Tuesday 28 February 2012

The process of getting to this stage of building.............

Well so far the process of building a new home has been all worth it.
Today we finally signed off all our drawings and with the great service and patience of our building co-ordinator we are ready to start building our home.

At the start of selecting a home to build, it seemed pretty daunting and overwhelming with all the processes you have to go through. But with patience and great care it all seems to work out.

The Porter Davis process is pretty straight forward (despite a lot of whingeing and sleepless nights).

Here are a few suggestions.....

  • When walking through a display home that you have decided to build, check what's included in the cost of the house. Ask for  a walk thru with the Sales Consultant (as we did not know this till later when we asked) and try taking note of everything being said to you.
  • Ask as many questions as you have too. Don't be embarrassed to ask the silliest thing because everything is important and it's better than being doubtful, surprised or even shocked later. We thought we covered everything but we too were still shocked later in the process.
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  • Your initial meeting with your Sales Consultant will include everything you want in your home from all the inclusions through to all the upgrades (and you will be so surprised with how many things are actually considered upgrades). Just remember, you can always subtract what you don't really need when reality hits you!
  • And next is the deposit of $1000.00 which comes off your full house price.
  • You will then be allocated a building coordinator
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  • Your tender appointment will be booked for you and there you will go through everything you have chosen for your home. This takes about 3 hours (as for ours it went for a lot longer, our building co/ord was fantastic and had so much patience) and you will also have to pay a 3% deposit which comes off your full house price.
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  • Your colour selection/ tile selection/ electrics selection will now be booked for you.
Some points to consider before attending these appointments;
  • Your colour selection will be at Hopetoun in Port Melbourne. Try and visit Hopetoun Display Centre as many times on the weekends leading to your colour selection, as they only allocate 3 hours for your colour selection appointment and believe me the time goes so fast when you are in there and you start doubting what you have selected. It can become so frustrating. Porter Davis as of 2012, are now giving some prices as you go through your selections which makes it a little easier for you to calculate what you are spending.
  • It's a great idea to make up a colour board with all the the colours you desire before you go for your appointment (I'll take a picture for you to give you an idea)
  • Also with tile selections, try and go to National Tiles (Porter Davis has display in Port Melbourne Store) on a Saturday morning (as many times as you need to). Check out what's included in your Standard Range on the back Wall, as prices go up as you go from left to right along the wall displaying the tiles (ranging from $45 to $65 extra per metre). If you are thinking of putting in tiles other than Standard, allow at least up to $5000.00 in your budget at tender. Also with this appointment you only get 3 hours for Selection but you will find if you have been to National Tiles prior to your allocated appointment and know what you want, it's enough time.
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  • Your electrics appointment is pretty straight forward but also be prepared with what you want and really need otherwise you can get carried away! It would be advisable to allow approx $5000.00 for electrics at your tender appointment. So have a good think about what you actually need more than what you really want. Also think about what you can change later ( light bulbs to downlights) or can't add in later (cabling for sound system) as once the house is built it may prove difficult to do so.
  • At Fixed Price Contract time, your Porter Davis Building Coordinator will have all your initial building drawings, soil tests and site costs, colour selection, tile selection, electric selection with any variations, all added up to give you a Fixed Price. Here check and recheck everything you have selected. Take your time in doing so. You are allocated approx 4 hours for this meeting. Ask everything you need to, especially if you are doubting any of your selections or if the pricing does not seem right. Don't be afraid to question costing, after all it's your money! If you are not happy with what you have chosen, they will help you achieve exactly what you are after. At Contract time you will have to pay an additional 2% deposit, which again comes off your full house price.
  • DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK ANY QUESTIONS OR CLARIFY ANY DOUBTS YOU MAY HAVE.
  • Once your Contract has been signed, final variations will be priced, permits applied for and final building drawings ordered. When permits come through and drawings completed, you will be called in to sign off on these final documents. A start date will be indicated, a Site Supervisor allocated to your job and soon after, your dream home should begin to take shape.....

Monday 27 February 2012

So today is the big day.....our final drawing signing

Well after so much running around looking at Porter Davis homes (never want to see another display home again) today is the day it hopefully all comes together.

After reading so many blogs and getting info, we are looking forward to signing everything off to start building our home, that we have created!

 I guess now the fun (or lets hope so) begins ..........................

I'll keep you posted.

Sunday 26 February 2012

the story so far................

Our journey began in November 2011, after looking at heaps of display homes we decided on the Porter Davis Waldorf. It met all of our needs, as we love entertaining and having family and friends over. We thought this is the home we've always wanted.

Our initial meeting with the Sales Manager was one to remember!

Anyone would think we were buying a used car. We actually walked away from the meeting thinking that we would prefer to go to another builder.

After a week we received a call from the PD Sales office we attended and got an apology for the way we were treated. We were asked to come back and discuss what we were after in purchasing our new home.

To cut a long story short our Sales Consultant was fantastic and offered us the deal we were after.

So we decided to go ahead and sign up and gave our initial $1000.00 deposit.

We were offered a March start. So in the month of January we had to get all our selections organised. I will post all of our selections in a future update.

welcome to our journey!

Welcome to our journey, building our dream home.
We have learnt alot over these past few months, after we had decided on building the Porter Davis Waldorf 44.
We have found the design of the Waldorf 44 meeting everything we always wanted in a home.
After reading so many blogs, I must say they have helped us so much.
Now we would love to help out others on their journey of building their dream home!

Initial deposit: 13th nov 2011
land settled: 28th dec 2011
tender: 5th jan 2012
tile selection 18th jan 2012
colour selection 19th jan 2012
electrics selection 19th jan 2012
contract signing 24th jan 2012
signing of final drawings28th feb 2012
construction to commence 5th march 2012