What can we expect from Porter Davis?

ksutcliffe · Apr 22, 2008 3:49 pm

Hi, new to this forum and want some advice building with Porter Davis. Our choice was narrowed down to Porter Davis and M3tricon, and after falling in love with Porter Davis's style and design we just had to go with them.

We have decided to go with the Lifestyle range Newstead27. I have read up on good and bad experiences already and some bits and pieces from their website. Are they really as good as what they say they are and do they really deliver their 20 week guaranteed completion time? What are the main things to watch out for through Porter Davis and what are the main concerns if any we would have with Porter Davis?

Any feedback will be really appreciated thank you

VJ · Apr 22, 2008 4:13 pm

Hi ksutcliffe,

Welcome to the forum!

I'm not building with PD but I'm sure lots of people here who are building with them will share their experiences to you.

Good luck!

ksutcliffe · Apr 22, 2008 7:14 pm

VJ

Hi ksutcliffe,

Welcome to the forum!

I'm not building with PD but I'm sure lots of people here who are building with them will share their experiences to you.

Good luck!

Thanks VJ

I have posted the topic in the general discussion section too

Your house is coming along nicely!

berniebgf · Apr 22, 2008 8:02 pm

Hi, and welcome.

We are also building with Porter Davis, from my experience I would clearly cover off the following.

Points:
1. Fixed price does NOT mean fixed price.....(remember that one!!)
2. Cover off penalties for late starts (caused by you..e.g. land), and get it in writing.....
3. Cover off every little detail, lots of the display homes have additions that are not standard (or just not available).
4. Get price comparisons for any additions to keep them honest (or simply put it in later)
5. Get a good Conveyancer

Our experience with Porter Davis so far (about to start building) has been OK......I think some of the negative attitude is due to them taking a "it will be OK" where we as the owner are concerned (as we should be) about each small detail in the contract process and build process. Where they seem to have the mindset of "wait for the results".

Good luck!

Bernie

Ratter · Apr 22, 2008 11:07 pm

Hello and welcome,

I am at frame stage with PD building the Dromana 27 in west of Melbourne.

I have found their customer service to be extremely poor after deposit is paid, they will try to rush you into signing tender and contract.

Once construction starts it will happen fast (weather permitting). You house will only be as good as your site supervisor, if he does a crap job of watching / chasing up tradies then you will probably get a poor result. What i mean by that is that there will be things wrong or areas where the plans have not been followed.

We have had an independant inspection done which has found incorrect timber used in load bearing walls, studs not fixed in accordance with the Australian standards, lintels missing above openings etc.... These are not major things but they should be building to the plans' specifications.

I would strongly recommend independat inspections to ensure that you get the quality you are entitled to. The diffierence in what 'their independant inspector' found and what mine found were worlds apart, in that their barely found a thing wrong.

Don't get me wrong, i thnk our house wll be fantastic when it is done, but i would say..... keep a good eye on what is going on in YOU house.

Good luck!

Ratter

Damon · Apr 22, 2008 11:08 pm

hi ksutcliffe

my friend is building PD Newstead 27 at the moment , she like the design when you can have 2 stacker doors opening up to creat the inside to outside living area ( if you visited the Tarneit Newstead , you know what i mean) , this design is not common in volume builders if you have a look around other builders, i mean even if you are willing to pay extra $ a lot of house designs just can't put up with this structure.

in term of quality, if you click on my last posts her slab is having minor issue. this is ? due to poor concreter workmanship but this is anticipatable as volume builder need sub contractors to work for them.
i will let you guys know how PD tackle this slab issue so to certain extent people can have more idea when choosing builder.

or you can PM me if you need some more info re Newstead.

Damon

Damon · Apr 22, 2008 11:13 pm

hi Ratter,
can you tell me or PM who you are using for independent inspection?

i have newhomeinspection and justinspections in my mind but tried to ring Kevin these 2 days with no answer

can you give me some more idea?
Damon

Ratter · Apr 23, 2008 8:40 am

Kevin from New Home Inspections is THE MAN!

Heis also a very busy man at that, so isuggest leave him a message or send an email and he will get back to you. Best to give him some notice before youy require an inspection.

Regards,

Ratter

Amber · Apr 23, 2008 9:43 am

We built with PD (moved in on the 3 June last year) and our experience was great.

Obviously there are things along the way that annoy you or they don't come to the party on things that you want, but at all times they tried their best to accommodate requests and variations.

Our tender process and everything leading up to the start of the build went quite smoothly and the actual build process itself was completed in 17 weeks. I think PD do actually stick to their guarantee of 20 weeks (single storey) most of the time.

The one thing about PD that I found was:

1. Upgrade options are expensive - shop around and see what you can do after handover
2. Quite inflexible with their designs.

