Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Porter Davis homes 8246Oct 03, 2013 11:43 am ftdt7882 Hmmmmmmmm. The front of our house faces east (main bedroom) with the living areas facing north (that is the side that the deck will be on). Back of the house faces west (alfresco) - But our land isn't flat - we have two retaining walls at the back and the existing house behind us sits quite high (but it is further back).... and there is a lot of existing vegetation on that block (i.e. tall trees!) I am hoping that is enough to help with the back of the house as we've signed the contract so I doubt we could add eaves now The only side of the house that would be a real concern is the south facing side - that has 2 of the bedrooms, bathroom and toilet. Oh and one small window in our ensuite. They aren't huge windows either. The south side will not get direct sun so you should be ok there. We have two rooms (one a bedroom) that face west. We have blinds and have grown deciduous trees in front of them too. You really wont know until you look at the block with the sun out in summer. The retaining wall and house at the back may provide enough shade. In reality although eaves would be great on the current place, our living is north facing and completely overshadowed by the two storey next door, so if we had eaves on that side, we'd get no light at all!! Re: Porter Davis homes 8247Oct 03, 2013 11:51 am Back Pocket The south side will not get direct sun so you should be ok there. We have two rooms (one a bedroom) that face west. We have blinds and have grown deciduous trees in front of them too. You really wont know until you look at the block with the sun out in summer. The retaining wall and house at the back may provide enough shade. In reality although eaves would be great on the current place, our living is north facing and completely overshadowed by the two storey next door, so if we had eaves on that side, we'd get no light at all!! Growing trees in front of them is a good idea! That's my concern also - being overshadowed by a two story house! Re: Porter Davis homes 8248Oct 03, 2013 12:21 pm MummaDJ OMG - just had a quote done for blinds - so many decisions I hadn't considered: Front rolling or back rolling Dark fabric Vs Light Fabric Light sunscreen blinds vs dark sunscreen blinds Sitting in the window frame area or over the top Pelmet - No Pelmet I am confused! i went through a place called Brydon Blinds (details on the blog) who were very helpful and quite reasonably priced Re: Porter Davis homes 8249Oct 03, 2013 12:25 pm Back Pocket ftdt7882 Hmmmmmmmm. The front of our house faces east (main bedroom) with the living areas facing north (that is the side that the deck will be on). Back of the house faces west (alfresco) - But our land isn't flat - we have two retaining walls at the back and the existing house behind us sits quite high (but it is further back).... and there is a lot of existing vegetation on that block (i.e. tall trees!) I am hoping that is enough to help with the back of the house as we've signed the contract so I doubt we could add eaves now The only side of the house that would be a real concern is the south facing side - that has 2 of the bedrooms, bathroom and toilet. Oh and one small window in our ensuite. They aren't huge windows either. The south side will not get direct sun so you should be ok there. We have two rooms (one a bedroom) that face west. We have blinds and have grown deciduous trees in front of them too. You really wont know until you look at the block with the sun out in summer. The retaining wall and house at the back may provide enough shade. In reality although eaves would be great on the current place, our living is north facing and completely overshadowed by the two storey next door, so if we had eaves on that side, we'd get no light at all!! We didnt choose eaves on the PD home we are currently building (which i actually didnt even consider) but our house is south facing and we have eaves on the facade, a alfresco at the back and because out block is only 12.5 frontage we are hardup against our neighbour so we want to try and get as much light as we can. Happy with our decision so far but i guess time will tell when we move in and have to deal with the elements. Re: Porter Davis homes 8250Oct 03, 2013 1:20 pm ftdt7882 We were quoted $2k for eaves on a 29 square lifestyle house. We were going to go with eaves but I didn't like the look of not having brickwork over the windows as the windows sit up right underneath the eaves. We paid ~$4200 for 600mm eaves on a Sandarah 45. Personally I prefer the look of the house with eaves but we did choose not to have eaves for the garage. From memory it was an additional ~$1000 for the lower ground but this would have only been the garage and given that its built to the boundary, I didn't see the value of paying $1000 for eaves to the front and back of the garage! Re: Porter Davis homes 8251Oct 03, 2013 2:52 pm BP, hard to know about the house, we sold up and are renting short term while we build. Only took us 2 weeks to sell but you just don't know. Hope you get a good price! Mumma, good luck for tomorrow, I'm so excited for you! 2 Our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=64705 Re: Porter Davis homes 8252Oct 03, 2013 3:08 pm PCI today and all went well. Aiming for Handover next Friday 11th - Woo Hoo Re: Porter Davis homes 8253Oct 03, 2013 3:17 pm How utterly exciting. We expect pics once you are all set up and decorated! 2 Our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=64705 Re: Porter Davis homes 8256Oct 03, 2013 4:22 pm Did it take a logn time mummadj? very happy for you you house looks fab! you have great taste! Re: Porter Davis homes 8257Oct 03, 2013 5:07 pm Very exciting MummaDJ! We are hoping to be in by the end of the month. Been busy trying to get quotes for fencing, concreting and blinds. We lost our whirly bird in the wind and not sure where it is! Hopefully it has not damaged the roof. We choose 600mm eaves for our upper floor only at a cost of $2,663.00. Like Backpocket we had west facing windows in our old house and needed blockout blinds. Tried to make sure we had limited west facing windows in this house and protect the upper bedrooms with eaves. Hope all your builds are going well. Skye hope your building starts getting quicker. Re: Porter Davis homes 8258Oct 03, 2013 7:07 pm Hi just letting everyone know how we're going. We're at frame stage at the moment, found out last week we got a new site supervisor. We never got to meet the first one, he said he usually likes to meet people early on in the build but he just didn't have time. He said he had been allocated around 25 homes, but PD usually only give them 15-17, so they all complained, PD listened and now the have another SS. Anyway, we met the knew guy today, seems nice although he didn't have a tape measure with him, oh yes and the plans!! This was our very first inspection of the house, I pointed out the errors to him but he had nothing to cross check it with. The front door is wrong! It's the wrong door, it's the wrong style altogether. Luckily they got the house design and facade correct haha. In the contract we got the fridge tap moved to the side, to allow for more space to fit the fridge however the plumber did not do this. Also all the taps are wrong. They put in 2 pipes - eg hot and cold for our bathroom, ensuite, and laundry, even though we are getting mixers. These thing will be fixed, it's just part of building, but just wanted to let others know, check frequently, you know your build better than anyone else. We're also missing some roof tiles which came off in those awful winds, which should be fixed up soon. Some pictures on my blog: http://chrysteeporterdavis.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Porter Davis homes 8259Oct 03, 2013 7:14 pm Thanks gang - it is very exciting, kiddies also excited! Get champagne ready...... PCI took only 2.5 hours. Nothing too major - paint fixes, plaster fixes, cleaning up of some tapware, scratched window to be replaced, render paint to be touched up. Somethings not fully 100%, but we are happy. Overall it has been great. SS is fair. Some negotiations, all okay in the end. Overall build so far is 26-27 weeks, not bad for contract time of 44 weeks. It isn't because it was rushed either. Just consistent work most of the time on the house. Of course there were days with no one around, but that happens everywhere. Re: Porter Davis homes 8260Oct 03, 2013 7:50 pm Oh wow, so glad to hear it was all well ahead if schedule mummadj! Our contract time took us to mid December but given they are close to painting I think we might be in well before that... 2 Our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=64705 Three options 1 Ask the liquidator 2 Find another PD customer and ask the source of their report 3 Pay for new report 3 12182 Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74219 I would never build with Fowler homes. I built with them in 2021 and till date maintenance issues are pending. All their existing trades and businesses don't work with… 14 105129 |