Porter Davis homes

pdkallara33 · Mar 19, 2013 10:56 am

seashoremontague21

Since water theft is so bad on new sites wouldnt there be some thinking as in to fit tap locks and such to try slow it down not a big cost I would be happy to pay for some peace of mind

LOL, I don't think the water usage is so much the cost than the supply charges, we had a water bill of a $150 of which $8.50 was for 5000l of water, the rest was supply and waste charges!!

gabster · Mar 19, 2013 12:13 pm

Team PD

gabster

Helen/Ebony/Team PD I hope you can shed some light into this issue I am facing with PD atm.

When I first saw the powder room in the display home both in Harcrest and Providence, I loved the amazing LARGE extended tiles across the entire powder room.
I decided when I build my home with PD that I will pay for the upgrade to get my own home with the same Large feature extended tiles. I even decided that I would extend the mirror in the powder room to match the extended tiles. However when it was time for our own tiles to be laid in our powder room, it had not turn out the way I expected it to be.

#1 Tiles in our powder room had been cut into SMALL pieces and affixed onto the wall.
#2 The tiles had not been centered properly in the room, resulting in the tiles having odd sizings.
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I wanted the feature of LARGE tiles, thats the reason why I paid for the upgrade of 600mm porcelain tiles and the mirror upgrade! The tiler/SS clearly did not check the drawings before they installed the tiles! I know for a fact that the tiler made a mistake when he initially installed the tiles. He tiled up to the vanity height first. Only then he realised that there is a mistake made, he installed another 300mm CUT tile as a splashback AND across the entire room. Certainly NOT the look I am going for - Refer to the display home photos.
I spoke to our new SS about this issue and he says that PD doesn't build according to the showrooms?! WHAT?! I understand if it were a custom request by the client (us) and that none of your builders/contractors have done it before. But your tilers at the display homes HAVE! Why promote and have on display a showroom that people have the opportunity to upgrade features such as extended tiles with expensive $$ and not receive the product in their own homes? SS also gave me a reason that the tiles had been installed this way because of our porcher vallo basin, the basin was a PRESTIGE INCLUSION UPGRADE, if I knew that I was going to get tiles like that, I wouldn't have accepted the prestige inclusion even if it were free! I really don't believe this is a reflection of the PD pride in excellence and professionalism it claims to have. I've read of people getting shocked at the upgrade costs and what issint 'standard' getting the cold shoulders but I don't think clients who actually PAY for the upgrade should be treated the same. We trust & respect the builders with our HOME, we just want the same respect and trust as well.

Showroom Tiles:
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Our Tiles:
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Step 1 - Wrong height of tiles
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Step 2 - Fix error
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Look at the joint in the aluminium strip. Strip had been replaced. However Tiles have not changed!!

If this is something your team is not be willing to attend to, I do believe potential customers MUST be extremely weary and cautious when they decide to build with PD. Potentially not receiving what they paid for, even if they paid for the UPGRADE.
My PCI is coming up soon, and I do believe this is something my new SS i trying to sweep under the rug as they say. I need to get in contact with a building manager or some sort to have this issue looked at ASAP as my previous SS had promised that he would get this issue looked into and rectified.

Hi gabster,
Could you please private message me, via this forum, with your build and contact details and I can then follow up with the appropriate manager for you.
Cheers, Helen

Just PMed you my details. I hope I hear from someone soon.

Mali02 · Mar 19, 2013 12:35 pm

I've been doing a bit of reading over the last few days and have come across some great articles, including this one. For those looking at taking out variations from their house plans, you may want to read this article. I found it rather helpful and the moral of the story is remove any variations before contract!

http://www.yourbuildingbroker.com.au/ho ... al-advice/

"If you are thinking about deleting an item from the building contract you should do it BEFORE you sign the contract. That way you potentially save 25-35% builders margin because if you delete it AFTER signing the contract the builder only has to credit you the COST of the item, not including his margin."

neilrosh · Mar 19, 2013 1:42 pm

Hi all, just wondering if anyone has used metallic paint for their splash back? Interested to know firstly if PD allow this, did it cost extra and how it came up (if you've got that far into your building project). Thanks

judder · Mar 19, 2013 2:11 pm

gabster

Mikey_Harrison

gabster

Also, my master ensuite bathroom is located on the ground floor. Is it a building reg to have at least the shower a ducted outlet for the air ventilation? At the moment, we have a fan above the shower and the air is just going to circulate between the joists. I don't see any outlets for it. I know for the upper floor, the builder is allowed to let the air into the ceiling space, but im not sure about ground floor toilets.

