Porter Davis homes

monkeypantz · Apr 11, 2013 11:16 am

ftdt7882

monkeypantz

chrystee

Looks great! I was just having a look at your blog. What is going on with all these door stoppers being put on the door? Is that normal? I don't want mine on the door.

Ours are like that wherever there is tiled skirting - so bathroom, WC, ensuite and laundry. All other doors the stoppers are on the walls. I assume they can't fix the stoppers to the tiled skirting :th:

.

You get door stoppers?! I was told PD don't 'do' door stoppers which I found a bit strange.

Yep. I don't think we were ever told one way or the other, but we had assumed we wouldn't get them (they were even in our "post handover expenses" budget). But we most definitely did get them

Mali02 · Apr 11, 2013 11:20 am

tinker

How much did they charge you for the bifold ?

$3,819 for a 2100mm high x 3600mm wide 5 leaf timber bi-fold. This didn't change between quote and tender and I also asked for a price to have the frame recessed into the floor (as a few others on here have done before) and I was told that PD "don't do it". Oh well

That's ok, just one less thing to spend money on!

Mali02 · Apr 11, 2013 11:21 am

monkeypantz

Yep. I don't think we were ever told one way or the other, but we had assumed we wouldn't get them (they were even in our "post handover expenses" budget). But we most definitely did get them

Same, we have them in our post handover expenses

I think I'd like to do them myself anyway, get some nice ones!

tinker · Apr 11, 2013 11:46 am

ftdt7882

tinker

How much did they charge you for the bifold ?

$3,819 for a 2100mm high x 3600mm wide 5 leaf timber bi-fold. This didn't change between quote and tender and I also asked for a price to have the frame recessed into the floor (as a few others on here have done before) and I was told that PD "don't do it". Oh well

That's ok, just one less thing to spend money on!

Does this include staining? What house are you building? We too asked for the recessed frame several times but told the same.

Mali02 · Apr 11, 2013 11:53 am

tinker

ftdt7882

tinker

How much did they charge you for the bifold ?

$3,819 for a 2100mm high x 3600mm wide 5 leaf timber bi-fold. This didn't change between quote and tender and I also asked for a price to have the frame recessed into the floor (as a few others on here have done before) and I was told that PD "don't do it". Oh well

That's ok, just one less thing to spend money on!

Does this include staining? What house are you building? We too asked for the recessed frame several times but told the same.

Yes, it does include staining. I should add, this door is in lieu of a standard 2100mm x 2400mm aluminum sliding door so that may explain why it is a bit cheaper compared to other people. We are building the Oakdale (Lifestyle).

And a side note, if you have any doors that are stained, you need to restain them each year in order to keep the warranty. We were told this yesterday, that's a yearly project for my husband as he wanted the bifolds!!!

inglewood · Apr 11, 2013 12:46 pm

ftdt7882

monkeypantz

Yep. I don't think we were ever told one way or the other, but we had assumed we wouldn't get them (they were even in our "post handover expenses" budget). But we most definitely did get them

Same, we have them in our post handover expenses

I think I'd like to do them myself anyway, get some nice ones!

We're not expecting to get door stoppers either and will do the same and get some nice ones after handover.

After having door stoppers on the wall and the door, I'll be putting them on the door in the new house. Makes it much easier to clean, vacuum and mop with them on the door. We've got a few magnetic ones in our current home and they save you having door wedges to keep open your doors - really handy on a few of our doors that like to close themselves or ones that close when there's a bit of a breeze coming through - a good idea for your front door.

Mali02 · Apr 11, 2013 12:49 pm

inglewood

We're not expecting to get door stoppers either and will do the same and get some nice ones after handover.

After having door stoppers on the wall and the door, I'll be putting them on the door in the new house. Makes it much easier to clean, vacuum and mop with them on the door. We've got a few magnetic ones in our current home and they save you having door wedges to keep open your doors - really handy on a few of our doors that like to close themselves or ones that close when there's a bit of a breeze coming through - a good idea for your front door.

