet.

Cheers - J & C[/quote]

Hi J&C
I sincerely apologise for this. I did follow up with the New Home Care Manager, as previously advised, and I was told you would be contacted the next day. I have just sent him another reminder. If you are not contacted tomorrow, could you please let me know?
Cheers, Helen[/quote]

Hi Helen

I just wanted to let you know that the Home care manager called and has promised to look into my concerns.

Thanks - J & C

Hi tinker,
I can sense and understand your frustration and I'd like to get some more clarity around this issue of the varying quotes. Could you please PM me, via this forum, with your contact and build details and I will look into this for you.
Cheers, Helen

Hi Helen

Thought I'd provide you an update. No one from the home care team has contacted me as yet.

Cheers - J & C[/quote]

Hi J&C
I sincerely apologise for this. I did follow up with the New Home Care Manager, as previously advised, and I was told you would be contacted the next day. I have just sent him another reminder. If you are not contacted tomorrow, could you please let me know?
Cheers, Helen[/quote]

Hi Helen

I just wanted to let you know that the Home care manager called and has promised to look into my concerns.

Thanks - J & C[/quote]

Hi J&C
Thanks for letting me know. Hope all gets sorted to your satisfaction. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further issues.
Cheers, Helen

Hi Helen

I have PM you the details. Really hope you can sort this issue.

Lots of activities have been happening last few weeks, finally had time to update our blog.

Framing done
Ground floor windows in
Roof in
House wrapped ground floor
Plumbing done

For those interested, blog is http://micwaldorf44.blogspot.com.au/

Hi everyone,
Had our second visit to hopetoun today and pretty sure we have most of our picks ready for the upcoming colour appointment.

Have a question on an upgrade cost for you. Looking at upgrading from a tile kitchen splashback to glass but the inclusion will be cost dependent. Has anyone upgraded their tiles and what was the cost?

Thanks
Bel

Hi Bel

Check out the PD upgrades link

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=54817

It's a great way for people to see what others have been charged and the different kinds if things that have been added or changed.

The more that people add to this the greater a resource it will be.... (& it will stay up to date)

We had the choice of a cat 1 tiled splash back or glass, at no additional cost, so I can't imagine there's too much difference in the price.

Good luck

NO TRANSPARENCY!! Our dream of building our first home together is very quickly becoming a nightmare!

It appears that Porter Davis work under a shroud of secrecy when it comes to setting out the cost of our new home. Each stage of the process underestimates the pricing to get you 'across the line'. First our sales consultant underquoted a number of upgrades we were considering - thus luring our $1,000 deposit.

Prior to tender we visited Hopetoun to get an idea of which items we would like upgraded. It's impossible to get pricing or even an estimate for these items from the staff at Hopetoun prior to your colour appointment. They are well trained and have been instructed not to discuss the price of any items. Again, keeping everything top secret.

Then we got to tender - our initial tender document appeared to have similar TOTAL pricing to our quote, however many things had gone up and other things had been omitted from the document to compensate for the increases. We were methodical in our approach to the document ensuring we ticked off every item to our initial quote which is how we found all the missing items and increases. In all, $8,000+ had been added to our tender without any material value.

We had also asked for the upgrade costs for a number of additional items to be sent to us prior to our tender appointment (seeing we couldn't get them from Hopetoun). We wanted to consider and make an informed decision on these items including their affordability. We asked several times for these things but we were not provided with them.

We asked about our list of upgrade items again at tender and were told that the purpose of the tender meeting was not to go through upgrades but to discuss structural changes we required. Upon our insistence we were provided with an allowance in our tender document for the items we had inquired about. We were told the allowance would more than cover the items on our list and if we didn't spend all of the allowance we would be refunded the difference. So once again, we paid the next deposit payment thinking we were finally reasonably close to our final construction cost.

You guessed it! The allowance is nowhere near the amount required to cover the upgrade costs. In fact, one item alone, completely utilised the full allowance.

We have not yet attended our contract appointment and we are considering whether to cut our losses and walk away from Porter Davis altogether. No doubt there will be further additional costs added to the contract too. Despite what PD think, we do not have an endless supply of cash to keep tipping into this building project without receiving any additional value.

If you are considering building with PD I would suggest you make sure you budget a significant allowance for incidentals and underquotes and expect to receive nothing for this money. You will also need to allow an additional $50k to $60k if you would like just a few of the upgrades shown in their display home.

I hear you!!! We've found this frustrating too. We're still waiting for prices and info. Our contract appointment was meant to be this morning but we had to reschedule it. I hope we can get the info before hand.

It's also ridiculous that pricing can vary so much between initial quotes, tender, colours appointment and contract. It's not petrol we're buying!

You don't go to buy a car without doing your research and knowing all the prices for upgrades before hand - and this is much, much, much more money being spent than on buying a new car!