Construction Update - Week 7 - Windows, Doorframes and Rough-In

We have had a short week this week, due to the Easter public holidays.  Even so, there looks to have been some progress.

Water and gas rough-in has been completed.  The outlet for the powder room toilet has finally been exposed (although it has not been moved).  And, as you can see from the pictures, the downstairs is now wrapped in insulation foil.

In addition to this, the plaster has been delivered and there are piles of bricks and sand all around the site, so I anticipate that brickwork will be commencing this week.

From the Front

From the Front

From the Rear

From the Rear

Plaster has been delivered

Finally, the appearance of the toilet outlet in the
downstairs powder room!!

Rough-In for the Island Bench in the Kitchen

Rough-In for the Gas Outlet for the Alfresco

Construction Update - Problems Encountered So Far

With the framing and roof complete, I thought it might be a good time to reflect on the problems we have encountered so far in the build of our Porter Davis Wembley 35.  These issues have been raised by ourselves, our independent building inspector and by the Porter Davis site supervisor himself.

Having been an owner-builder previously, I am going to say that none of these issues keep me awake at night and (overall) I think Porter Davis have done a pretty good job so far.  I read other blogs where owners seem to get worked up about the these sorts of issues and I get the frustration - I really do.  But, in my experience, things go wrong in building projects and best thing you can do is just go with it and discuss how things can be fixed.

Don't get me wrong though, you will see my tone change real fast if these things don't get rectified.

Here is the list.

The toilet outlet in the downstairs powder room is covered by the slab
I pointed this one out to Porter Davis.  When the slab was poured, it covered the outlet for the downstairs toilet.  You can see in the photo where they had to cut through the slab to check it was there.

The outlet for the downstairs toilet is in the wrong place
Our Porter Davis site supervisor highlighted this one - notwithstanding that it is covered by the slab, the actual toilet outlet is too close to the wall, and needs to be moved at least 150mm.

You can see where the concrete was cut away to check that
the outlet was actually there, but it is also too close to the wall

The outlet for the Powder Room vanity needs to be moved
Again, our site supervisor highlighted this one - the outlet pipe is supposed to be embedded in the wall cavity, but ours protrudes into the room slightly.

Plumbing for the vanity in the downstairs powder room needs to be moved

A Noggin needs to be replaced
Noggins are the horizontal pieces of timber that hold the vertical beams (the studs) of the frame in place.  One of these were identified by our building inspector as having insufficient strength due to knots and other damage and this was highlighted in his report.  Our site supervisor has agreed (verbally) have these fixed.

Wall Studs vs. Noggins

Bad Noggin

Two Studs need to be strengthened
The building inspector highlighted two studs with knots greater than 50mm, that either need to be replaced or strengthened.

Bad Stud

The edge of the slab at the garage wall needs to be removed
Our site supervisor highlighted this to us - there is a small lip of concrete that needs to be removed before brickwork for the wall between the house and the garage can be commenced.

It's (jack) hammer time! (bad joke).

Creaking upstairs flooring
I pointed this out to the site supervisor - prior to the roof going on, we had several days of rain and, in a couple of places, the upstairs flooring has moved or lifted, so that it creaks when walked on.  Our site supervisors has assured us that this it is normal practice to revisit and refasten the flooring prior to floor coverings being laid down, so this will get fixed.

Gaps in the edge of the slab
Our independent inspector highlighted that, in a couple of places, the finishing work along the edge of the slab was sub-standard.  To be honest, I am not so fussed about this, but have passed on the details in the report to Porter Davis anyway.

Construction Update - Week 6 - The Roof is On!

The roof went on this week, so the whole construction is starting to look like a proper house.

Having the roof on, means that the upstairs rooms have better definition and we can finally see the proportions of the rooms more clearly.  This is helpful, seeing as we bought the Wembley 35 off the plan and have never had the opportunity walk through  a display home.

 

We also met our site supervisor for the first time this week.  We drove out to meet him on site early in the morning and to discuss progress and a few items that our independent inspector had raised.  He was very helpful and was able to talk openly with us about a couple of issues that he had observed, as well as confirm that the issues raised by our inspector would be fixed.