Other than that, I would build with them again if I ever had to.

The quality was great and coming from a family of builders, our home has been given the thumbs up for quality.

So it's a positive from me but like anything .... different people have different experiences.

good luck!

ksutcliffe · Apr 23, 2008 12:16 pm

berniebgf

Hi, and welcome.

We are also building with Porter Davis, from my experience I would clearly cover off the following.

Points:
1. Fixed price does NOT mean fixed price.....(remember that one!!)
2. Cover off penalties for late starts (caused by you..e.g. land), and get it in writing.....
3. Cover off every little detail, lots of the display homes have additions that are not standard (or just not available).
4. Get price comparisons for any additions to keep them honest (or simply put it in later)
5. Get a good Conveyancer

Our experience with Porter Davis so far (about to start building) has been OK......I think some of the negative attitude is due to them taking a "it will be OK" where we as the owner are concerned (as we should be) about each small detail in the contract process and build process. Where they seem to have the mindset of "wait for the results".

Good luck!

Bernie

Hi Bernie,

Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear you haven't had real dramas. Thank you very much for your tips.

Will surely take it all on board. I am constantly writing notes down so I don't forget anything important!

Already had the consultant go through the house with us and told us what was included and what wasn't. We were pretty surprised, there was more included than what we thought! Plus we are going for the Inspiration options where you pay $2,999 for $18,000 worth of upgrades.

Definately going for an independant inspector also. We still have a lot to learn! Thanks heaps again Bernie

ksutcliffe · Apr 23, 2008 12:30 pm

Amber

We built with PD (moved in on the 3 June last year) and our experience was great.

Obviously there are things along the way that annoy you or they don't come to the party on things that you want, but at all times they tried their best to accommodate requests and variations.

Our tender process and everything leading up to the start of the build went quite smoothly and the actual build process itself was completed in 17 weeks. I think PD do actually stick to their guarantee of 20 weeks (single storey) most of the time.

The one thing about PD that I found was:

1. Upgrade options are expensive - shop around and see what you can do after handover
2. Quite inflexible with their designs.

Other than that, I would build with them again if I ever had to.

The quality was great and coming from a family of builders, our home has been given the thumbs up for quality.

So it's a positive from me but like anything .... different people have different experiences.

good luck!

Hi Amber,

Thanks for the reply

Really appreciate it! So glad to hear your experience was great! Wow and 17 weeks! Very impressive! The sales consultant gave us a tour around the house and told us what was included and what wasn't. She did tell us to shop around for the blinds and the wooden floor as they weren't very competitive with the price.

The reason why we decided on Porter Davis was because as soon as we walked in to most of the display homes, we did see quality in their style and design. So I'm glad to hear that your home boasts quality

Thank you very much for the advice again Amber!

Cheers Kat

ksutcliffe · Apr 23, 2008 1:27 pm

Ratter

Hello and welcome,

I am at frame stage with PD building the Dromana 27 in west of Melbourne.

I have found their customer service to be extremely poor after deposit is paid, they will try to rush you into signing tender and contract.

Once construction starts it will happen fast (weather permitting). You house will only be as good as your site supervisor, if he does a crap job of watching / chasing up tradies then you will probably get a poor result. What i mean by that is that there will be things wrong or areas where the plans have not been followed.

We have had an independant inspection done which has found incorrect timber used in load bearing walls, studs not fixed in accordance with the Australian standards, lintels missing above openings etc.... These are not major things but they should be building to the plans' specifications.

I would strongly recommend independat inspections to ensure that you get the quality you are entitled to. The diffierence in what 'their independant inspector' found and what mine found were worlds apart, in that their barely found a thing wrong.

Don't get me wrong, i thnk our house wll be fantastic when it is done, but i would say..... keep a good eye on what is going on in YOU house.

Good luck!

Ratter

Hi Ratter,

Thanks for the reply, really appreciate it

Bit disappointing to hear the customer service was poor. Yes I have been hearing alot that it all depends on the site inspector you get. We will definetely go with an independant inspector. Been reading up alot about the new home inspection guy, he does seem like the MAN for the job! So we will definetely use him.

Dromana is a gorgeous house. We couldn't decide on Dromana and Newstead. It was out of those two actually that got us stumped. We liked the bedroom at the back in the Newstead so that sold us

We loved the Dark American style and the American Hampton. Which one are you going for?

Yes after reading what people post on here, we will be very careful and look very closely during the construction of the house.

Thanking you again for the advice

Cheers
Kat

vanderlay · Apr 23, 2008 1:36 pm

I would second pretty much everything Ratter has said!!

