Upgraded Carpet

Thanks to commenter, Sam, who suggested we ask at final contract signing about the cost of upgrading the carpet. We did so, and were told that to upgrade from 'Impressions' to 'Superior' (I think) was about $500 and to go up to 'Designer' was about $1000. This is for approximately 100m2 of carpeted areas in the Drysdale 30.

HOWEVER, Porter Davis being Porter Davis - what one staff member says is soon contradicted by another staff member. We raced back to Hopetoun Interiors to choose a different, better quality carpet. But we were immediately told that the Impressions, Superior and Designer ranges no longer exist! At Hopetoun, of course, they could not provide us with any quotes. Their carpet choices are separated into 5 or 6 categories, so we figured we were safe if we upgraded to a Category 2. Side note - we spent about 2 hours just staring at carpet, unable to decide between about 3 similar choices!! Very frustrating!

We were shocked, then, to find that when we emailed our new choice to our Building Coordinator asking for a quote for the upgrade, to be told that it would cost over $2000! That was just for Category 2. Fortunately for us (but not necessarily for anyone else reading this), they said they would offer the upgrade to us based on the incorrect 'quote' we were given based on the now non-existent Superior range when we were at final contract signing.

SO... Lesson for you building with Porter Davis or thinking about it - Upgrading your carpet through PD probably WILL be expensive! See a previous blog post where we compared a quote we had from a flooring store to the PD flooring package. As an updated summary:

• The flooring package through PD is NOW about $8,200. This provides Bolero laminate flooring and category 1 carpet;
• To upgrade 100m2 of carpet through PD is NOW about $2000, which would take the total to $10,200.
• To upgrade from laminate to Timbertop floorboards is a significant cost - sorry I can't be more specific.
• To get 100m2 of vinyl floor planks which were beautiful, including with decorative edgings AND 100m2 of fairly 'cushy' carpet AND very fat underlay, through a flooring store was going to cost about $12,000.

Conclusion? If you want decent carpets and floors and have a little more money to spend, you're probably best NOT using PD but getting your floors after the build.

Fortunately for us it did work out pretty well. So thanks again, Sam.