 

From the Front

From the Rear

From the Rear

Upstairs Master Bedroom -
with the roof on, it is easier to see its proportions

Upstairs Bedroom '4'

Open Area Upstairs

Backstory - The Color-Selection Appointment

We had our color-selection appointment in early November and it consisted of two parts, the electrical appointment and "the rest".  The Rest involves selection of everything from bricks, roof-tiles, facias, doors, door-handles, kitchen cabinets, plus paint colors, architraves, skirts and tap-ware.

The whole process takes the better part of a whole day and the consultants guide you through the process.

How the 'Consultant' Works
The role of the consultant in the process is to guide you through a series decisions in a fixed amount of time, with the outcome being that you don't hate what you've chosen once the house is built.  You will find that they never actually give advice per se, and carefully avoid being questioned for their opinion or expertise.  Their role is  to guide you to your conclusion.



A few of the choices we made...

Here is an example of how this process works.  Our consultant was a pleasant young woman - she clearly had some experience and qualification in interior design or something similar.  However, her process for guiding us to a decision was be a steady elimination of alternatives.  When choosing something (let's say laminate designs for kitchen benchtops) she would typically start with a selection of 5 different alternatives.  I noticed this pattern emerged during the course of the day.  Of the five alternatives, two would be almost identical, and one would be completely wrong.  We would quickly eliminate the one that was completely wrong, leaving four alternatives.  But really, with two very similar ones, it was effectively three alternatives.  When compared with other choices we had already made, we found that we could eliminate at least one of the remaining choices.  So we inevitably found ourselves selecting between two or three options or each decision we were making.


More Choices...

The bottom line is this - if you are expecting your colour selection appointment to be in any way a collaborative or creative session with an experienced interior designer, you will probably be disappointed.  As I said, the role of the consultant is not to be creative or give interior design advice.  They are there to help walk you through a decision-making process that requires you to make a large number of decisions in just a few hours.

Advice

And yet more choices...

Check it out prior to the appointment - Most builders allow you to have a look around prior to your actual appointment (I know that Simonds do and Porter Davis certainly allow you to have a look around on weekends without an appointment).  It is a really good idea to do this, as, if you know what you want, you can make notes of any number of choices really quickly prior to the appointment.

Block out the whole day - Don't really plan on getting anything else done during the day of the appointment - it really does take a long time and it is mentally exhausting.

Read through everything carefully - Even though the process is exhausting, you will be asked to sign off the forms at the end of the session.  It pays it summon up the energy to carefully read and review what you are signing.  Marina is way better at this than me and she was able to spot several errors.

 

Construction Update - Week 5 - Framing Complete

This week the framing was completed, along with the roofing trusses, which is pretty impressive seeing as it rained for much of the week.  The gutters and facias have also been added.

The invoice for the framing arrived on Wednesday, and sure enough, another round of follow up calls from Porter Davis' accounts receivable department has started.

We will be meeting our site supervisor for the first time next Thursday.

Other than that, new real news, so here are the pics...

From the Front

From the Front

Front Entrance looking down hallway

From the Rear

 

From the Rear

It has been raining all week and the upstairs floors are very wet...

The start of our balcony!

Upper Storey - It all takes a lot of timber!

Backstory - The Tile Selection Appointment

A bit more of the construction backstory here, and advice on the Tile Selection appointment...

Generally, your section of tiles occurs after your colour selection appointment.  However, due to the relatively short timeline we agreed to get our contracts signed, we were asked to select our tiles prior to the colour appointment.  In the end, I don't think it actually makes too much difference, but like all the interior colours and choice you make, selecting the tiles in isolation ends up being a bit of a leap  of faith.

Decisions to be made at the tiling appointment include (obviously) the tiles you intend to have in your bathrooms and powder rooms (and any other rooms you plan to tile).  You also need to select grout colours and edging options (polished or matt aluminium).  If you have a balcony or other outdoor tiled areas, you will also need to select the tiling and grouting for these areas.

We did not really  have much interest in the tiling range that was listed as 'standard'.  However,  neither did we have much interest in the more expensive options.  For us (especially with the kids), our bathrooms need to be functional rather than fancy.  We actually ended up being pretty boring and selecting the same basic tile for both the bathrooms and the powder room.  We were also pretty conservative with the tile that we chose for the balcony.