Keep a good eye on things, anything you arent satisfied with, jump on straight away, and use Kevin - our home was finished to a MUCH better standard thanks to him....

ksutcliffe · Apr 23, 2008 1:48 pm

Damon

hi ksutcliffe

my friend is building PD Newstead 27 at the moment , she like the design when you can have 2 stacker doors opening up to creat the inside to outside living area ( if you visited the Tarneit Newstead , you know what i mean) , this design is not common in volume builders if you have a look around other builders, i mean even if you are willing to pay extra $ a lot of house designs just can't put up with this structure.

in term of quality, if you click on my last posts her slab is having minor issue. this is ? due to poor concreter workmanship but this is anticipatable as volume builder need sub contractors to work for them.
i will let you guys know how PD tackle this slab issue so to certain extent people can have more idea when choosing builder.

or you can PM me if you need some more info re Newstead.

Damon

Hi Damon,

Thanks for the reply

Yes we loved the design! Especially the master bedroom out the back. Different from the rest of them that had it in the front. The one we visited in Pakenhem had 3 doors. But we're only going for two.

Would love to know how they tackle it! Do keep me informed! Will definetely be in touch when we come across questions regarding the Newstead! I hope everything runs smoothly for your friend!

Cheers and thanks again Damon!

Kat

to_do_list · Apr 23, 2008 1:51 pm

The best piece of advice I got was from my site supervisor when I was building my house - he was a realist and for that he didn't last long at the "Volume Builder" he worked for.

It was along the lines of he was building 30 houses at a time, and that meant on average a bit over an hour a week at my place.

He put it in the terms of we were building the house together if I saw something wrong, not to jump down his throat but let him know first and give him the opportunity to fix it. We had problems, a few arguments, and small delays but it went reasonably smoothly. That, and I had a good building inspector.

That's not to say you don't need to blow your stack occasionally, but be selective.

Oh....and use the forum...I think Ratter can vouch for the value of that!!!

ksutcliffe · Apr 23, 2008 2:03 pm

vanderlay

I would second pretty much everything Ratter has said!!

Keep a good eye on things, anything you arent satisfied with, jump on straight away, and use Kevin - our home was finished to a MUCH better standard thanks to him....

Hi Vanderlay,

Yes will keep a good eye on things. Kevin will be our man!

Cheers
Kat

ksutcliffe · Apr 23, 2008 2:41 pm

to_do_list

The best piece of advice I got was from my site supervisor when I was building my house - he was a realist and for that he didn't last long at the "Volume Builder" he worked for.

It was along the lines of he was building 30 houses at a time, and that meant on average a bit over an hour a week at my place.

He put it in the terms of we were building the house together if I saw something wrong, not to jump down his throat but let him know first and give him the opportunity to fix it. We had problems, a few arguments, and small delays but it went reasonably smoothly. That, and I had a good building inspector.

That's not to say you don't need to blow your stack occasionally, but be selective.

Oh....and use the forum...I think Ratter can vouch for the value of that!!!

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the advice

the forum has been tremendous so far! Very imformative indeed! Learning more and more everyday!

Cheers
Kat

Damon · Apr 25, 2008 1:09 am

ksutcliffe

Damon

But we're only going for two.

hi Kat ,
if you are going for two then have a look here:
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk318/damonhfcheng/stackerdoors.jpg
this is what my friend will get, 2 stacker doors kissing each other ( no corner pole), she put 5-6k for this option, if you like it then it worth going to Tarniet to meet Jeol ( our sale consultant), but the deco there is minimalism so not sure if it will suite your taste.
Damon

ksutcliffe · Apr 27, 2008 10:35 am

Damon

ksutcliffe

Damon

But we're only going for two.

hi Kat ,
if you are going for two then have a look here:
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk318/damonhfcheng/stackerdoors.jpg
this is what my friend will get, 2 stacker doors kissing each other ( no corner pole), she put 5-6k for this option, if you like it then it worth going to Tarniet to meet Jeol ( our sale consultant), but the deco there is minimalism so not sure if it will suite your taste.
Damon

Hi Damon,

Thanks for the screen shot. I know what you mean now.

Don't think it will match the style we are going for unfortunantely but definately a good idea.

Thanks again
Cheers Kat

teml · Apr 28, 2008 12:39 pm

Hi Kat, from our experence so far we have found that there is no 'upsell' whatsoever. At no point during any consultation with PD either in tender, contract or colour & tile selection did ANYONE offer what other options are avaialble or what upgrades are available. There are SO MANY options we have since discovered that we could have done through this forum it's sad

Always ask your CSC for any changes - the worst that can happen is that they say no can't be done. Read the forums especially from all of the PD owners listed by Perry...
http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=1522

Aside of that, we have found the journey pretty good

Our house is flying along and our CSC is fantatsic. Yes they do charge like wounded bulls - but I believe the quality makes up for it.