Good idea to put them on the doors and the magnetic one for the front door sounds great!

Building_Darnley · Apr 11, 2013 3:50 pm

inglewood

ftdt7882

monkeypantz

Yep. I don't think we were ever told one way or the other, but we had assumed we wouldn't get them (they were even in our "post handover expenses" budget). But we most definitely did get them

Same, we have them in our post handover expenses

I think I'd like to do them myself anyway, get some nice ones!

We're not expecting to get door stoppers either and will do the same and get some nice ones after handover.

After having door stoppers on the wall and the door, I'll be putting them on the door in the new house. Makes it much easier to clean, vacuum and mop with them on the door. We've got a few magnetic ones in our current home and they save you having door wedges to keep open your doors - really handy on a few of our doors that like to close themselves or ones that close when there's a bit of a breeze coming through - a good idea for your front door.

We had our contract on 5th April, its written in our contract all doors come with door stopper.

monkeypantz · Apr 11, 2013 4:47 pm

ftdt7882

And a side note, if you have any doors that are stained, you need to restain them each year in order to keep the warranty. We were told this yesterday, that's a yearly project for my husband as he wanted the bifolds!!!

This is one of the main reasons we chose aluminium bifolds. Not everyone's cup of tea style-wise, but low maintenance

Oh, and it was also our cup of tea, style wise :wink:

tstr1a · Apr 11, 2013 5:54 pm

monkeypantz

ftdt7882

And a side note, if you have any doors that are stained, you need to restain them each year in order to keep the warranty. We were told this yesterday, that's a yearly project for my husband as he wanted the bifolds!!!

This is one of the main reasons we chose aluminium bifolds. Not everyone's cup of tea style-wise, but low maintenance

Oh, and it was also our cup of tea, style wise :wink:

As long as the wooden bi-folds are under the roof line and are not exposed to direct sunlight and moisture they should last a long time.

I don’t understand why people put wooden windows on double storey house. They are directly effect by the elements of nature and how will you maintain them when they are so high.

Building_Darnley · Apr 11, 2013 5:56 pm

I am a new bee building lifestyle with PD, our journey start in Nov 2012 when we went to see PD display at highland and found our dream home Darnley29. At the time we don’t have plans to build but looking at the house we give it a thought a luckily found the block suit the family and building home. Long story short, SC was excellent in explaining in detail about standard/upgrades and remember most of the prices by heart, we decided to pay 1000 deposit to kick start the process. Next appointment was drawing and options which went very well, we were happy that everything is going according to plan.
Tender was no surprise at all beside few mistakes by PD which was easily fixed on the day. We were expecting the price within out budget which we got, the CSC at tender explained everything in detail and give answer to every stupid question, he also keep budget for electrical and color selection in our tender. One thing which we didn’t put in papers was budget of tiles which was quite expensive; we had everything in our head but forgot to write it down on piece of paper.
Tiles appointment went really smooth, the girls there are very good with their products and help you our if you are confuse. We got some very good suggestions from those girls and at the end we end up going with her decision. Good on her.
Color selection appointment worst experience, we visited Hopetoun many time and decided 90% stuff we want. We have 2 choices of everything just in case PD stop supplying the only thing pending render and garage door, we ask for suggestion to make the process faster and got the shocking reply “you guys should have selected this beforehand” (then why are you here).. We took our time, during that time the GUY keep saying “You have to move faster with your selections, you will run out of time and won’t be able to come under April site start” from 9:00 to 11:30 was very frustrating didn’t got much help from him. Flashback sample (not available, we saw it last weekend but got the answer it was broken), Render colors (not available you have to select light color only), cook top (whatever you have in your promotion no upgrades) showed brochure of color for skirts and door no further option available, didn’t got any samples of colors, garage door or anything.
We went home with broken heart and shock how he treated us and about our color appointment, we spend Easter Friday fixing what we want and how we want to see things. Easter Saturday and Sunday we spend at Hopetoun to finalize our selection, Easter Monday typed long email and list of changes require to be included on 5th April Tender.
Complained about his behavior to my BC which she said will pass it on to management (which is not going to happen)
Contract went very well, beside minor changes everything was under control and we finally sign the contract, its been a week I am still waiting on variations from my BC for colors and electrical. We have change the color for doors and skirting, our BC confirms the color we chose was PD approve color but at Contract we found they are not providing that color. On Easter Weekend Hopetoun provide us PD approve color broacher but it looks like PD is no honoring their own approved color range. We have given our BC 3 options and so far we are waiting on her to provide us the confirmation and variation so we can submit it to bank for loan approval.
We cannot afford delay on site start beyond April as we got discounts from SC on flooring and few other things. If PD delay variation and colors (they are not honouring their own catalogue) who will be responsible for over budgeting and expense and discounts?
I still am very confident that this is just a hiccup and we will go through the process of building home very smoothly

