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.
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.
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.
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