Porter Davis homes

mirz · Jul 15, 2013 9:22 pm

never realised before that just dirt and land gonna make me this excited

we went to HN today to checkout flooring options, instead of using PD flooring pack.

PD cat 1 carpet is $19 sqm in HN. it looks pretty cheap.

we really fell in love with IQ150, it looks very comfy, specially with 12mm top of the range underlay.

HN range of laminate is looking better too compare to PD both in pricing and quality.

anyone tried post handover carpeting? how did you go with skirting boards?

i'm thinking to check other flooring places on weekend too.

skye02 · Jul 16, 2013 1:54 pm

Yesterday we were slabbed.

Im no concrete expert but it looks as though they have done a really good job.

Very happy so far

mirz · Jul 16, 2013 6:54 pm

skye02

Yesterday we were slabbed.

Im no concrete expert but it looks as though they have done a really good job.

Very happy so far

Congrats, exciting times

Which house are you building and where about?

meowsy · Jul 16, 2013 7:31 pm

mirz, the land looks great, heaps of grass and a tree too! If you wanted to do all the flooring after handover, and are going to have timber or laminate and carpet, PD will likely leave the skirting in lengths uncut and unpainted. Then you will have to have it installed and painted yourself. My understanding is they won't install skirting if they are not doing the floors. It becomes a bit of a headache if you ask me! We were considering having it done after, but when you factor in all of that I don't think it seems worth it.

skye02 · Jul 16, 2013 8:11 pm

We are building the Oakdale 26 in Greenvale.

Also in relation to skirting PD are installing skirting in rooms that we will be having carpet (even though the carpet will be done post handover) and leaving off the skirting in rooms that we are installing timber post hand over.

inglewood · Jul 16, 2013 8:29 pm

skye02

We are building the Oakdale 26 in Greenvale.

Also in relation to skirting PD are installing skirting in rooms that we will be having carpet (even though the carpet will be done post handover) and leaving off the skirting in rooms that we are installing timber post hand over.

Hey Skye, will they paint and cut the skirting for you too? We will be doing our flooring after handover too, we are going to get vinyl planks in the living areas.

meowsy · Jul 16, 2013 8:38 pm

inglewood, no they won't paint and cut skirting in rooms where they aren't installing it. They will only leave it uncut, unpainted in lengths.

skye02 · Jul 16, 2013 8:47 pm

As far as I am aware they will cut paint and install in rooms where there will be carpet but leave unpainted and uncut in lengths for the rooms you do not want them installed.

So for example we are doing all flooring post handover and we are installing carpet in bedrooms and a lounge room and skirts will be cut, painted and installed in those rooms.

PD will not tack skirts anymore unfortunately.

mirz · Jul 16, 2013 9:14 pm

skye02

As far as I am aware they will cut paint and install in rooms where there will be carpet but leave unpainted and uncut in lengths for the rooms you do not want them installed.

So for example we are doing all flooring post handover and we are installing carpet in bedrooms and a lounge room and skirts will be cut, painted and installed in those rooms.

PD will not tack skirts anymore unfortunately.

Thanks for sharing this with us.

Now my question is in this case does flooring guys generally capable to install these skirting after putting floor board on? Or need to hire a carpenter to install skirting?

As a ******* skirting can ruin the whole look of the house.

I can paint skirting but to cut and install it properly would be beyond my skill level.

skye02 · Jul 16, 2013 9:18 pm

Unfortunately I think you will need a carpenter BUT I am hoping my Site Coordinator will provide me with the number of the people laying the skirt in the first place and perhaps I can employ them for the post handover work - not sure how this will go down just yet but ill keep you posted

mirz · Jul 16, 2013 9:24 pm

meowsy

mirz, the land looks great, heaps of grass and a tree too! If you wanted to do all the flooring after handover, and are going to have timber or laminate and carpet, PD will likely leave the skirting in lengths uncut and unpainted. Then you will have to have it installed and painted yourself. My understanding is they won't install skirting if they are not doing the floors. It becomes a bit of a headache if you ask me! We were considering having it done after, but when you factor in all of that I don't think it seems worth it.