Some Advice
For what it is worth, here is the advice I would offer for your tiling appointment.

Visit prior to your appointment - If you have the time, it is worthwhile visiting the tiling centre prior to your appointment to start to gather ideas about what you want.  The staff there will be able to point you in the direction of the different ranges of tiles, from 'standard' to expensive and you will at least be able to get some ideas (they won't provide you with pricing).

Look at the tiles under different lighting - The mounted lighting in the tiling centre is quite powerful and (according to the staff) designed to emulate natural light.  In my experience, tiles can change their hue quite a lot under different artificial lighting conditions, so it is worth moving the tiles you are considering around to see them under different lights.

Don't Take the Kids - There is sort of a kids room at the tiling centre, but my kids would have gotten bored in there after about 10 minutes and there is very little else for them to do or anywhere for them to go.

Ignore the Simulator - Once you have selected your tiles, the sales rep may want to show what your selection will look like in a computerised simulation.  Don't bother with this - it is worse than rubbish.  The tiles we selected looked completely different in the simulation  and, as a result, we went back to the drawing board and ended up doing the whole process again - only to select the same tiles again and trusting ourselves that we were right and that the simulator was wrong.

Get Proper Coffee - When we went, there was complimentary coffee on offer - it was truly terrible.  :-)

Backstory - The Contract Appointment

A Bit More of our backstory and my advice - this time on the "Contract" Appointment

The contract appointment is a whole-of-day affair and we were required to front up to their office in Narre Warren for it at 9:00am - about a 90 minute drive from where we currently live.

Porter Davis make it clear that after the Contract Appointment, no further structural changes can be made without incurring additional costs.  In our case, this was not entirely true, as there were a couple of changes that we managed to sneak through after the contract appointment, most notably the creation of a space between the Rumpus Room and the Living Room.  But the basic principle is that once the engineers get their hands on the finalised quote, their time is your money and material changes are discouraged.

The day is structured into three parts - the first half of the day is given over to reviewing the house positioning and site costs, as well as reviewing and amending the quote that you previously signed off with the sales representative.  The primary reason it takes so long to get through this is the convoluted structure of Porter Davis quotes.  Basically, because the quote lists everything that is standard, then adds on top and extras, including "in lieu" replacements, and then adds extras that you may have requested.  So, in order to figure out what anything actually is, you often have to flick back and forth through several pages and line items in the quote, which is really annoying.

During the second part of the day, the quote and all the amendments you have requested are given over to someone who punches the details into a computer, which in turn spits out a 'final' quote, against which engineering drawings can be drawn up.  During this time, which is typically about 2 hours, the staff politely shove you out of the office and suggest the local shopping centre is worth a look to have some lunch and kill some time.

The third part of the day is basically a repeat of the first half, with the consultant walking you through the final changes, after which you can sign them off and hand over a deposit.

 

Advice
For what it's worth, here is my advice.

Visit Display Homes During your lunch break - Given that the focus of the day is to finalise your structural decisions, you can do a lot worse with your break time than to go and visit a couple of display houses.  There were a couple of display centres within a 20 minute drive and we jumped into the car and headed to the nearest.  It was time really well spent, because we had made some decisions in the morning that we were not entirely sure about.

One important thing that we did discover that we hadn't thought about was inset shelving ('nooks' as they are called) in showers.  We had forgotten to ask for these and visiting the display homes prompted us.  It turns out that these are considered to be 'structural', so if we had not gone back and asked for them, then it would have cost us extra later on.

Don't Take the Kids - There is no kids area at the Porter Davis offices, which is not suprising given that it is a working office.  Also, because it literally is a full day appointment, it would be really tough to keep kids occupied.  We took Chuggalugs, who, at 10 months, was happy to sleep in the pram or play with a few toys on the floor (but mainly sleep).  But it would be hell for older kids.

Manually Reconcile Quantities of Everything - It took three attempts for Porter Davis to quote the correct number of window frames and window frame types and we literally had to count them off the plans one by one in order to get it right.  These things would be annoying if discovered during construction, so it is worth being patient and doing it now.

