Page 18 of 27
Appreciate the detailed analysis. Anyways, I have decided to quit.
It's sad, hurts and makes me angry.
Here is the chronology of our mis adventure with PD which I wrote in an email to them ( sales rep and building coordinator) today
i feel for you guys and totally understand your frustration. you can see why they leave out facts until its almost too late.
i guess the longer people are invested the more chance they will stick around. it doesnt make it right!
we've had similar issues and feel it still wont be the last of it!!! a long drawn out nightmare is the best way to descirbe this entire process...
all the best!
We have purchased our land in the beachside southern suburb of Aspendale and are beginning our journey with PD with the intention of knocking down the existing dwelling and building a Vancouver 29. We are considering either the Rhode Island facade or the standard Seaside facade.
We would appreciate it if we could drive by anyone's home who has either of these facades and if anyone is brave enough for us to look inside their home that would also be wonderful. We understand if you wish to keep your address private and would be happy for you to message us.
We have requested PD to give us the addresses of some of their built homes for us to do a drive-by viewing and also any homes they have at lock up stage so that we can get a conceptual understanding of the 29 as opposed to the 33 as none are on display, but they have as yet not been able to assist.
I should also add that we have yet to sign or pay any deposit with PD and are seeking as much information as possible in the early stages.
Any suggestions or tips would be much appreciated.
The display at RiverWalk in Werribee is a 33 with the Rhode Island display if you want to have a look at that?
We found the best option to compare size was to take a copy of the 29 & 33 plans to the display and measure with a tape measure to compare.
I signed up with GJ Gardner. Probably my last post on this thread. Goodbye PD.
Good luck with your KDR's asheeshjoshi and Sue & Tim
We also did this in bayside Melbourne.... we are almost in
It's quite a challenge and not always as easy as it might seem but if you've got a nice block in a great location it is worth it in the end!
Good Luck!
viewtopic.php?t=81336 Building with MainVue - Modified Ivory 436...our journey
Good luck with your KDR's asheeshjoshi and Sue & Tim
We also did this in bayside Melbourne.... we are almost in
It's quite a challenge and not always as easy as it might seem but if you've got a nice block in a great location it is worth it in the end!
Good Luck!
viewtopic.php?t=81336 Building with MainVue - Modified Ivory 436...our journey
Mine is a new build. Not KDR. Thank you.
Good luck with your KDR's asheeshjoshi and Sue & Tim
We also did this in bayside Melbourne.... we are almost in
It's quite a challenge and not always as easy as it might seem but if you've got a nice block in a great location it is worth it in the end!
Good Luck!
viewtopic.php?t=81336 Building with MainVue - Modified Ivory 436...our journey
Mine is a new build. Not KDR. Thank you.
oops, so sorry...lots of people posting on homeone....obviously picked up the wrong person's thread...my apologies!
viewtopic.php?t=81336 Building with MainVue - Modified Ivory 436...our journey
Good luck with your KDR's asheeshjoshi and Sue & Tim
We also did this in bayside Melbourne.... we are almost in
It's quite a challenge and not always as easy as it might seem but if you've got a nice block in a great location it is worth it in the end!
Good Luck!
viewtopic.php?t=81336 Building with MainVue - Modified Ivory 436...our journey
Mine is a new build. Not KDR. Thank you.
How you going asheesh joshi? Any progress getting things sorted? Chosen another builder?
Rezzix, Thanks for the advice re the Rhode Island on display at Werribee. Looking online I think the Seaside facade is on display at Cranbourne, so we intend driving out there and also having a look. My husband has his heart set on the Rhode Island Facade – so we’ll see. We took our tape measure and plans into the 33 displays, but its still hard to get an idea. We went into another volume builder and their advice was that the bedroom sizes might be just a little small. We would like to be able to get a double bed in all bedrooms.
Asheeshjoshi, I’ve read your posts on this forum – they have been invaluable and have helped me to be very aware before signing. I will also have a look at the volume builder you have signed with – but, we really like the Vancouver 29 floor plan.
Saint Girl, So happy to know you too have built in Bayside Melbourne and that you are almost in. We are prepared for the long journey ahead. Not looking forward to renting after being owner occupiers for the last 22 years, but would much rather have a nice new home than much of the rubbish we have seen on the existing property market. There’s no way you could renovate the property we bought. It has holes in the roof and is basically derelict. Everyone knows the property in the local area and they’re very glad that someone is going to clean up the site.
