Porter Davis Homes
Verified2,690 reviews
- Pre-Construction
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- Mid-Construction
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- Post-Construction
I deserve payment for doing PD's QA work – Signed up to do a knockdown and build with PD and currently still in the pre-construction phase waiting to be transferred to construction. The pre-construction phase has been absolutely horrible; 1. Building Coordinator has got awol - couldn't get hold of anyone 2. Engineering drawings being constantly updated with new and previously fixed… Read more
mistakes being re-introduced (it's been 3 months trying to fix a simple issue on the drawings - anyone using MS Paint can fix it faster!) 3. No one seems to be able to keep track of variations and update correct notes on the contract document
Word of advise if you decided to build with PD - every time new drawings or any documents get sent to you - check absolutely everything! (ie. if you asked to change something don't expect there to be just that change - expect another 3 mistakes in completely different areas)
Be prepared to take on the role of PD Quality Assurance!
We had a great experience from start to finish – Our porter Davis home is now 2 years old. We have had no issues since handover and we are completely happy with our home. Throughout the building process, we were kept up to date and each stage finished on time with excellent attention to detail. We had each stage independently assessed and the inspector was always impressed with the quality and workmanship. Show details
My experience so far - poor service with constant delays and errors – I have recently finalised the contract stage with Porter Davis and have been disappointed with the poor service at every stage of the process. My phone calls and emails are not responded to for days, sometimes even a week. There have been repeated errors in documentation, meetings are cancelled without any notification and service standards are… Read more
not adhered to. I feel like I have a new job with the amount of time I spend following them and trying to keep them on schedule. They clearly do not have adequate staff to resource the business and appropriately manage their customers. Such a disappointing experience given building a new home should be a fun and exciting project. Whilst I am still very happy with the house design and plans, my service experience means I could not recommend this builder. I hope my build experience is significantly better.
Reviews with attachments
Terrible construction quality – Don't be fooled by the pretty pictures and nice smiles when you dealing with a sales rep. Since moving into our Porter Davis home a little under three years ago, it's been a constant battle to get maintenance items fixed. We're constantly struggling to get communication with the New Home Care supervisor, and their trade management service being… Read more
handled by [Name Removed]/One Touch. We've been dealing with flooring that creaks and loud pop's when simply walking casually over it. It's been happening in bedrooms, the hallway, the lounge area. The trades PD use don't give a rats about doing their job well, they come slap it together, take their money and move onto the next schmuck and do it again.
PD onsite supervisors should be ashamed of themselves. They'll let anything slip through, no one cares about the quality of the work. I wish we had never built this house with Porter Davis, we've never enjoyed it like we should be.
I'll never build a house with Porter Davis again, and I would never recommend them to anyone looking for a home builder. Once they have your money all care goes out the window.
- +3
Why you should NEVER build a home with Porter Davis? Roof construction non compliant to AU standards – I used to be a big fan of PD as they were true to the advertising on the site and really cared about the customers and always tried to provide the best quality product and care during the construction and post build. However, my home now 5 years old and submitted a warranty request to fix a water leak coming from my garage. This was happening for… Read more
sometime and I couldn't figure out it was my cars or roof until recent flood event caused lot of water to be flood the garage. To my surprise, the roof was non compliant to AU standards (Report attached) as per the roof plumber who came to inspect the roof. I have asked PD new home care team to fix the issue, but to my disappointment they were not helping at all.
Now I am going to take this case to VCAT as they can't ignore AU building standards and plumbing compliance. Also the team members in NEWHOME CARE is very rude, arrogant and seems to be trained to "Reject" most of the post building claims.
Hi Snifer, I am thrilled to read your review… Read more
- +1
Sloppy installation of shelves – A couple of shelves in my Porter Davis Home have collapsed. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that the builder has installed the shelves in an extremely sloppy way: - Thin nails were used to install the support boards at a 45 degree angle, with no additional supports or screws. - The screws were the shortest screws I had ever seen and were… Read more
not even touching the wood studs behind the plaster. - The only support came from the nail glue, which has long dried and past its use date.
Given that PD has already become insolvent, there's no point pursuing damages from PD as the house is no longer under warranty. But just revealing the shoddy build quality that you get from this builder.
