Porter Davis homes

Pinchy · Feb 05, 2011 8:10 pm

Debra50

mqtutor

Pinchy

Thanks so much for that link geoff7 that is very interesting reading regardless of who your builder is. I simply cannot understand why any builder would not want to allow a potential client to view such a major contract prior to signing - it certainly does not inspire confidence in me as a consumer.

Just curious, which builder does allow their clients to bring the contract home before signing?

Thanks

Carlisle Homes - ours was posted for review before Contract Appointment.

Debra50 was that the building contract or the tender document they sent to you in advance?

Debra50 · Feb 05, 2011 8:40 pm

Building.....only saw Tender Document at Tender Appointment.

Lunchtime · Feb 05, 2011 9:29 pm

geoff7

Hi mqtutor,
A company that does not respect their consumers will eventually run foul of them these days imho, let's hope PD does not.

Its only when problems start popping up do you realise how heavily weighted the HIA contract is to favour the builder. I have been feeling pushed over the last week and I feel that PD is clearly showing that they do not have an interest in satisfying their customers.

For instance, when I got my independent inspector done, my SS emailed me to say that they dont 'accept' them and to not bother to forward it to him and mearly to print it and we could discuss it during PCI. I have also been told from my SS that manafacturer recomendations are mearly recomendations and not necessarily required. From sign up I was always told about the PD difference and how they like to over deliver. Seems PD Site Supervisiors have nothing in common with PD sales staff. Promise high standards, deliver average quality at best

I really dont feel a whole lot of care from PD to any of my concerns. I am expecting to be pushed and bullied at PCI but intend to make sure that I fight them all the way. I feel that PD has a clear agenda of pushing this house on me regardless of my concerns or their defects. I will post back and let you know how I go. I have spent the weekend re-reading my contract to make sure to know what I can argue

building1 · Feb 05, 2011 10:00 pm

Lunchtime

Its only when problems start popping up do you realise how heavily weighted the HIA contract is to favour the builder. I have been feeling pushed over the last week and I feel that PD is clearly showing that they do not have an interest in satisfying their customers.

I don't know how many of you realise but the HIA is a paid member base organisation, which is why the HIA contract favours the builders, they're paying them money.
Any builder can pay to be a member of the HIA, similarly to the Masters Builders Association.
All you really need is your ticket and you're in.

SSAZ · Feb 05, 2011 10:34 pm

Lunchtime

For instance, when I got my independent inspector done, my SS emailed me to say that they dont 'accept' them and to not bother to forward it to him and mearly to print it and we could discuss it during PCI. I have also been told from my SS that manafacturer recomendations are mearly recomendations and not necessarily required. From sign up I was always told about the PD difference and how they like to over deliver. Seems PD Site Supervisiors have nothing in common with PD sales staff. Promise high standards, deliver average quality at best

I really dont feel a whole lot of care from PD to any of my concerns. I am expecting to be pushed and bullied at PCI but intend to make sure that I fight them all the way. I feel that PD has a clear agenda of pushing this house on me regardless of my concerns or their defects. I will post back and let you know how I go. I have spent the weekend re-reading my contract to make sure to know what I can argue

That is totally opposite to my experience. They accepted whatever the independent reports told them to do. Talk to your CSC & get her to get a construction manager or regional manager to call you. It is just unacceptable for them to disregard independent inspector's reports as those reports pointed out the defects that are not in accordance to building standards.

Some of the problems I had was with the slab & frame, if I had waited until PCI, PD would have had to pull down the bricks & plaster & pretty much rebuild the whole house again. I told the regional manager that & the SS fixed pretty much everything in the next few days.

Clause 30 of the contract says that you have to pay progress payment once they have completed the work & like I always told PD, if they haven't done the building work in accordance to the Australian Building Standard, they haven't completed the work yet. As far as I was concern, they could always take me to VCAT & I knew they would only making a fool of themselves.

Lunchtime · Feb 05, 2011 10:46 pm

SSAZ

That is totally opposite to my experience. They accepted whatever the independent reports told them to do. Talk to your CSC & get her to get a construction manager or regional manager to call you. It is just unacceptable for them to disregard independent inspector's reports as those reports pointed out the defects that are not in accordance to building standards.

Clause 30 of the contract says that you have to pay progress payment once they have completed the work & like I always told PD, if they haven't done the building work in accordance to the Australian Building Standard, they haven't completed the work yet. As far as I was concern, they could always take me to VCAT & I knew they would only making a fool of themselves.

Thats close to what I did, I have sent it on to my CSC rather than to my SS. Maybe I am reading too much into things and my PCI might be a good experience. I just have a gut feeling telling me to prepare for the worse. I will post back and let you know how it goes. I appreciate the clause 30 information, thats exactly what I was looking for but it didnt click when I was reading over the contract

SSAZ · Feb 05, 2011 10:51 pm

Lunchtime

Thats close to what I did, I have sent it on to my CSC rather than to my SS. Maybe I am reading too much into things and my PCI might be a good experience. I just have a gut feeling telling me to prepare for the worse. I will post back and let you know how it goes. I appreciate the clause 30 information, thats exactly what I was looking for but it didnt click when I was reading over the contract

I always sent the reports to my CSC, SS & Accounts Department. Everytime I withheld payment, I always emailed the 3 of them again & the reasons why they were not receiving any payment & not forgetting to mention the relevant clause in the signed building contract.

You might want to talk to Jess from Team PD to help you with this as well. Maybe she can get a regional manager to talk to you about the outstanding issues.

Lunchtime · Feb 05, 2011 11:06 pm

I will see how it goes first, as I said, I might be jumping the gun and reading too much into it. But if it does play out like I am thinking then I will be pushing it higher up the food chain. Just want to make sure that I am prepared

mqtutor · Feb 05, 2011 11:49 pm

Debra50

Building.....only saw Tender Document at Tender Appointment.