My powder room in in the centre of the home and is vented through the floorspace above the laundry ceiling.
Your plans dont show this ?

Hi Mike,

my elevations show the exhaust outlet for the powder room on the ground floor, but it doesnt show anything for my master ensuite.
The powder room has no shower in it, its just a toilet. But the master ensuite has a shower/bath. I understand if the powder room can be vented through the floorspace because theres no moisture in the air. But for my master ensuite? theres no outlet vent for it on my drawings. I just have a swirly fan installed above my shower and the air i believe will circulate into the floor space above - seems incorrect to me.

Theres no direct exhaust to get the moist air out.

Hi Gabster,

We have a similar problem, though I'm building with a different builder. We added a bathroom option in the powder room which is located right in the middle of the ground floor on a double storey. In our elevation plans, there is a point of an external vent and an exhaust fan right above the shower. However, when we asked about if there was a duct that would transfer the moist out, the answer from the SS was no. Apparently all that is needed is a path for the hot air/moisture to flow out mixed with natural air from the outside according to the BCA codes which I must say I don't know much about nor have checked up yet.

Logically I don't think this is sufficient ventilation considering this powder room shower is going to be used on a daily basis for 1 person (my mum in law is staying with us for now as she's getting old...). We were really concerned about this, however upon investigating we we found was:

- Many other floorplans now actually have internal powder rooms that upon adding a shower will not provide sufficient ventilation.

- We were interested in M's Liberty 42 which itself had an ensuite with an external wall and window, only to find you cannot actually open the windows nor could you change the window design to make it open. It was two thin strips of glass.

Appears that if anyone was to have a ensuite/shower room downstairs on a double storey, there will be insufficient ventilation regardless of design.

Looking at your floorplan, it doesn't seem so bad (as opposed to mine)....there appears to be a ensuite window next to the vanity basin, can you open than whilst showering?

Serenity_Now · Mar 19, 2013 3:21 pm

Quick question for those that have finished their build - I engaged an electrician to install an electrical pit and he's
1) Created the pit
2) Bored underneath the road to get to the nearest pole
3) Placed capping halfway up the pole and left the rest of the wire coiled up not connected to the mains

Who's responsibility is it to connect the cable to the mains? Is that something the builder (in this case PD) will do as part of the build?

tstr1a · Mar 19, 2013 3:25 pm

Serenity_Now

Quick question for those that have finished their build - I engaged an electrician to install an electrical pit and he's
1) Created the pit
2) Bored underneath the road to get to the nearest pole
3) Placed capping halfway up the pole and left the rest of the wire coiled up not connected to the mains

Who's responsibility is it to connect the cable to the mains? Is that something the builder (in this case PD) will do as part of the build?

Your electrical supplier is responsible for connecting the mains (ie. They will contract Jemena to do this). Would have been cheaper for Jemena to do the whole thing maybe.

Your builder will tap into the pit and run the mains to the house.

chrystee · Mar 19, 2013 4:59 pm

Just wanted to let people know our experience with contract signing.

After 1 tender and 2 contract appointments there were still errors and we refused to sign until they were fixed. They were having a computer problem and in the end we actually had the contract posted to us via express post and were able to read through it at home for over a week until we signed and then we posted it back to them. In the end there were still 2 errors that had to be done via a post contract variation. But there you have it, it is possible for you to have the contract at home to look over before you sign.

neilrosh · Mar 19, 2013 5:38 pm

chrystee

Just wanted to let people know our experience with contract signing.

After 1 tender and 2 contract appointments there were still errors and we refused to sign until they were fixed. They were having a computer problem and in the end we actually had the contract posted to us via express post and were able to read through it at home for over a week until we signed and then we posted it back to them. In the end there were still 2 errors that had to be done via a post contract variation. But there you have it, it is possible for you to have the contract at home to look over before you sign.

I would love to hear from Porter Davis on this subject and get a clear understanding of why the contract cannot be taken home. While I understand that you will allocate a full day to this appointment it still doesn't explain why the client cannot take it home to look over in their own time and spend as long as it takes to check and double check everything. This will go a long way towards providing excellent customer service and provide us, YOUR CLIENT, with peace of mind.

I know a number of items will need to be explained and this can still be done during a half day appointment, followed by a 2nd half day appointment a few days later combined with sign-up.