For people going to Tender/Contract… Make lots of notes (wish list) read every line in Tender/Contract and keep refereeing to your notes, if you are not satisfied ask questions because once you sign the contract its DONE

Mali02 · Apr 11, 2013 5:58 pm

tstr1a

monkeypantz

ftdt7882

And a side note, if you have any doors that are stained, you need to restain them each year in order to keep the warranty. We were told this yesterday, that's a yearly project for my husband as he wanted the bifolds!!!

This is one of the main reasons we chose aluminium bifolds. Not everyone's cup of tea style-wise, but low maintenance

Oh, and it was also our cup of tea, style wise :wink:

As long as the wooden bi-folds are under the roof line and are not exposed to direct sunlight and moisture they should last a long time.

I don’t understand why people put wooden windows on double storey house. They are directly effect by the elements of nature and how will you maintain them when they are so high.

That is the one thing I noticed when driving through some new (and newish) estates. The houses may have been 12-24 months old, but some of the wooden windows (even on a single story) looked old and hadn't been given much TLC and it just changed the look of the house.

monkeypantz · Apr 12, 2013 9:36 am

tstr1a

monkeypantz

This is one of the main reasons we chose aluminium bifolds. Not everyone's cup of tea style-wise, but low maintenance

As long as the wooden bi-folds are under the roof line and are not exposed to direct sunlight and moisture they should last a long time.

Oh yeah, for sure - we just didn't want to have to worry about re-staining at all. Knowing us, we would intend to do it for ages, not do it, then eventually do it when we go to sell the house and kick ourselves for not doing it sooner, and not learn a lesson for the next house. But that's just us :oops:

. I do love the look of timber bifolds, but they weren't in keeping with our style through the rest of the house so it was easy for us to choose aluminium in the end.

You raise something else for beginners to think about - we didn't realise how exposed to the elements our bifolds would be until we were in the house. They open from the living area to the alfresco, so they are under the roofline and face southish. I would have expected them to be reasonably well protected. But the sun hits the 2-3 westmost leaves late in the afternoon and usually when it rains those leaves get wet. We don't have eaves on that side of the house; I imagine that would improve the situation but I doubt it would eliminate it.

(edited the quotes to the parts relevant to my response as it was getting a bit unweildy)