What is in the Building contract?

Debra50 · Feb 06, 2011 1:10 am

mqtutor

Debra50

Building.....only saw Tender Document at Tender Appointment.

What is in the Building contract?

Tender Appointment - our last opportunity to finalize, change, delete or add any alterations discussed from Sales and Colour appointments. We did not see Tender Document until this appointment.

Contract Signing - HIA Building Contract including Tender, Colour Selection, Soil Test, Builders Specifications and Contract Drawings were posted to us before Contract signing appointment.

Before Construction - Final Drawings were again posted to us to sign-off and check against our Building Tender to ensure all items we requested were drawn and correct as Carlisle Homes would construct our home according to these drawings.

Trust this is the information your looking for.

We are very happy with Carlisle Homes. ::smile::

Who are you building with?? :th:

kek · Feb 06, 2011 8:05 am

Debra50

Trust this is the information your looking for.

We are very happy with Carlisle Homes. ::smile::

Who are you building with?? :th:

Debra50, did you read the thread title? :lol:

kek · Feb 06, 2011 8:13 am

SSAZ

Some of the problems I had was with the slab & frame, if I had waited until PCI, PD would have had to pull down the bricks & plaster & pretty much rebuild the whole house again. I told the regional manager that & the SS fixed pretty much everything in the next few days.

Clause 30 of the contract says that you have to pay progress payment once they have completed the work & like I always told PD, if they haven't done the building work in accordance to the Australian Building Standard, they haven't completed the work yet. As far as I was concern, they could always take me to VCAT & I knew they would only making a fool of themselves.

Ditto to this. Why on earth would slab or frame problems be addressed at PCI? :shock:

As it was, partway through our build we had ceilings pulled down so roof trusses could be moved, plaster removed from walls so the frame could be straightened, and brickwork demolished and redone. Our first SS did nothing to rectify most of the issues we raised.... he wasn't with the company for long once the extent of the problems was made known to those (a lot) higher up. :wink:

Our new SS went out of his way to fix the problems we'd identified, plus some we hadn't noticed.

We withheld a progress payment for four months while the sub-standard work was rectified and nobody said boo.

Debra50 · Feb 06, 2011 9:06 am

kek

Debra50

Trust this is the information your looking for.

We are very happy with Carlisle Homes. ::smile::

Who are you building with?? :th:

Debra50, did you read the thread title? :lol:

Yes, I did Kek.....but hey you never know?!! ::wink::

I know PD procedures, aren't they explaining this? ::wornout::

flagstaffIV · Feb 06, 2011 10:58 am

Debra50

I know PD procedures, aren't they explaining this? ::wornout::

I think alot of people don't understand... or haven't had the process explained to them properly :roll:

I have to say though... if we were to build again Carlisle would be my choice :wink:

mqtutor · Feb 06, 2011 3:54 pm

Debra50

Tender Appointment - our last opportunity to finalize, change, delete or add any alterations discussed from Sales and Colour appointments. We did not see Tender Document until this appointment.

Contract Signing - HIA Building Contract including Tender, Colour Selection, Soil Test, Builders Specifications and Contract Drawings were posted to us before Contract signing appointment.

Before Construction - Final Drawings were again posted to us to sign-off and check against our Building Tender to ensure all items we requested were drawn and correct as Carlisle Homes would construct our home according to these drawings.

Thanks Debra50. One question, do we need solicitor / conveyancer to check the contract or tender? Or everything is quite clear? btw, I prefer not to spend more.

geoff7 · Feb 06, 2011 6:34 pm

It is not about reading or knowing the process, that is simple if you are simply happy to sign anything and hand the cash over....
The reality is that most people just sign away and dont realise what they are doing although they may well think they do.
When you hand over cash this is classed as consideration and does form a contract.. are people aware of their rights and obligations? Generally speaking I personally think probably not.
To think it is all pretty cool would suggest you have not read the link below..
http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/vic/VCAT/2010/1827.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=elliott

Debra50 · Feb 06, 2011 7:39 pm

mqtutor

Debra50

Tender Appointment - our last opportunity to finalize, change, delete or add any alterations discussed from Sales and Colour appointments. We did not see Tender Document until this appointment.

Contract Signing - HIA Building Contract including Tender, Colour Selection, Soil Test, Builders Specifications and Contract Drawings were posted to us before Contract signing appointment.

Before Construction - Final Drawings were again posted to us to sign-off and check against our Building Tender to ensure all items we requested were drawn and correct as Carlisle Homes would construct our home according to these drawings.

Thanks Debra50. One question, do we need solicitor / conveyancer to check the contract or tender? Or everything is quite clear? btw, I prefer not to spend more.

Mqtutor, No-one wants to spend more than required. If you are not comfortable and PD can't explain and assist you to confidently understand the documentation then legal guidance is an avenue only you can decide. Good Luck

excitednewhomeowner · Feb 06, 2011 9:50 pm

We are currently set to start building in 1 month and the grass is currently around knee height in some areas. I'm guessing in 4 weeks it will probably be around 1m tall. Do you think its fine at this height or should i get the mower on it? I remember our SC saying our land has be accessible for the builders.

mel_mox · Feb 06, 2011 9:53 pm

Hey excited home owner,
I just got a call on Friday from pd saying we need to mow our block.
Our grass isn't that bad really! Only about half a metre. They are planning to start in a few wks!
Mel

excitednewhomeowner · Feb 06, 2011 10:00 pm

mel_mox

Hey excited home owner,
I just got a call on Friday from pd saying we need to mow our block.
Our grass isn't that bad really! Only about half a metre. They are planning to start in a few wks!
Mel

Thanks Mel.