Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Porter Davis homes 6230Oct 09, 2012 10:39 pm I had NICHE to be in all the bathrooms of my house in my contract & obviously included in payments. When I went to check the house which have couple of weeks left for final inspection, i noticed NICHE is not there in one of the bathrooms. I am disappointed with the explanation PD has given saying - '..niche can not be done on an external wall and the opposite wall is where the shower head is going to be installed' TAMU Building PD Marbella 38 Deposit:31 Dec 2011 Tender:08 Feb Tile/Col/Elect: 22 Feb Contract: 29 Feb Slab: 24 Apr Frame: 17 May Lock up: 02 Aug Completion/PCI: 31 Oct Move in: 17 Nov 2012 Re: Porter Davis homes 6231Oct 10, 2012 8:59 am Hi tamugrg, Same thing happened to us, we pushed and pushed but they wouldn't budge, their excuse being that we were only building an Access house. I'm not sure what yours is, but if you're not I would definitely push it. They can build in on external walls, they just have to build a 'false' wall out a little. There are people on this very forum that were allowed to do just that. They only say they can't do it because they don't care about their customers and just want to do what's easiest. Re: Porter Davis homes 6232Oct 10, 2012 9:30 am Quote: They can build in on external walls, they just have to build a 'false' wall out a little This is true, unfortunatly for you tamugrg its something PD should have been picked up on before the house started building Are you going to be re-imbursed for the missing niche?? Quote: They only say they can't do it because they don't care about their customers and just want to do what's easiest. I don't think its has anything to do about caring about their customers. Any builder will build anything you like, you just have to be willing to pay extra for it. Re: Porter Davis homes 6233Oct 10, 2012 10:12 am In our experience its been a real battle to get PD to build what we like, even when it's been very possible, I'm afraid I agree with Wateman, they will try to do what's easiest and don't particularly care about the customer. It really is just another sale to them, however they don't seem to realise (or care about) the damage this does to their reputation. It's after the battle and when they finally do concede that yes it actually can be done that the big unnecessary expenses result. *sigh* Re: Porter Davis homes 6234Oct 10, 2012 10:48 am It's not as simple as just paying extra to add/change something unfortunately. Just like tamugrg, we had niches in our tender etc, they were the first thing we added actually, we picked tiles for them at our tiles appt, and it wasn't till we got to the contract signing that we discovered they weren't in our contract, when we asked why, that was the first we had heard about them not being able to do it. Of course we complained, we pleaded, we provided drawings and photos that people kindly gave us on here, showing them where PD had done niches on external walls for them, but they wouldn't budge. In the end we 'upgraded' our house to have an extra bedroom, which altered the bathrooms around and allowed us to have our niches. Of course we paid extra for the upgrade, but we also were charged for changing our plans at this late stage, besides the fact that we were only changing them late because they failed to advise us of the issue until contract signing. As I said, we were told we couldn't do the false wall thing because we were building Access, and it's directed towards first home buyers and they don't allow as many changes or some bull*. They said that Lifestyle and Prestige were aimed at 2nd and 3rd etc homebuyers, so they allowed them more flexibility. Your house is a Lifestyle one tamugrg so I would push for what you want. You pay so much money for your house, you shouldn't be forced to miss out on something you really wanted when it is so easily possible. Especially when they didn't even care enough to advise you that you couldn't have it. I'm sure they just hope you dont find out until it is too late to do anything about it, because making their customers happy is not really important to them. Re: Porter Davis homes 6235Oct 10, 2012 11:14 am I've followed your build Wateman and I do recall the situation, and even remember the drawings and their excuse after excuse, the way you were treated left me feeling pretty disgusted. Especially when another poster here even provided you with their drawings showing it could be done and was actually being done for them. We have had to fight for so many things in our house, luckily we were able to 'win' most battles but it was us always coming up with the ver do-able and not particularly complicated solutions to the problems, never PD - what happened to you regarding those niches was unfair in the extreme and then to be charged for making a change to rectify the problem (ie the extra bedroom) really just topped it all off. That charge should have been waived. There is either something seriously wrong with their process (that this wasn't addressed much earlier for you) or they really just don't care!! Amazing that they are up for customer service awards for 'respecting their customers dreams' (see the PD website blog for more on their recent HIA nominations if you don't know what I mean) Porter Davis homes 6236Oct 10, 2012 12:57 pm Don't get me wrong I know I probably come off as bitter, but I love out house and it turned out good in the end we even had some luck go our way eventually. I just got annoyed seeing somebody else have the issue as its such an unnecessary drama for them. If PD don't like doing them they should not put them in displays and tell ppl from the start they can't have it Re: Porter Davis homes 6237Oct 10, 2012 1:05 pm No not bitter at all, just understandably disappointed and that's fair enough. Im so glad to hear that you love your house, and I hope the niches were worth the pain. We have them on our plans too, I think they are a great idea! Re: Porter Davis homes 6239Oct 11, 2012 8:54 am tamugrg, that's really disappointing that they didn't tell you about the niche straight up. I don't know what the options are (fortunately both our showers are on internal walls) but I imagine it would be hard for them to do anything at this late stage? I hope you get a satisfactory resolution. Only a couple of days until PCI for us . Hubby went out on Tuesday and saw that the external painting has been done, the splashback has been installed, and the lights under the overhead cabinets in the kitchen have been installed. The last door has been hung, the front door handle is on, and the meter box has been changed. There are some blurry pictures on the blog. We are well and truly locked out now so we probably won't be going over this weekend, although it hardly matters given we will be there on Monday for PCI. Everything is crossed that we might be able to handover late next week! Re: Porter Davis homes 6240Oct 11, 2012 10:22 am got some good news to share with you guys, handover is in 7 days.
Also updated blog but sorry no pics....... Wow that is terrible about the insurance! I guess ideally proof of insurance should be provided prior to first deposit but I'd imagine they would refuse to be out of… 17 14232 There isn't any need to. As I wrote previously, there isn't a set term, there is just commencement based on earlier of contract signing or building permit issue and… 24 13385 Three options 1 Ask the liquidator 2 Find another PD customer and ask the source of their report 3 Pay for new report 3 6491 |