Team PD · Apr 12, 2013 12:59 pm

Building_Darnley

I am a new bee building lifestyle with PD, our journey start in Nov 2012 when we went to see PD display at highland and found our dream home Darnley29. At the time we don’t have plans to build but looking at the house we give it a thought a luckily found the block suit the family and building home. Long story short, SC was excellent in explaining in detail about standard/upgrades and remember most of the prices by heart, we decided to pay 1000 deposit to kick start the process. Next appointment was drawing and options which went very well, we were happy that everything is going according to plan.
Tender was no surprise at all beside few mistakes by PD which was easily fixed on the day. We were expecting the price within out budget which we got, the CSC at tender explained everything in detail and give answer to every stupid question, he also keep budget for electrical and color selection in our tender. One thing which we didn’t put in papers was budget of tiles which was quite expensive; we had everything in our head but forgot to write it down on piece of paper.
Tiles appointment went really smooth, the girls there are very good with their products and help you our if you are confuse. We got some very good suggestions from those girls and at the end we end up going with her decision. Good on her.
Color selection appointment worst experience, we visited Hopetoun many time and decided 90% stuff we want. We have 2 choices of everything just in case PD stop supplying the only thing pending render and garage door, we ask for suggestion to make the process faster and got the shocking reply “you guys should have selected this beforehand” (then why are you here).. We took our time, during that time the GUY keep saying “You have to move faster with your selections, you will run out of time and won’t be able to come under April site start” from 9:00 to 11:30 was very frustrating didn’t got much help from him. Flashback sample (not available, we saw it last weekend but got the answer it was broken), Render colors (not available you have to select light color only), cook top (whatever you have in your promotion no upgrades) showed brochure of color for skirts and door no further option available, didn’t got any samples of colors, garage door or anything.
We went home with broken heart and shock how he treated us and about our color appointment, we spend Easter Friday fixing what we want and how we want to see things. Easter Saturday and Sunday we spend at Hopetoun to finalize our selection, Easter Monday typed long email and list of changes require to be included on 5th April Tender.
Complained about his behavior to my BC which she said will pass it on to management (which is not going to happen)
Contract went very well, beside minor changes everything was under control and we finally sign the contract, its been a week I am still waiting on variations from my BC for colors and electrical. We have change the color for doors and skirting, our BC confirms the color we chose was PD approve color but at Contract we found they are not providing that color. On Easter Weekend Hopetoun provide us PD approve color broacher but it looks like PD is no honoring their own approved color range. We have given our BC 3 options and so far we are waiting on her to provide us the confirmation and variation so we can submit it to bank for loan approval.
We cannot afford delay on site start beyond April as we got discounts from SC on flooring and few other things. If PD delay variation and colors (they are not honouring their own catalogue) who will be responsible for over budgeting and expense and discounts?
I still am very confident that this is just a hiccup and we will go through the process of building home very smoothly

For people going to Tender/Contract… Make lots of notes (wish list) read every line in Tender/Contract and keep refereeing to your notes, if you are not satisfied ask questions because once you sign the contract its DONE

Hi Building_Darnley
I was concerned to read about your colours appointment experience. I have raised this with the manager of Hopetoun Interiors and they will be back in touch with you today. If you have any further concerns, you can always private message me via this forum.
Cheers, Helen

Lurgen · Apr 12, 2013 1:42 pm

In a stunning turn of events PD managed to resolve my remaining issues, fixed the drawings (during a marathon week with my BC) and have actually started!

Site scrape should commence today, and we might even have a slab poured late next week.

Pretty impressive given how many issues we were facing just two weeks ago.

HD

skye02 · Apr 12, 2013 1:48 pm

Lurgen

In a stunning turn of events PD managed to resolve my remaining issues, fixed the drawings (during a marathon week with my BC) and have actually started!

Site scrape should commence today, and we might even have a slab poured late next week.

Pretty impressive given how many issues we were facing just two weeks ago.

HD

Great to hear that your issues have been resolved

Mali02 · Apr 12, 2013 1:53 pm

Lurgen

In a stunning turn of events PD managed to resolve my remaining issues, fixed the drawings (during a marathon week with my BC) and have actually started!

Site scrape should commence today, and we might even have a slab poured late next week.

Pretty impressive given how many issues we were facing just two weeks ago.

HD

Great news! Looking forward to hearing about your progress

Back Pocket · Apr 12, 2013 2:03 pm

Congratulations Lugen, I know sometimes it feels like you will never get there. Just wait for the excitement generated by the portaloo!

MumNick · Apr 13, 2013 12:19 am

Hi all,
can anyone please advice if we should show our conveyancer the contract BEFORE we sign on contract date? OR wait till after?

also has anyone built the Darnley 29?

cheers
Mumnick

meowsy · Apr 13, 2013 7:29 am

good question mumnick. The contract you can take it just the standard HIA one though, isn't it?

Lurgen how exciting!