Hi asheeshjoshi
I read your report as a straight forward H2 site as per the classification.This means there shouldn't be excessive site costs but the report then states that piers are to be used if the fill exceeds 300mm which according to the bore logs it does.
The report then goes onto say that the footing design must be done by the company who produced the soil report and cannot be used by anyone else.
I don't like a statement like that as it forces you to get a design done by the same company who who did the soil test and according to their own classification is a standard "h2" slab which doesn't require a design or it would have been a "P" site.
I would ask why a "H2" raft slab founded in natural clay (horizon b) can't be used which shouldn't require piers and what the cost of a raft "H2" slab will be as compared to a waffle slab on piers.
Appreciate the detailed analysis. Anyways, I have decided to quit.
It's sad, hurts and makes me angry.
Here is the chronology of our mis adventure with PD which I wrote in an email to them ( sales rep and building coordinator) today
"For the record, I want to highlight key major issues we had with Porter Davis
over the items agreed and signed in our first sale contract in February 2016...
1. Our first selected plan Kew 28 was changed to Vancouver 33 after 3 weeks due to error by Porter Davis on length calculation of the plan on our lot. We lost 3 weeks !!
2. As promised by Porter Davis during the initial signing of sales contract, our site start would be July 2016 and fixed site cost was $19000. Site start was later on moved to August 2016. This was a huge disappointment to us but we somehow continued having faith and trust and carried on with PD.
3. Then on April 5th, you sent us a revised quotation with fixed site cost unchanged
as $19,000 which we accepted as there were minor additions to other costs.
4. I had then requested you via email to share our soil test report on April 16th but this was never shared with us by Porter Davis. We were told it will be shown at tender.
5. Today at tender, the fixed site cost was inflated to $32000 for H2 slab !! Our soil test report is dated mid February. While I am not qualified to comment on the engineering aspects of the soil test report, I do believe that this cost should have been notified to us when the sales quotation got revised in April.
The way this has been handled by Porter Davis from timing perspective is not right in my opinion.
Based on all of the above, we have finally decide to quit building our home from Porter Davis.
Kindly arrange to refund the amount of $2000 back due to the above deviations from the sales contract."
Welcome to the sales to tender cycle with PD... our site cost increase was $65k, so we pulled out as well, although they only sat on the critical info that impacted us for a month...
I spoke to someone I know at PD last week, who told me people are leaving in droves go to competitors, based on the brush they are becoming tarred with...
My advice would be to look for a non-volume or small volume builder, as you'll probably pay less, and get a better result if some of the stories in this thread are anything to go by...
Good luck with your KDR's asheeshjoshi and Sue & Tim
We also did this in bayside Melbourne.... we are almost in
It's quite a challenge and not always as easy as it might seem but if you've got a nice block in a great location it is worth it in the end!
Good Luck!
viewtopic.php?t=81336 Building with MainVue - Modified Ivory 436...our journey
Mine is a new build. Not KDR. Thank you.
How you going asheesh joshi? Any progress getting things sorted? Chosen another builder?
We quit PD.
Chosen GJ Gardner. Finalising plan now with them.
Hi asheeshjoshi
I read your report as a straight forward H2 site as per the classification.This means there shouldn't be excessive site costs but the report then states that piers are to be used if the fill exceeds 300mm which according to the bore logs it does.
The report then goes onto say that the footing design must be done by the company who produced the soil report and cannot be used by anyone else.
I don't like a statement like that as it forces you to get a design done by the same company who who did the soil test and according to their own classification is a standard "h2" slab which doesn't require a design or it would have been a "P" site.
I would ask why a "H2" raft slab founded in natural clay (horizon b) can't be used which shouldn't require piers and what the cost of a raft "H2" slab will be as compared to a waffle slab on piers.
Appreciate the detailed analysis. Anyways, I have decided to quit.
It's sad, hurts and makes me angry.
Here is the chronology of our mis adventure with PD which I wrote in an email to them ( sales rep and building coordinator) today
"For the record, I want to highlight key major issues we had with Porter Davis
over the items agreed and signed in our first sale contract in February 2016...
1. Our first selected plan Kew 28 was changed to Vancouver 33 after 3 weeks due to error by Porter Davis on length calculation of the plan on our lot. We lost 3 weeks !!
2. As promised by Porter Davis during the initial signing of sales contract, our site start would be July 2016 and fixed site cost was $19000. Site start was later on moved to August 2016. This was a huge disappointment to us but we somehow continued having faith and trust and carried on with PD.