Thanks mate, land is looking like almost ready. this road has built houses, these are last six blocks to be released. we picked 3rd last from the round about. on right side its like garage to garage with neighbors and on left side it would also have neighbors garage. hope it will help to have some distance

and also thanks for the heads up on flooring.

HN quoted us IQ150 classic carpet with top range underlay plus 12mm thick floating board flooring including installation $12k. This is looking very tempting.

With PD we are paying $10k for cat 1 carpet, cat 1 underlay, and bolero 8mm floating floor.

Guy at HN also gave us one week to think about it and promise to give us further discount once we will be ready for deposit.

HN also running a 50 months interest free, which we haven't considered seriously but can be done.

What do you guys think? PD or HN flooring option?

MummaDJ · Jul 16, 2013 9:31 pm

mirz

meowsy

mirz, the land looks great, heaps of grass and a tree too! If you wanted to do all the flooring after handover, and are going to have timber or laminate and carpet, PD will likely leave the skirting in lengths uncut and unpainted. Then you will have to have it installed and painted yourself. My understanding is they won't install skirting if they are not doing the floors. It becomes a bit of a headache if you ask me! We were considering having it done after, but when you factor in all of that I don't think it seems worth it.

Thanks mate, land is looking like almost ready. this road has built houses, these are last six blocks to be released. we picked 3rd last from the round about. on right side its like garage to garage with neighbors and on left side it would also have neighbors garage. hope it will help to have some distance

and also thanks for the heads up on flooring.

HN quoted us IQ150 classic carpet with top range underlay plus 12mm thick floating board flooring including installation $12k. This is looking very tempting.

With PD we are paying $10k for cat 1 carpet, cat 1 underlay, and bolero 8mm floating floor.

Guy at HN also gave us one week to think about it and promise to give us further discount once we will be ready for deposit.

HN also running a 50 months interest free, which we haven't considered seriously but can be done.

What do you guys think? PD or HN flooring option?

Seems like not much difference really in price and you are getting what you want. Ask for a final price - "best offer" and see what you get. Don't tell HN what your PD price is though. You obviously then have to see the cost and time to put in the skirtings as noted above in discussions. I think I have said earlier, we got a quote for laminate floor top of range ($80/m) and Bamboo Carpet ($65/m) and we were quoted 20K (Choice Carpets) - double the price of the PD. We can't upgrade everything. We figure if we have to redo carpet in many years to come after children trash it, we will do that and freshen it up in 5-10 years.
Have fun making the decision - there are soooo many to make!

ajd78 · Jul 16, 2013 9:41 pm

MummaDJ, we are in exactly the same boat as you... We wanted 100% wool carpet but also tiling (as opposed to timber). We chose more expensive tiles and cat 1 carpet.. We got the nicest one but we figure that it just wasn't worth paying more with 2 little kids. We will upgrade cheaper in a few years when the kids are older.

We did the research on that and we found with tiling in particular that it was cheaper to go thru PD. Tiling is really expensive and for $10k, it is mega cheap... especially with the tiles we chose... When renovating our current house our bathrooms and kitchen alone cost $20k!

mirz · Jul 16, 2013 9:53 pm

MummaDJ

Seems like not much difference really in price and you are getting what you want. Ask for a final price - "best offer" and see what you get. Don't tell HN what your PD price is though. You obviously then have to see the cost and time to put in the skirtings as noted above in discussions. I think I have said earlier, we got a quote for laminate floor top of range ($80/m) and Bamboo Carpet ($65/m) and we were quoted 20K (Choice Carpets) - double the price of the PD. We can't upgrade everything. We figure if we have to redo carpet in many years to come after children trash it, we will do that and freshen it up in 5-10 years.
Have fun making the decision - there are soooo many to make!

That's sounds good then, our aim is not to go too far from PD price and get better quality if we can.

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Here is the board we liked, it's some walnut colour but looks pretty good in real. It was $59 sqm, but now reduced to $39 sqm.

Guy told us that they are expecting a new range in day or two which is dull kind of colour. So we are planning to go and check that too over the weekend.

mirz · Jul 16, 2013 9:58 pm

ajd78

MummaDJ, we are in exactly the same boat as you... We wanted 100% wool carpet but also tiling (as opposed to timber). We chose more expensive tiles and cat 1 carpet.. We got the nicest one but we figure that it just wasn't worth paying more with 2 little kids. We will upgrade cheaper in a few years when the kids are older.