I've spoken to a number of friends who have built their home through other builders and it seems your practice is an anomaly. It's not a nice thought, but it does leave us wondering if you are trying to hide something?

Team PD · Mar 19, 2013 6:14 pm

Lurgen

Team PD

Payment of utilities during your build
We just want to clarify the issues around the payment of the utilities during construction.

The water is applied for in the client’s name when we do the original water meter installation and it remains in the client’s name during construction; hence the client is liable to pay the water bill. The only time PD would ever consider paying a water bill is if there has been a water leak or something has happened to give the client an excessive bill and the decision to pay this will be reviewed on the merits of each individual situation The use of the water during construction is minimal.

The electricity is put on in PD’s name until settlement; hence PD picks up the electricity usage cost’s during the construction period only. Once the relevant forms are filled out and the home is transferred to the client’s name, the client has the option to change the name over and stay with the supplier PD used, or they can switch to another electricity supplier.Gas meters are installed at handover, so obviously there is no gas used until the client moves in.

We understand there have been some variances on the above in the past, especially in relation to water payments and these appear to have been dependent on which Porter Davis Regional Office you were dealing with. Moving forward, all Porter Davis Offices will adhere to the above guideli,

We hope this clears up this issue but should you have any further questions around this issue, please contact your BC.

I hope your BCs start giving a consistent story and that you thought this one through carefully before posting it, because chances are you'll have some seriously annoyed customers (including me) if BCs start backing down on previous commitments to cover water costs during construction. And that's from an audience of already annoyed customers.

Also, for what it's worth whoever wrote this statement should probably have asked somebody with more customer service experience to peer review it. The tone comes across as unusually blunt when a far more sensible approach would have been to actually interact with your customer-base. I'm not sure if you get it, but there are some very upset customers out here receiving inconsistent, unhelpful and in some cases misleading guidance from their SC and BC. Helen seems to be trying her best to deal with things as they pop up, but you have a systemic issue with the way in which PD approaches the tender and contract process, not to mention a growing trend of poor site management.

I for one will be taking this up with my BC. Since I'm one of the many who were assured the water bills would be reimbursed, any unexpected costs in this area will result in yet another serious outcry.

Hi Lurgen,
I apologise if you feel the message came across as blunt, we were only trying to do our best to clarify the confusion regarding utility bills and we attempted to keep the message as succinct as possible. And please, by all means, we encourage you to have a conversation with your BC if an agreement was already in place prior to our clarification.

Cheers, Helen

Team PD · Mar 19, 2013 6:18 pm

gabster

Team PD

gabster

Helen/Ebony/Team PD I hope you can shed some light into this issue I am facing with PD atm.

When I first saw the powder room in the display home both in Harcrest and Providence, I loved the amazing LARGE extended tiles across the entire powder room.
I decided when I build my home with PD that I will pay for the upgrade to get my own home with the same Large feature extended tiles. I even decided that I would extend the mirror in the powder room to match the extended tiles. However when it was time for our own tiles to be laid in our powder room, it had not turn out the way I expected it to be.

#1 Tiles in our powder room had been cut into SMALL pieces and affixed onto the wall.
#2 The tiles had not been centered properly in the room, resulting in the tiles having odd sizings.

I wanted the feature of LARGE tiles, thats the reason why I paid for the upgrade of 600mm porcelain tiles and the mirror upgrade! The tiler/SS clearly did not check the drawings before they installed the tiles! I know for a fact that the tiler made a mistake when he initially installed the tiles. He tiled up to the vanity height first. Only then he realised that there is a mistake made, he installed another 300mm CUT tile as a splashback AND across the entire room. Certainly NOT the look I am going for - Refer to the display home photos.
I spoke to our new SS about this issue and he says that PD doesn't build according to the showrooms?! WHAT?! I understand if it were a custom request by the client (us) and that none of your builders/contractors have done it before. But your tilers at the display homes HAVE! Why promote and have on display a showroom that people have the opportunity to upgrade features such as extended tiles with expensive $$ and not receive the product in their own homes? SS also gave me a reason that the tiles had been installed this way because of our porcher vallo basin, the basin was a PRESTIGE INCLUSION UPGRADE, if I knew that I was going to get tiles like that, I wouldn't have accepted the prestige inclusion even if it were free! I really don't believe this is a reflection of the PD pride in excellence and professionalism it claims to have. I've read of people getting shocked at the upgrade costs and what issint 'standard' getting the cold shoulders but I don't think clients who actually PAY for the upgrade should be treated the same. We trust & respect the builders with our HOME, we just want the same respect and trust as well.