- +2
Amazing team throughout build – I cant express how exciting and happy in my newly built home for the last 4 months. Sales are super friendly and helpful gave us a lot of useful ideas. I've been to other displays those sales doesn't even bother to talk to you.. Our site manager is a young men which also helps us a lot. I am satisfy with the finish product and thanks PD for… Read more · 1
building my dream home. Only down side is the WOS, electric and cabinets appointment was long and stressful. The ladies who works for the cabinets company doesn't have the knowledge or the right mindset to sell their products. Items are constantly been forgot or misguided. We will have to re-design our cabinets in the middle of the construction. I would recommend PD to improve their cabinets design team's basic knowledge. Once you walked out of WOS the communication between you and WOS takes forever. They are under staffed and takes more than 1 week to receive a reply, and they don't even have time to speak to you. It stressed us a lot as we are already on site cabinets were held up for 3 weeks because no one attend our issues at WOS. Overall the team is amazing responsive especially my supervisor still helps us a lot after handover. Be prepared for your WOS appointment and prepare long wait for any communication with them..
Terrible Horrible service – Be aware don’t build with PD, They don’t do basic things right , in my friends who ever build they are not happy about it, ceiling are peeking and worst part no one is coming to fix it Show details
In-depth reviews
Choosing the right builder is made easy with Porter Davis Homes – Building a home is a huge life event. It's never going to be easy. But with Porter Davis it was a manageable experience with a sterling end product. A solid quality product was provided for a price that was not exhaustive. The Sales process was thorough and individual, [Name Removed] put her heart into our project and as I walk around my beautiful… Read more · 1
new home I think of her and the little touches she added which make such a difference (e.g. she suggested we lose a tiny bit of space in the Guest Toilet to make a bigger walk in cupboard in the Laundry - and this has worked fantastically well for us). Our Construction Manager, [Name Removed], kept us fully informed and watched the standard of all Trades throughout the process as if it was his own home. Even in the tough times where we had long covid delays, [Name Removed] was always doing his best to get updates for us and to get movement where he could. The Office team were also very responsive and helpful. It's a daunting process at times, yet they explained it all and were happy to answer many questions. I would absolutely build with Porter Davis again, although right now I just want to put my feet up and admire all the fine selections I made at Porter Davis World of Style! No doubts in recommending this Builder - GO FOR IT!
Far from perfect customer service – Customer service very poor We had 4 site supervisors on my house Many items we paid extra for were missed as there was a lack of communication between old and new site team . The supervisors are over worked as they are lucky to be on site for 30 minutes a week. This missing many key items in the build. Day of handover, they were running new… Read more
circuits as they roughed in for gas hot plates, even though there were no gas to the house/ all electric house .
They use third party company to do defects and has been a year and defects still not all closed out . I took days of work to let trades in and they don’t show or come at 3:30 pm ( when I said that has to be between 7-3 as I have school pick that day) the defects are very poorly done , better to do them myself!!
Overall quality of build is good but if I wasn’t there daily to micro manage site I don’t think it would have been.
The worst was that they ran copper for gas when we are all electric house!!
Issue with solar hot water not even year old .
Differently not a regional builder, don’t have trade base in regional Victoria. Look around at different builders especially if buildings in regional Victoria.Better value for money!!
Henley way better ( previous builder I built with)
[Name Removed]: The best sales representative for first home buyers – [Name Removed] from Porter Davis Homes held my hand and helped me take each step during my first home journey with utmost care and precision. Since I am a first home buyer with no knowledge about the industry she made the time to educate me first rather than blindly persuading me to make a sale. Once I was equipped with the basic knowledge about… Read more
the industry, she helped me make wise decisions about the house that best suits my needs. She took up my dream home project like her very own and spent hours on it to make sure every window, every tap and every minute detail was quoted perfectly. She also went out of her way to take up zoom calls with my family back in India to walk them through the build details. Right from the first call we had till date [Name Removed] never gave up on my vastu requirements and rather helped accomodate 100% of my needs. I whole heartedly thank you for being part of my first home journey [Name Removed]. Can’t wait for the build to commence!
Positive reviews
Super sad to see such a great builder go down :( – I have built the Liverpool with Porter Davis homes and I can only say, the quality and the built experience have been superb. I feel terribly sorry and those that have been affected by such a shocking exit from the construction area. I very much hope that somehow, all the homes that were on the pipeline will be built and the Victorian State… Read more
Government steps in to help those affected Aussies who worked so super hard to start a family :(. I was on the horizon to build again with Porter Davis Home and unfortunately now, I will wait to see what the future brings!