3. Then on April 5th, you sent us a revised quotation with fixed site cost unchanged
as $19,000 which we accepted as there were minor additions to other costs.
4. I had then requested you via email to share our soil test report on April 16th but this was never shared with us by Porter Davis. We were told it will be shown at tender.
5. Today at tender, the fixed site cost was inflated to $32000 for H2 slab !! Our soil test report is dated mid February. While I am not qualified to comment on the engineering aspects of the soil test report, I do believe that this cost should have been notified to us when the sales quotation got revised in April.
The way this has been handled by Porter Davis from timing perspective is not right in my opinion.
Based on all of the above, we have finally decide to quit building our home from Porter Davis.
Kindly arrange to refund the amount of $2000 back due to the above deviations from the sales contract."
Welcome to the sales to tender cycle with PD... our site cost increase was $65k, so we pulled out as well, although they only sat on the critical info that impacted us for a month...
I spoke to someone I know at PD last week, who told me people are leaving in droves go to competitors, based on the brush they are becoming tarred with...
My advice would be to look for a non-volume or small volume builder, as you'll probably pay less, and get a better result if some of the stories in this thread are anything to go by...
That's exactly what I have done. Chosen a smaller non volume builder.
With PD our BC got assigned after 3 months and till tender I did not know who the site supervisor was.
With our new builder GJ Gardner, I met BC and SS the day I walked in. It's so much faster with family owned business franchises.
Finally demo is done!!!! Getting a tad more excited and a little emotional that after 7 months we are another step closer to building
***** slab upgrades *******
I know I have seen some pretty knowledgeable people on here comment regarding slab upgrades so I am hoping you can help.
We are about to be sent to construction this week however need to sign off on our final engineering and slab plans, over the weekend we have gone through everything and located many interesting finds.
Like everything along the way so far, we don’t trust PD therefore are questioning everything.
In our first soil report it was noted that we have 1m of fill which meant we straight away had to go for a waffle p-h2 slab ( from what we hear this is the highest and usually what most builds are hit with for KDR) at contract is was also confirmed that we would need screw piles and many of them.. put it this way our slab was earthquake proof!! We really didn’t see this to be necessary as our block was nothing out of the ordinary.
Our last soil came back after our knockdown, showing that we have less than 300mm of fill with no rock, HOORAY!!! this was a positive so defiantly expected a less intense slab with less materials therefore less costs.. wrong!!. After studying plans on the weekend we noticed that quite a bit of steel or footings have been removed from our initial drawings, but not one credit or amendment to our costs… standard PD move!
I feel like because it’s taken us 8 months to get to this point they think we will just sign off on anything to finally start. We won’t! If this means another hold up so be it. The experience so far has left us question everything as we have already been ripped in so many other aspects.
Has anyone else experienced this up before or had a good enough explanation.
we finally have a start!!!!TODAY the site is being cut... feels very surreal, just praying it all goes smoothly.
Another friend of mine is building 29 sq house with Infinity property group. Her quote is 264k with high end inclusions.
I am thinking of building with Infinity. Is your friend happy with them? Any problems? Did your friend mentioned about the quality after its built?
Many thanks:)
After 10 months of planning, contracts and council we have a slab!!!!!!
Dont want to jinx us... but so far so good we are 3 weeks in i think or could be 2... 3 since cut and we have slab, frame, gas lines, all correct window, upgraded ones and all...that look amazing i should add... and our roof tiles got delievered today!!! So excited and so far so good..
Feeling like the luck is bound to end of.things will come to a big hult soon. Fingers crossed.
Dont want to jinx us... but so far so good we are 3 weeks in i think or could be 2... 3 since cut and we have slab, frame, gas lines, all correct window, upgraded ones and all...that look amazing i should add... and our roof tiles got delievered today!!! So excited and so far so good..
Feeling like the luck is bound to end of.things will come to a big hult soon. Fingers crossed.
What facade sis you choose?
Dont want to jinx us... but so far so good we are 3 weeks in i think or could be 2... 3 since cut and we have slab, frame, gas lines, all correct window, upgraded ones and all...that look amazing i should add... and our roof tiles got delievered today!!! So excited and so far so good..
Feeling like the luck is bound to end of.things will come to a big hult soon. Fingers crossed.
What facade sis you choose?
wow!!! thats what you get for uploading a photo from your phone... woops
we went with the waterside facade
it was the least that ate into my walk in robe haha