My Porter Davis Build Blog

This is our customised floorplan... Ground Floor: Some of the major changes are marked up in the picture... Added a door to close off the study for some privacy Added walls to close off the Dining. With the enclosed rear option, a lot of people complained about that plumbing stack in the middle of nowhere so we've put in a wall with a big void in the middle to section it off a bit better Added shower to the powder room. This is in case anyone is sleeping staying downstairs or can't walk upstairs for any reason, they can use the shower downstairs.  Added manhole to the garage. Easier for tradies to get up there and do stuff. No idea what yet though. lol Garage is now 6m wide instead of the standard 5.5m The internal access door in the garage has been widened to 920mm (to fit all the shopping bags through). All the door ways and bulkheads have been made higher to 2340mm, except for the theartre bulkheads. Apparently they need them lower to fit in the plumbing...

Our Tender appointment was completed last month. One word of warning... it is very very long! We started 9am sharp and still had open items past 5pm. In the end, we ended up getting our Tender emailed to us which was great because we got to review it over the weekend and spot a few more errors. I remember reading someone else's comments saying their Tender was long and at the time not understanding why it would take that long. I had emailed all my changes I wanted before hand so assumed it would be a matter of going through the Tender document and ticking off all the boxes. Not quite! Here's how the day went.. 9-11:30pm: Walk through Tender page by page, line by line. There is Site siting, how far the minimum set back is, whether you want dispensation to bring it closer, where all the silt pits are for collecting water, which trees and vegetation need to be cleared, which windows and overlooking and need to be glazed, and all the floor plan mark ups. 11:30 - 12:30: Go thr...

These are the façade choices.. so difficult when you need to visualise how it would look with your brick and colour combo... Retro: This one comes 'free'. Love the full wrap around windows to the upstairs rumpus. Manhattan: $2400. The rumpus is extended further out over the front porch so there's more internal living space. Wish I could change for the full length of windows like the retro but I've been told windows can't be changed in the façades ... Chatsworth: $9400. Even though I know I won't use a balcony I do think it makes the house look more 'grand' and improves resale value. Having those big columns adds more shape to the house too. Stirling: $9900. This is the best looking pic by far. However, I don't think it lends itself well with brick and I am not a big fan of render. Also, the difference between this and the Chatsworth is that the columns / porch area don't look like they are centered. I like the chatsworth porch mo...