Showroom Tiles:

Our Tiles:

Step 1 - Wrong height of tiles

Step 2 - Fix error

Look at the joint in the aluminium strip. Strip had been replaced. However Tiles have not changed!!

If this is something your team is not be willing to attend to, I do believe potential customers MUST be extremely weary and cautious when they decide to build with PD. Potentially not receiving what they paid for, even if they paid for the UPGRADE.
My PCI is coming up soon, and I do believe this is something my new SS i trying to sweep under the rug as they say. I need to get in contact with a building manager or some sort to have this issue looked at ASAP as my previous SS had promised that he would get this issue looked into and rectified.

Hi gabster,
Could you please private message me, via this forum, with your build and contact details and I can then follow up with the appropriate manager for you.
Cheers, Helen

Just PMed you my details. I hope I hear from someone soon.

Hi gabster,
Just to confirm that I have received your PM and your concerns have been escalated to the appropriate Business Manager. We will be back in touch with you very soon.
Cheers, Helen

jnkbids · Mar 19, 2013 9:32 pm

Team PD

Hi Jnkbids
Your concerns have been noted and escalated to the appropriate Business Manager. If someone has not been in touch with you already, they will be very soon.
Regards, Helen

Just an update to say the Building Manager contacted me today to discuss my build and the issues I have been having. Told him in no uncertain terms how things have been. He is looking into the Staircase issue and will advise me as soon as possible.

THanks Helen for escalating the issues ... these are things that make the PD experience better.. communication and prompt responses to issues that arise

jnkbids · Mar 19, 2013 9:36 pm

neilrosh

Hi all, just wondering if anyone has used metallic paint for their splash back? Interested to know firstly if PD allow this, did it cost extra and how it came up (if you've got that far into your building project). Thanks

I wanted to but PD will not allow. I was told by the colour consultants that no metallic paint is allowed anymore for the following reasons:

a) Previous clients who selected metallic paint but didn't select Starfire (low iron glass) upgrade getting really pissy when the paint didn't look metallic after normal glass were installed. This is despite PD staff warning them the colours will look different with normal glass

b) Too much maintenance post-handover.. she mentioned something about being near the cooktop, heat changes the colour / metallic shine or something like that so there were too many issues and PD now would not allow it.

At least the above was what I was told at my colour selections

jnkbids · Mar 19, 2013 9:53 pm

Some of my cabinets and doors got installed over the past 2 days. Had a chance to speak to the cabinet installer and the carpenter fitting my doors. In the spirit of giving balanced feedback and credit where credit was due, let me say this... these guys are TOP BLOKES! Here's why i think so:

1. Cabinet installer : told him about the wrong cabinets&kickboards and my concern about the cabinet borders etc. He took the time to explain why the cabinets were delivered looking the way they did. Also made the decision to not install the wrong cabinets until the last minute (even though they were 1st on his list and he is under strict instructions to install everything by the end of the day or not get paid $$) to give time for me to contact my SS who can contact the Cabinet-installer's boss, giving him permission to NOT install the cabinets (geez.. inefficient much?). He also took reassured me re: kickboards (he has to install some but will make it easy to remove without getting damaged)

2. Fitout Carpenter (doing doors & window architraves & skirtings): Arrived as he was meticulously measuring everything (doors openings etc) and checking everything. He even neatly laid everything out in each room to make sure everything was correct. He already noted that some doors were the wrong size / wrong type. He had a nice list of things that he thought were unusual and was going to call to check with my SS before installation so as to avoid making mistakes when I showed up. Had a good chat to him and he will just start with the things that are 100% correct, giving time for my SS to come back on-site and check his list of "unusual" things.

These 2 guys are careful and make the extra effort needed if something doesn't seem right. These are tradespeople PD need to keep. If all the tradies working on my house are like these 2 guys, the build with PD would be so much easier and more enjoyable. Sure mistakes do happen but at least they noticed something odd.... and will call to clarify rather than blindly doing stuff...

SO long post short.... chalk another score up in the GOOD column..

If u really want the LOOOOONG version, i outlined it on my blog

pdkallara33 · Mar 20, 2013 12:14 am

jnkbids, YAY, you had a win for once that’s great hopefully you keep that momentum and your stairs get sorted out!

