Porter Davis will be coming out soon for the 12 month maintenance inspection, hard to believe we’ve been in the house for almost a year!

Anyhow, ill add some more photos and news when I fix this php issue with Wordpress.

At the display home, Porter Davis show the Kensington 24 in the Chalet Facade, however they also show a feature which is not an available option (like many other elements of a porter davis display home).

The item is a wooden frame attached from the brick pier, around the front of the bedroom, and instead of the house having an indented look, it squares it off quite nicely.

Regardless of the frame, the house looks good either way, but it’s something we wanted to do for a while.

Pictures will be posted when completed.

Other pending rennovations or work to be done, include:

• Spraying the concrete in the al-fresco
• Gas connection to the BBQ
• Extension of the Al Fresco / Outdoor Patio

Stay tuned for updates.

I think there has been some irreversible damage or stains caused by the time the mortar was stuck to the bricks, but it’s not overly noticeable and it’s on a side of the house mostly out of view, so I’m not going to stew on it too much.

Basically:

1. They advise it’s not needed (although I haven’t been advised of, or seen any engineer’s report)
2. They won’t be installing it, nor will the be any refund or rebate issued (contrary to previous discussions)

That was the reaction I expected.

On a more positive note, I spoke to the neighbour’s supervisor earlier (Porter Davis Lifestyle), he’ll be on site today and chase up the issue of mortar on the side of the house, so hopefully this is a step in the right direction.

In the display home, the Porter Davis Kensington 24 looks stunning with Decking, but it won’t suit our back yard, and given the BBQ is already at the perfect height for me (I am a tall guy!) I don’t want to raise the footing any higher.

Justine’s dad John is also creating a step for the rear-french doors so the step outside from the house isn’t as harsh, as we find people have trouble stepping out of the house down to an unexpected drop.

I’ve seen some good examples of sprayed or polished concrete, and I think this will give the area a well-finished look, and will almost complete our back-yard project, although I’m assessing an outdoor fireplace of some variety, and postponing the outdoor gas BBQ being connected to natural gas for the time being.

Connecting the BBQ is impractical at this time of year, and quite expensive.  The location of the outdoor gas point installed by Porter Davis is in a highly inconvenient spot, removing any cost-benefit of having it installed during construction.

The cost of the step and concrete spray is under $500, and will look stunning when finished.

That’s compared to a minimum of $2,000 for Decking, and a minimum of approximately $800 just for concrete or sand-stone pavers, before labour.

I will post photos of the area in a few weeks once it’s all completed.

Surprisingly my new neighbour (who is yet to have their house completed) dropped in last night after reading my website, and recent entry regarding site debris.

They were kind enough to supply me the now-current site supervisor for their Porter Davis Lifestyle home, so we can now pursue the right man to get the job done.

It’s disheartening to hear their Porter Davis experience, like mine and several others I know who have built with Porter Davis, has been less than smooth. Hopefully with some persistence they’ll have all their issues addresses before hand-over.

Unfortunately it’s also an indicator I’m going to need to chase down next door’s site supervisor again, because he failed to deliver on his promise to clean the mortar from my house which was a result of the brickies constructing the double-story.

This is yet again another Porter Davis tale, as the house next door is also being build by Porter Davis in the lifestyle range.

I have mortar stuck to my glass, and at least one ruined fly screen from this, not to mention the door which will need another re-paint. It’s disappointing that I’ve had to chase this site supervisor on three occasions in the past five months only to end up with the same result.

I will place hopefully my final call to the site supervisor tomorrow to have this addressed.

I’m still waiting to hear on the matter of the retaining wall, but I’m not holding my breath.

I’ve had to actively pursue Porter Davis for the past three months, and finally received a call back stating that it’s no longer needed, and may receive a refund of $1,500.00, pending management assessment.

I’m sure that would result in an argument with “Australia’s most professional builder”, so I’m not holding my breath.

Unfortunately the primary job for this maintainance guy was to fix defects that existed before the house was handed over.

The maintenence guy was friendly, and did a good job, so thankfully, most of my areas of concern were fixed:

• Poor joinery in a window frame
• Bad paint work from handover that would make an amateur shake their head
• Flaws in plaster
• Paint stain on carpet
• Damaged Toilet Roll holder (pathetic in a new house in my opinion)

Unfortunately, there are a few items Porter Davis have still failed to deliver, and because I was working from home, I didn’t pay as much attention as I should have, leaving some defects to to wait until the 12 month inspection.

I love my house, but it was painful getting here, and every so often I’m reminded of the poor quality of work demonstrated by Porter Davis, and have to chase them for things I shouldn’t, which is highly disappointing given the premium price paid over and above the standard house price.

Here are some of the latest pictures:

Front-View of house, Driveway & Garden

Front-Right Side View of house

House Left Hand Side View

A view of the back-yard and outdoor dining/Al-Fresco from the Living room via our big-open French Doors.

Back-yard view, left-hand side

Lawn (Roll-down turf, type: Couch)

(Ignore the dying plant in the middle )

Rear-View of Al-Fresco

Left-hand side back-yard & Al-Fresco, with Outdoor BBQ

Gardens by John, Justine’s dad. I might have carted a few barrel loads of stones around though

For those who are interested, the house is a Kensington 24 built by Porter Davis.