Construction Update - Week 4 - Framing

Looks like the carpenters have been busy and it is very exciting to see the second storey of the frame going up.  Nothing much else to report, except I think I spotted the first mistake.  Not sure for certain, but I suspect having a sewerage outlet buried underneath the slab is not something that was planned.

Check out this friendly exchange of emails to Porter Davis.

"Hi

By way of introduction, I am Marina's husband and I am hoping you (or you can point me in the direction of someone who) can help me with a basic question.

In looking at the framing for the downstairs powder room, I was unable to figure out how the toilet would be plumbed.  I presume that the inbound cistern will be plumbed through the wall.  However (see photo) I am unclear how the waste plumbing will work as there does not appear to be an outlet roughed-in into the slab.

 I am not an expert in these things, but can you confirm that everything is ok?

Kind Regards

James"

"Hi James

Thank you for your email and rest assured there are no dumb questions in construction

I double checked the photo and have spoken to [your site supervisor] also, the actual waste point is there, but the top is covered slightly with concrete when the boys were smoothing out the slab surface.

I hope this helps to clarify the matter and please don’t hesitate to ask myself or [your site supervisor] any other (big or small) question in the future.

Have a great day.

Regards"

 

 

 

Here are the latest pics...

Frame from the Front

 

Frame from the Rear

 

Frame from the Rear

The Living Room and entrance to the Rumpus Room

 

 

Kitchen and Dining Area

 

 

Alfresco

Looking down the hallway towards the front entrance

 

Upstairs Master Bedroom

Downstairs Powder Room - I can see the outlet for the vanity,
but where is the outlet for the toilet!

 

Backstory - The Porter Davis Wembley 35 - Structural Changes We Made

With construction underway, here is a bit more backstory...

Having been through all the design and contract processes with Porter Davis, I can now look back and reflect on what (I think) have been the best structural decisions we have made along the way.  In many cases it took several conversations and some real persistence on our part to get what we wanted, but we don't believe we have missed out on anything that was important.

I have ranked these changes in rough order of how important they were to us - from potential deal-breakers to minor tweaks.

Creating an Opening Between the Rumpus Room and the Family Room
For us, this was the big one.  In our opinion, the one really big drawback of the Wembley 35 design (as compared the Fullerton 38, which we had also been looking at) was the fact that the downstairs Rumpus Room was enclosed and not part of a broader open-plan living area.  We asked Porter Davis if the wall could be removed and were told no.  Looking at the engineering drawings, I could see why - it appears that that wall supports part of the upstairs structure.


This was the compromise we asked for...

So, as a compromise, we asked if we could at least have an opening in the wall, to create a 'connection' between the Family room and the Rumpus room.  This is an effective design approach we had seen in a number of display houses.

A bit to my surprise, Porter Davis said "Yes you can."  And we were happy with that.  But then we got thinking and asked a few more questions.

"Can we make the opening really wide?"


This is sort of what we will be able to do between
the Family and Rumpus rooms...

"Yes, you can."

Interesting.  "Can the opening be from floor height?"

"Yes, it can."

Very Interesting. "Can we make go nearly all the way to the ceiling?"

"Sure, why not."

So now we have an opening that will go almost from one side to the other and almost all the way to the ceiling.  Our plan is to install (my wife wants me to build this myself) some open box cabinets, similar to the ones shown in the picture.  To accommodate this, we have also widened the wall to about 36cm.

Build right up to the Property Boundary
The wall of the garage of the house we have knocked down formed part of the northern boundary.  During the sales process with both PD and Simonds, we had been told that the house siting could accommodate positioning the new garage wall in the same location.

However, once we got to contract stage, Porter Davis were insistent that they never ever (ever!) built to the boundary of a property, but instead always allowed a 150mm gap.  The reason, they cited, was that property boundaries often came into dispute, so building to the boundary was something that they just never did.  In retrospect, I have to confess that it sounds like a bit of BS - as the builder, a property boundary dispute has nothing to them.

During the contract negotiation phase, we were disappointed with this, but just kind of accepted it.  From our perspective, we were still getting the house we wanted, just 15cm south of precisely where we hoped it would be.