I went to my site today and noticed that the plasters had been and plaster sheeted the entire house in one day, Geeze talk about quick! What a difference having plaster up makes, it actually starting to feel like a home rather than a frame and a roof. It was all going well until I noticed that they did not level the ceiling in four spots (games, study room, bed3 hallway, and dinning) with a really bad section above our Study door in our family having a height difference of 1cm different over 50 cm, you can see it from 10 meters away! It’s even more annoying as I keep raising these issues again and again to my SS.... One of the responses from my SS when I raised these issues last week is that they can twist the cornice to make it look straight… wtf?? Just make it straight…

Then my wife spotted cigarette butts all over the floor! I know it can be all swept up and you won't be able to notice it, but I wish people had some respect, they even smoked inside when Porter Davis puts signs on the front and back that say no smoking in the house!

pdkallara33 · Mar 20, 2013 1:59 am

We'll looking through my photos of the plaster, I noticed that our door and window alignment looks redicoulus as apposed to the lady at contract saying it will be aligned at the top after spending hours on the sliding doors/study windows making sure they aligned like the display did!!..... It was further worsened when PD reliased a mistake right at final construction drawing time when they wanted to reduce the entire houses eaves from 450mm to 350mm making the window sit even higher.

No matter how many times I look at it I think it looks stupid.. pretty sad about this one... Might look better with furniture and curtains but .. it still looks stupid! ::angry::

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chrystee · Mar 20, 2013 12:54 pm

pdkallara33

We'll looking through my photos of the plaster, I noticed that our door and window alignment looks redicoulus as apposed to the lady at contract saying it will be aligned at the top after spending hours on the sliding doors/study windows making sure they aligned like the display did!!..... It was further worsened when PD reliased a mistake right at final construction drawing time when they wanted to reduce the entire houses eaves from 450mm to 350mm making the window sit even higher.

No matter how many times I look at it I think it looks stupid.. pretty sad about this one... Might look better with furniture and curtains but .. it still looks stupid! ::angry::

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Wow, that doesn't look right at all.

chrystee · Mar 20, 2013 1:02 pm

Just got a call from my Mortgage Broker who said the house we are planning to build by PD has been undervalued by over $30,000.
Has this happened to any of you? We're building in Berwick Waters, the land value came back spot on with what we paid.
*Sigh*... Just when we were getting excited, another curve ball.

We're going to look at another bank, however I don't really want to go ahead if we end up owing more than the house and land is worth. I've looked at our upgrades costs but if we start cutting things out there will be nothing left in the house! The total price of the house is $224,000 (Randwick 24) which I thought wasn't that bad. I may have to start looking at a cheaper builder. It's such a shame because i really like PD, and i've spent so so long planning everything with PD.

pdkallara33 · Mar 20, 2013 1:09 pm

chrystee

Just got a call from my Mortgage Broker who said the house we are planning to build by PD has been undervalued by over $30,000.
Has this happened to any of you? We're building in Berwick Waters, the land value came back spot on with what we paid.
*Sigh*... Just when we were getting excited, another curve ball.

We're going to look at another bank, however I don't really want to go ahead if we end up owing more than the house and land is worth. I've looked at our upgrades costs but if we start cutting things out there will be nothing left in the house! The total price of the house is $224,000 (Randwick 24) which I thought wasn't that bad. I may have to start looking at a cheaper builder. It's such a shame because i really like PD, and i've spent so so long planning everything with PD.

Yes, I had exactly the same thing (BOM), land spot on, but building contract was over priced and the valuers excuse was that the pricing was overinflated because of the first home owners boost and that it was finishing in the next month or so at the time, so we also lost $30,000 on the house. It meant that we had to secure more of the house against another property so we didn't cop LMI. We plan to live in the house for at least the next 5-8 years, so I'm not to worried about the loss as its not a investment property anyway its our home..

Lurgen · Mar 20, 2013 1:55 pm

Similar valuation experience here, total valuation came in just over 80% but that's not uncommon at the moment. If it doesn't stop you from obtaining your loan and you have enough equity in the property I wouldn't let it stop you (didn't stop me).

The advice I received was that banks are being a lot more conservative lately with their valuations, largely because of the sheer number of houses going up. There are also quite a lot of people defaulting on their loans, which pushes the values down a little (over-supply).

Check into what the mortgage insurance cost will work out as before getting too freaked out, in my case it was so little that it made no difference to my overall budget.