Awesome service! – Constantly had a monthly update regarding the build of the house. When it come to hand over with any concerns I had I got a call/email within a couple of hours. Customer service especially from Belinda has been nothing but great! Super happy with the end result and the aftercare! Show details
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Sales consultant of the year! – [Name Removed] has been such a fantastic sales consultant truly for the client as well as upholding and respecting Porter Davis values and integrity! [Name Removed] has professionalism beyond words and extremely knowledgeable in all aspects and offers super clear and practical advice, answers and solutions. He himself has put his own personal… Read more
interests into action with Porter Davis by building with them himself, I have yet to see this with anyone else from any other company out there! Because of his overall focus on us and the integrity of Porter Davis we will be building with Porter Davis and also building our investment portfolio with Porter Davis.
Negative reviews
2 years on, still waiting for fixes – It's been almosy 2 years since my town house was built. Porter Davis has installed the wrong tiles in both the ensuite and Bathroom as well as a very poor paint job around all cornices and skirting boards. This was raised pre handover and raised instantly after moving in. Not a single person is willing to take responsibility for the error and… Read more
both my bathrooms like look a child hand cut tiles and slapped them on the wall.
If you're hoping for any sort of accountability and maintenance post handover you're in for a shock.
Horrible after service – I built my house years ago which was rendered the wrong colour, flooded twice straight after moving in, has had water leaks in the two spare bedrooms, bathroom and entry area. The weatherboards have been installed incorrectly so they are all cracked. I am still fighting with them after 6 years to fix the defects. I have always said I would never… Read more
build with Porter Davis again after all of the issues, whilst it is true i would never build with them it isnt because of the build issues because mistakes do happen, it is because of the after service. I have sent email upon email for years and get ignored. No one in the office will get back to you. They leave the work half done, expect you to use a LOT of annual leave, and my personal favorite is when you think youve scheduled a job to be completed, then the trade comes out to "assess" the works.. that have been assessed. PD have gone through 4 maintenance contractors in 5 years!
Avoid them at all cost – I signed a contract with them for a house and land package in March 2021, lots of delays, they provide No updates. I mailed them several times they don’t respond to emails.Not forgetting the misleading advertisement about completion dates and time frames , when I bought with them and signed contract they said it will be completed by 3rd quarter… Read more
2022. Now we are in January 2023 still no site start of updates. Misleading time frames and poor completion according to promised time frame, plus poor communication and updates. During the whole process.
Extremely poor performance from PD
Recent reviews
beautiful home in the making – Porter Davis has been a joy to work with. We made our choice from one of their displays and are excited with every step we take. Although the process is taking longer than was expected, this is a brilliant way to build a beautiful home. Staff have all been lovely. The choices are clear. The worksite is clean and managed very well! Although… Read more · 2
it is frustrating to see days when there is nobody working on the site, I realise that mine is not the only Porter Davis house being built and need to employ a little more patience.
Happy to take your money but will find any excuse to not fix your defects – Property was handed over in May 2021. Jan 2023 - I’m still waiting to have trades come and fix things. Walls are out of plumb, the walls are not the colour on the finishing schedule and none of the painters Porter Davis have sent to the property have been able to identify what is actually on the walls. Towel rails and and laundry cabinet on… Read more
finishing schedule are not what’s installed. Hammer marks and pain under the varnish on the stairs. Cracks in the cornice, squeaky floors and structural issues in the floor possi’s. Concrete and expander foam all over the exposed agg pathways, to make things worse the trade assigned to fix it just sealed over the top of it. The porter Davis rep suggested I get a screw driver and scrub this off - it’s their defect to fix not mine. Exterior is different colours on the ground and first floor and the Porter Davis rep that has been to site to discuss has not actioned anything he said he would - just made more excuses. Beyond disappointed at the defects and using the excuse of no trades due to covid is a joke as they have no drama starting new builds and taking more money from unaware customers. They will sell you at the start and leave you high and dry when it works for them. Would never ever recommend you build with these guys, Don’t be fooled by the smoke and mirrors in the sales office as that is not what you will get on your property.
Hi Emily, We're sorry to see this review. So… Read more (+1 reply)
- +7
$600K for a tent – I paid $600K for a house which started dripping water from the roof in all rooms after the storm. The house is just 2 years old! No idea what could happen after 5 years. Very disappointing when you pay this much for such a house. I had to remove many bulbs as they are full of water. This is on top of many non compliant issues I keep finding… Read more
whenever I hire a builder or technician to do some upgrade. Be very careful when you buy from Porter Davis and inspect the hidden things such as the attic and waterproofing. It seems that they care about the obvious things and ignore things which can't be inspected. Update: I checked with 6 neighbours and 3 of them have the same issue and their houses are built by Porter Davis at the same time of mine. The other 3 are built by othet builders and none of them had water leak issue! All 7 houses' roofs are tiles.
