PD Tile Range

We have chose to build a prestige home of PD.

We had our tile appointment with NT today and I am just curious to know your(those building with PD) rating on a scale of 1 to 10 for thier Standard range of tiles and their upgrade range of tiles.

We are in the same boat, we tied to not tempt ourselfs by looking even outside the prestige standard range, but were able to find something suitable for each room within the standard ranges.

However we were told that our 'standard' selection tile for the bathroom would be charged at a higher rate to get laid because it was a porceline (or something a rather), has anyone encountered the same?

I thought the selection was wide enough, a little bit of everything, but if theres truth to the more cash to lay some tiles I think it defeats the purpose of having a standard range.

Our floor tile in Lifestyle was the same, an extra charge for the laying of the tile. Worked out to be only a few hundred across the whole house.

As for the range, we weren't overly impressed with the overall selections although there were two floor tiles in the standard floor range which were close to what we wanted so we were able to walk out fairly happy.

yeah, we have selected tiles from those that were availabe and i did let my CSR know that the range available was no match to the ones used in most display homes and she got back saying that many display homes have tiles from PDs ex tile supplier!

They used to use Beaumont tiles, before changing to national tiles. They had changed before we were doing selections, so a fair while ago now (18+ months).

Mind you - Im sure the display home tiles werent in the standard range from Beaumonts either!!!!

Our Lifestyle PD tile selection was the same, we had to pay an additional labour charge for Cat 1 standard tiles, $10 extra per sq mt, totalling $1000 extra Not happy. But nothing I could do. I complained & whined but to no avail. Only money right?!

Once done with the tile appointment, can we go back and change our selection? Anybody done this before?

We changed the color of the bathroom tiles during our contract appointment. The CSC just shot off an email to National Tiles while we were there and the updated specs/prices will be sent through in the next post contract variation.

I've been told the tiles at some of the display homes are specially imported for display homes so they can't even be chosen... same goes for wall paper - although some of the selections makes me wonder why did they bother...

To get you in!!

We're building with PD Prestige as well. Of all the tiles we picked (floors, bath, showers, splashbacks, features,etc) I picked one standard tile...and that was for my pantry splashback, because it didn't matter so much. I'm not even going to tell you how much extra it cost us, suffice to say $1000 extra is nothing!!!! I have a knack for picking the most expensive thing in every range of everything !!! And, yes, they have almost all upgrade tiles in their displays, but then so do all builders - they want their houses to look as enticing as possible! I was in a M/con display recently, and they had this really nice long grate in the shower floor, and while I was admiring it, I overheard someone say "yeah,that's a $900 option!!! So, they all put lots of upgrades, icluding tiles, in their displays. PD are not very keen to let you change your tiles once selected, but it can be done! We just had to change all of our floor tiles, as our original selection has been discontinued.

I thought their range was okay - certainly not extensive, but then that would just make it even more confusing, I think. Oh, and there is definitely an increased cost to lay different sized tiles. I chose some 600x600, and they are quite a bit more exi to lay (still can't understand that, there's less tiles, less grout......) but that's the way it is.

Hi petal,

We looked into building the brookvale last year - even had the tile apt - we found that everything was an upgrade, and in the end we were better off going with a custom builder, getting exactly what we wanted, for around the same price as the 'extras' we had with PD.

Are you happy so far with it all?? It was after the tile apt where they didnt have what I wanted that changed our minds. Oh and the fact that they wanted to charge so much for laying different tiles...WT?

That's interesting, Paula! We never planned to build, we were going to extend and renovate, but it was just too expensive. We signed up last year, and they've had 3 price increases since then (house and facade), so it has ended up costing us considerably less than what we were quoted to do the reno , even with me picking a million upgrades and variations! We spent a lot more than most people would, I think, on the tiles, but we just decided to pick what we wanted (we didn't even ask what was standard.......I knew I would pick upgrades without even asking!) We figured we were still better off. And in the end, we'll have a brand new house , done exactly to our taste and liking , with a pool, and some landscaping, for the same as it would have cost just to do the house . We asked about rebuilding with a custom builder, and they said it would be more than the reno . DH was initially devastated, but when we saw the Brookvale, we both loved it, instantly.
Am I happy? Customer service is pretty average, but so far , so good. As I said, our floor tiles were discontinued, but I was quite hapy, as I found a better one , I think their range is a little better, even since I first went to NT, last August. But, yes, they sting you for every 'upgrade....that's where they make their $$$, I guess!

I found a few tiles in the PD standard range that I liked, I'm only having Tiles in the wet area though.

I chose Urban Earth for the floors in all wet areas and a standard white gloss tile for walls, I would have prefered a light earthy tone in a gloss tile for the walls but I couldn't justify the extra cost so stuck to white.

I was shocked to find out our standard tile will have an additional laying cost though

Yes I've heard its expensive to extend or renovate - gotta ask why??

Glad your happy.

You need to take lots of pics as I will be living through your build!!

Paula, I STILL ask why?! It seems so wrong, but I've heard it over & over since we decided to demolish & start over. You would think renovating would be cheaper! Go figure......mind you, we were going to ut the whole inside, and go up as well, but it was still going to cost an extortionate amount!! I am doing a blog - perry has it listed in his blogs section - sorry, I'm too computer illiterate to be able to give you a link (should ask my 12 yo how, or even the 10 yo - hey, the 8 & 6y olds are probably more computer savvy than me!!! ) There are photos up till now on there, if you want to have a look!

I guess I was lucky. Our builder uses Beaumont Tiles, and the tiles I chose for the wet areas are all standard ones, except for the feature tile. My extra cost came in extending the tiles to the ceiling. I thought there was a good range of standard tiles for my builder at Beaumont.

Judie