We did the research on that and we found with tiling in particular that it was cheaper to go thru PD. Tiling is really expensive and for $10k, it is mega cheap... especially with the tiles we chose... When renovating our current house our bathrooms and kitchen alone cost $20k!

You are spot on, installation cost for tiles is a killer.

We saw exact same display tiles in national tiles for $69 sqm, but girl told us to expect $80 sqm installation. There goes our budget, lol.

We have three young (9, 6, and 3) kids too. Hope they will behave well on carpet

you guys making me worried now.

MummaDJ · Jul 16, 2013 10:07 pm

mirz

ajd78

MummaDJ, we are in exactly the same boat as you... We wanted 100% wool carpet but also tiling (as opposed to timber). We chose more expensive tiles and cat 1 carpet.. We got the nicest one but we figure that it just wasn't worth paying more with 2 little kids. We will upgrade cheaper in a few years when the kids are older.

We did the research on that and we found with tiling in particular that it was cheaper to go thru PD. Tiling is really expensive and for $10k, it is mega cheap... especially with the tiles we chose... When renovating our current house our bathrooms and kitchen alone cost $20k!

You are spot on, installation cost for tiles is a killer.

We saw exact same display tiles in national tiles for $69 sqm, but girl told us to expect $80 sqm installation. There goes our budget, lol.

We have three young (9, 6, and 3) kids too. Hope they will behave well on carpet

you guys making me worried now.

Check out the Bamboo Carpet - it is apparently 25yrs stain resistant (kids and pets included!), looks and feels wonderful. There are different styles of it available. I asked PD if they could supply, but they couldn't. Our kids 8, 5, 2 (similar to you).

Jackula · Jul 17, 2013 12:48 pm

Been asked to redirect my question here.

I've recently signed our tender contract, at the tender we were given false advice regarding our ceiling insulation - we asked for acoustic insulation between the two floors in our Waldorf 44, but at tender they said it is a fire hazard and PD refuse to do it.

However since then, I've done my research and advice through this forum suggests that there are several types of fire resistant batts such as rockwool or bradford soundscreen. If they are putting it into my walls, why can't they put it into the ceiling, on bradford's website they even recommend putting into the ceilings.

I've contacted my building coordinator about this and am yet to hear back, the last time I spoke to the contract coordinator, she told me for the past five years she's worked at PD, they've never put any insulation between floors.

Is false advice sufficient grounds for PD to waive their post-tender variation fees? Does anyone know if there is any way of getting insulation between the floors if they won't do it?

Thanks in advance!

clairemumto5 · Jul 17, 2013 3:07 pm

Jackula - I didn't know there was post tender variation fees? unless its different with prestige builds - but I thought you could still make changes between tender and contract stages...

Jackula · Jul 17, 2013 3:15 pm

Hey, thanks for the reply.

We're not allowed to make any structural changes, but I'm not 100% sure that structural changes do not include insulation as they do go into the structure.

I had engaged in a few conversations with my building coordinator since my last post. It's not positive. PD views ALL acoustic insulation as a fire hazard, regardless of whether they are fire resistant or completely inflammable.

They can add a layer of soundproof plaster between floors though, but the costs are unknown at this stage.

Mali02 · Jul 17, 2013 3:21 pm

Jackula

Hey, thanks for the reply.

We're not allowed to make any structural changes, but I'm not 100% sure that structural changes do not include insulation as they do go into the structure.

I had engaged in a few conversations with my building coordinator since my last post. It's not positive. PD views ALL acoustic insulation as a fire hazard, regardless of whether they are fire resistant or completely inflammable.

They can add a layer of soundproof plaster between floors though, but the costs are unknown at this stage.

I wouldn't say insulation is a structural change? Between Tender and Contract PD can change the insulation, because your electrical selections (downlights etc) can affect the 6 star rating. So I don't see why you couldn't change it?

In terms of structural changes, we removed our bathroom niches at contract, which was technically a structural change, but they let us do it as we weren't told that the niches couldn't be on external walls.