Hi Hussam We're very sorry to see this review.… Read more (+1 reply)
Avoid PDH At All Costs – Simple avoid PDH. Nothing seems to happen and the build sits in limbo exposed to weather. All started when the initially agreed site start was shifted from May to August. The explanation was that the construction manager who was there at that time has left PDH and now we can't honor what he has agreed on which written on paper. To get that… Read more
answer we had to wait 3 weeks. Then had wrong engineering which was only figured out during truss manufacturing where the trusses over the garage protruding above the parapet wall. PDH took weeks to figure out a solution, then another good few weeks install battens over the loose rafters which was installed to fix the issue. Plus taking another good six weeks plus just to fix two minor wall overhang issues. However, PDH was so keen on getting the payments settles, even before the building surveyor's initial visit for frame stage the invoice was issued.
If you accidentally walk into a display home just walk through but as soon as the sales guys ask "hi! how may I help you?". Don't even look back just run. If you get trapped in PDH unrealistic sales pitches then your build journey will be agonizingly miserable and stressful.
Customercare, please don't bother replying with the generic reply. I've already sent a mail back in DEC for our build. The aim of this is to share our real experiences as the reviews in Product Review back then about PDH contributed us selecting PDH for our build.
Build with them if you have 1 and half years to spare – June 2021 _ deposit paid September 2021_ tender December 2021_ colours appointment Jan 2022_ land titles April 2022 _ construction commences May 2022_ slab Wait for timber Sep 2022_ frame completed Wait for brick Jan 2023_ lock stage still not completed. Problem is that they have put single team of people on 20 different projects. Please donot… Read more
sign up with them as there is a huge backlog. I can see that Metricon has been slow, but now they are way ahead in their build. Dennis family has been delivering homes quickly as well.
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best house on the street and after care team – We build our 1st home vancouver 29 in 2017, best facade on the street, people actually knock on my door many times to ask about the builder. Had few teething issues over the time but porter davis team was very helpful and caring in resolving those issues. Highly recommend Porter Davis !! Show details · 1
I wish I could go back and not deposit – I am going too keep it really short. We were sold a fantasy timeline, build has defects but worst of all no communication from our PD contact at all. We are losing thousands in interest and no site of a completion date. It was a mistake and probably the worst decision I have ever made to go with Porter Davis. Other builders have started after us in the same area and completed bigger homes to what looks like an amazing standard. Show details
Terrible Company to Built with – Don’t build with Porter Davis there is no after care been 2 years no one came to do even first warranty checks and Shower been stripped out due to quality of work and 3 months still waiting to screens installed . If u rang them u will hear same lies everyday. Show details
Stay away from Porter Davis Homes – I have been holding on from sharing my views for sometime now. We're almost at the end of our building stage (waldorf 44) without any clear indication of when the house will be completed. The entire journey has been very stressful and agonising. It has not only caused financial pain but also mental strains that cannot be seen and the damage that… Read more
cannot be repaired. We have reached out to the highest position in Porterdavis but, to no avail. If we have our time back, we will never sign up with Porterdavis. All I can say if you're on the fence deciding whether to go with Porterdavis, think again and make a decision that's best for your family and well-being.
Hi Pholit, We're very sorry to read this… Read more (+1 reply)
Amazing build team, worth delays and perseverance – In a world where customer service seems to be a dying art, I truly believe Porter Davis tries to hire the best. We have been on almost a 3 year journey with them and would do it all again… with some considerations. We began our journey with [Name Removed] who not only had unbelievable knowledge of the Porter Davis range, he knows how families… Read more · 1
live, how to cut dead space and is incredibly responsive. If it had not been for his expertise we would have chosen Boutique homes.
I would love to say we enjoyed our experience with world of style however we did not “vibe” with our consultant so chose to obtain design assistance externally who helped us achieve a hamptons look within the Porter Davis range which is no mean feat given product shortages.
We were then handed over to building coordinator number 1… now Porter Davis if you’re reading this..LIFT YOUR GAME. This is the only link of the chain where PD let themselves down. We waited weeks on responses back from building coordinator 1, 2 and 3 and sometimes with factually incorrect information. This wasn’t our first rodeo so I was able to challenge some decisions, escalate and ultimately not accept the initial outcomes in certain situations, ie obtaining permits for trees on neighbouring properties and additional retaining walls not required.
