Another PD customer here....although we often feel like we don't get treated like a customer at all - more like a number!
We also signed up b/c we loved the design, and felt thatthey appeared to be the most professional volume builder out there....not so sure now. There sales guys are certainly slick!!!
We are building with Prestige - Brookvale 50 , but I've said a number of times that I'm yet to see anything particularly prestigious about their service, in particular. We've had 2 CSR girls, who were ok, but quite hard to get hold of, or get answers from on many occasions. We also had 3 SS before we even started, and this is probably a bad week to be asking me about him, b/c he's NEVER there!!!! Luckily we are renting close by, the kids go to school around the corner, and DH (who also, thankfully knows what he's on about with regards to building) works locally, so we can keep a close eye on it - which we do. We feel as though WE'RE doing the site supervision, though - and that's what we're paying PD a not small amount of $$ to do!!!
They seem to be doing a pretty good job of the construction - again, we've certainly had a few issues, but, as DH says, it's building - you have to expect that.
At the end of the day, as long as they build us a home of superior quality, that's all I really care about - the process is just hard when you're entrenched in it!!!
My advice would be the same as the others' really - be prepared, look at displays of your house, and other similar PD houses, and make a list of options to enquire about (we quite liked the wrap around timber bi-folds.....$20,000 option.....nice, but No Thanks ) and think of as many questions as you possibly can!!!
Your first appt will be tile selection - go to a National Tiles and have a look beforehand, if possible. Think about wall colours and laminex, etc too, as you do that after the tiles, so you don't have anything compare the tiles to.
Get in to Hopetoun on a weekend before you have your Colours selection - you pick every little thing there - from paint to door handles, bricks, mortar, etc,etc....... so you need to be prepared, and have a feel for how you'd like your house to look before you get there!If you have kids, get them looked after!!!
And, again, for Tender and Contract mtgs, ask as many questions as you can think of, and make sure that you get answers, and have them clarify things!
Oh, and there are lots of PD blogs, which are very helpful - and keep coming back here - it's a wealth of information that I wish I'd discovered before we started building!!! Good luck!