My Porter Davis Build Blog

You guys will love this one! Found what has to be pretty close to the most expensive Waldorf ever sold. $2.28 million sold July last year. Looks every bit the part! Stirling Facade You can't tell that much but there is a massive slope to this block. So much so, you can really only see the top floor from street level. The photographer did well masking that with this clever angle The back: Here you can get a better sense of how much slope there is here. Must be over 3m! I am surprised Porter Davis even built on this block. I originally thought having only 2/3rds of the back as a alfresco would look a bit odd but it actually looks okay. Notice they have enclosed the rear due to overlooking issues probably.  Alfresco:  Beautiful tiling Dining Room: With the enclosed rear option, there is meant to be a supporting pole in the middle of this room. I read on the forums that this pole / plumbing stack / whatever could not be avoided. How did these guy...

In breaking news today, Graham Hooper has won a law suit against Metricon for shoddy slab work. The payout $289,589.65 which covers "the demolition and reconstruction of the house and the loss of rental income". The house is in Tarneit. Source:  http://www.propertyobserver.com.au/finding/residential-investment/house-and-land/29806-metricon-ordered-to-pay-home-owner-faulty-build.html   " In 2006, as the home was being constructed, Hooper and surveyors found that the slab was built to an incorrect height. Rather than restarting construction, Metricon agreed to deduct $7,500 from the house price and import soil after completion to level the external landscape." According to the article, Metricon tried to claim the resulting issues as edge heave due to landscaping and 'excessive watering'. Luckily, independent engineers were brought in and concluded that Metricon was at fault for the slab movement. Woohoo to that! This is a landmark case. The first I...

Our underground pit was installed a few weeks ago. It is only about 1.5 - 2m to the electricity pole in the corner of our block so came in 'relatively' cheaply ~$2k. We used Webb Excavations ( www.webbexcavations.com.au ). Apparently, if underground is too costly, you can also opt for overhead. From what I've read, Porter Davis will charge ~$1k for overhead setups. Obviously underground looks nicer and I assume it would be safer too (even for non-bushfire areas).  Here, you see the concrete has been cracked where they dug the trench. They've already organised for a concreter to come in a few weeks time to have it fixed. It's good to know they were on top of it. The process to get this done was actually a bit harder than I thought. Our electricity wholesaler doesn't have their own preferred installers and I was directed to a big long VEDN contractor registrer . There are 200+ contractors with different levels of certification. Civil Work Type 1. P...

Continuing my fascination with other people's Waldorf's / Marriots... here's one that sold early 2013 (Marh or April) ... also with the Chatsworth fascade.. The fascade: The driveway: The backyard: They've enclosed the terrace, left the alfresco and added the extra family / rumpus rooms to the back. Looks a bit funny with the extension sticking out like that I think. Might work nicer to extend the roof out and join to make a grand alfresco. From the side: Look at the size of that big fixed window. According to the floorplan, this should be at least 3.6m wide and way more than 1.5m tall! This is definitive proof that Porter Davis can, and have installed bigger windows than mine before! For anyone else pre-tender, you can use this photo as backup if they also tell you they can not make 3.6m x 2.1m fixed one piece windows.  The balcony: Dining Room The Family Room: The Lounge: The Kitchen: The Home Theatre: The ...

The standard included ducted heating system (can't remember which model) is insufficient for a 48 square house. We've upgraded to the Brivis MX35i for ~$14k.  There's also the option to upgrade to the HX35i which is the high efficiency model for an extra $852. As we've max'd out our budget for the house, we've downgraded to just the MX35i but will probably ask them to put it back up to the HX model as it should pay itself off over the long run. (I tried to get some stats on how long it would take to pay off but couldn't find any useful comparisons. One forum poster said 30% more efficient and pays off in 1.5 years.. I'll be more conservative and say 3 years which is still pretty good return. Good for the budget and good for the environment) This is the add-on airconditioner. We've only ever had evaporative air conditioning in the past and there's no way I'm putting evaporative into a new house. It's fine when it is <30 ...

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...

This is how our kitchen will look like... All with the nice colourtech finish the layout The small 200mm slideout drawer is still in question. Porter Davis is checking to see if the cabinet makers can do it.  Those four drawers were $871 to change from the standard cabinet doors. I am told the blum soft closer alone costs $147 each. We also wanted to put in the Blum servo drive for the pull out bin but have been told Porter Davis do not install them. I assume it should be easy to do it post handover. We have put in a double GPO inside for future use.  Pot drawer was 3 equal spacers for muffin trays. My wife's nice touch.  Fridge overhead cabinet option Rear door to the corner cabinet on the island, with push release.  This is how the promo Pantry upgrade will look. We were just going to leave it empty and do it post handover but since it is included in the promo, we might as well have it... The Pantry will just have the stand...