However, it was the local council who had an objection.  Due to overshadowing concerns, they insisted that the whole house be moved 15cm to the north, with the garage wall forming the boundary.  Given that the council's opinions on this were now delaying the start of construction (and therefore payments to Porter Davis), it was amazing how quickly the plans were redrawn (inclusive of non-intrusive box guttering!) to accommodate this.  Suddenly it was AOK to build to the boundary.


No Quad!
One of the things that we disliked the most about display houses with timber floors was the use of quad between the edge of the floorboards and the skirts.  Builders do this because (in order to protect them from damage from tradies boots and so on) the floorboards are installed as one of the very last things.  This means that the skirts are installed and then the floorboards are installed, not the other way around.

Okay, I'm a snob, but I think this looks cheap

Once installed, to deal with any unsightly gaps between the floorboards and the skirts, a perimeter of quad is tacked down.  Call me a snob, but I think it just looks cheap and ugly.

During our contract negotiations, Porter Davis absolutely refused to do this any other way and to a certain extent I can see why - it would be expensive for them to have to fix damage caused to the floorboards.  However, we did come up with a happy compromise.  We suggested that PD not fit the skirts at all as part of the contract.  Instead, they would lay the floorboards to the walls and leave the skirts in the garage for us to paint and fit ourselves after handover.  They agreed, and although it creates extra work for us prior to moving in, we think our house will look much better for it.


Extension of the Alfresco to the edge of the Family area
We have extended the Alfresco area to make it a bit bigger, but without going for the "Grand Alfresco" option.

The 'Standard' Alfresco Option



Our Alfresco

Replaced the rear doors with timber bi-fold doors
In addition to the Alfresco extension, we have also replaced the standard rear doors with a 5-panel Timber Bi-Fold Door.  The positioning of this is shown in the picture above.

 

A Cavity Sliding Door to the Walk-In Pantry
We have swapped the swinging normal door out for a sliding door, to create better access and more space inside the pantry for shelving and storage.  See picture below.

Removal of the WIP Window
We removed the window in the walk-in pantry so as to allow more bench and shelving space.

Walk-In Pantry Changes

Removal of Wall Next to Walk-In-Pantry Door
We removed this wall as so as to open up the kitchen space a bit more.  See picture below.

A Galley Bench for the Kitchen instead of the L-Shaped Bench
We opted for a Galley Kitchen bench, set slightly back from the normal position, so that we could maximise the space in the dining area.

 

Kitchen Changes

 

A Power-Point in the Kitchen Bench
Not a structural change, but this was one of the dumbest conversations we had with Porter Davis during the contract phase.  We had requested installation of a power point in the island bench and were told, no, that was not possible - something to do with interfering with the dishwasher.  Again, as with other discussions, we were persistent and eventually emailed PD a picture from another Wembley 35 blog, where precisely what we were asking for had been done.  Suddenly, it could be done and was included in our contract.

A Sliding Cavity Door to the Laundry
One weakness (in our opinion) of the Wembley 35 is that the laundry is not particularly big.  As a family with three sprogs, we produce a lot of dirty clothes and mess, so a bigger laundry never goes astray.  So, to maximise the storage and working space in the Laundry, we have installed a cavity sliding door.

A Door to the 'Lounge' instead of an opening
We plan to use what Porter Davis call the Lounge as a guest bedroom and home office.  So we have replaced the opening from the hallway with a normal door.

A Door from the Garage to the Hallway
The standard plans do not include an internal door from the Garage - we have had one included.

Re-Locate the Windows of Bedrooms 3 and 4 to Face the Rear
We have moved the windows in bedroom 3 & 4 to face the rear of the property, which for us is east.
This also means we have relocated the wardrobe in bedroom 4.

Widening the Garage
Our block is wide enough for us to expand the garage from standard to around 6.2 meters wide.  This will comfortably fit all of our family transportation, including cars, trikes, bikes, scooters and space-hoppers.

Rear Roller Door on the Garage
It won't be a huge opening, but we have paid a bit extra to have a rear roller door installed.

Double-Glazing on all Front-Facing Windows
We happen to have a bus stop right outside the front of out property, so we have opted for double glazing to reduce any noise.