Fortunately PD redeem themselves in the building department. Like many who began their journey in 2019 we were affected heavily by covid. Once we broke ground there were significant delays with laying slabs and getting a frame up however our first building supervisor [Name Removed] kept us informed along the way so we weren’t sitting waiting, he also assisted numerous times getting responses back from building coordinators and liaising with external companies for our pool. It’s clear [Name Removed] is meticulous in what he does because he was promoted to regional manager and we’ll deserved, his trades people are impeccable. We were then warmly handed over to [Name Removed] (we were never warmly handed over to new building coordinators). [Name Removed] has been the absolute highlight of our journey, he has an incredible eye for detail, is honest and has wonderful communication skills. The home we have been delivered by [Name Removed] and [Name Removed] had minimal defects and the minor issues that we or they pointed out were resolved quickly. We now have an incredible new home we can’t wait to show off to friends and family.
Amazing house – Started my build with Porter Davis in 2021. Although the road was a little long due to material delays and a shortage of tradespeople, Porter Davis were always fantastic with their communication as to what was happening. That being said, it was worth the wait. I couldn't be more happy with the work they have done, extremely high quality throughout. I would personally recommend using Porter Davis to build your new home where possible. Show details · 1
Great service – Purchasing my first house alone I thought the process would be daunting and challenging but [Name Removed] the Team Leader/Sales Specialist at Porter Davis has been so helpful along the way. Communicating and providing updates and assurances all the way. As a first home buyer I would highly recommend Porter Davis Show details · 1
Great customer service and a gorgeous house- Very Happy – We are fortunate to have Porter Davis team to build our first dream home. We explored many builders and luckily Porter Davis has amazing features, floor plans and interior designs. Starting from our Sales consultant [Name Removed], all staff is very professional, knowledgeable they guided us through everything, their colour selection at World of… Read more · 1
Style was the best part as I got to choose different features for my house. My colour selection consultant was very polite and professional and made everything very easy for us to pick and suggested some nice inspirations for our dream home. Thank you Porter Davis
Repeat customer - Same satisfaction – This was our second building project with Porter Davis. This time is a townhouse for our investment. The townhouse packages that Porter Davis offers are generous, well-equipped and of high standards for a turn-key package offer. The package well-suited for investors and for first-home-owners. The built went very smooth with only minor delay and… Read more · 1
handover process was a breeze. It's been another great experience for us building with Porter Davis. We would recommend them to anyone who wants an enjoyable house building experience with very high quality outcome at the end!
Exceeded Expectations – We had a delayed start for our Mont Albert Grange which was beyond everyone's control but things have picked up really well since then. The whole team has been professional and providing prompt responses to queries. Special mention to our Site Manager/Supervisor who has been very thorough, professional and has provided regular updates. He has… Read more
certainly exceeded my expectations. Our surveyor was also impressed with the quality of the product. Looking forward to the final stage. Great job team!! Khalid
Great service and fast build so far – [Name Removed] has been great in the pre-site process. Always quick to answer any questions we have, always friendly and enthusiastic about the process. The build so far has happened really quickly, seeing the land go from a slab to a house has been really exciting. We are currently still in the building process but so far we are very happy with it and the team. Show details
Porter Davis Built 2 Homes -Site Supervisor & Customer Project Manage & quality Of Home are amazing – We have now completed two Homes with PD & to be honest they are so professional . We had no stress they took on all the burden ( the hard part was to make sure we knew what we wanted ) PD is a well oiled Machine with loyal professional staff that went beyond Customer Care & support . the Home is beautiful , the quality & workmanship is great ( When we had issues they rectified it straight away with questions - ) Show details
Terrible attitude Zero Customer Service – From day one and all the way through (Slab Not Even Down yet) Worst experience, from the people in the display suite, to the people at Port Melbourne, to the Project Manager, the onsite manager and area/regional manager. No one ever gets back to you or returns your calls or emails. Having to follow up all the time, with no reply. Found many… Read more
"mistakes" on the plans, things not agreed on. Also costs are all over the place no one can tell you at anytime what the cost of your build is. Absolutely gutted, overwhelmed and stressed, there is no clear complaint process or major grievance process. everything is swept under the Carpet and no one is ever accountable for their actions. I warn off everyone that is considering these guys to build with. At one point i was even threatened that because i was "keeping them honest on their toes that they would be happy to give me my money back as i am too hard to deal with. let me translate this for you, that means that i was actually being a customer fighting for my rights. When asked they where not willing to compensate me for the interest on my land Loan or any other out of pocket expenses, including loss of income from potential rent on the old dwelling, prior to demolition.
Hi Bill, We are concerned to read this review… Read more (+1 reply)
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