KDR - Rawson Balmoral (Modified) Sydney NSW

Have never seen it done like at on any of the Metricon buikd before.

We engaged a structural engineer to carry out a slab pre-pour inspection. I'm a mechanical engineer myself and accompanied the structural engineer on the pre-pour inspection. In both our opinions the guys from Nicsons Concrete were doing a good job, but the inspection was some 4 or 5 hours prior to the formwork being completed so we couldn't check some of the formwork that was still to be completed.

I've since done a post-pour inspection and raised the following items to Rawson to check/rectify...

1. At the back of the Alfresco area the lower layer of reinforcing steel seems to have shifted down during the pour and is protruding outside of the slab



2. The termite collar for the shower room vanity drain pipe is protruding from the side of the slab



3. The step down to the porch at one area adjacent to bedroom 5 seems to be about 250mm out of place



4. The right hand corner of the porch should have a rebate for the brick work to extend upwards, similar to what was done for the Alfresco



5. The rebates for the Alfresco stacker doors need to extend to meet at the corner.



6. The rebate at the corner of the Alfresco to allow the brickwork to extend upwards at the corner is a bit longer than necessary. I measured it at about 890mm long but the brick work is only 710mm long. Also, the foam blocks under the Alfresco floor level have shifted during the pour producing crooked concrete lines.



7. There is a short section of external wall that is in line with the step down for the rear workshop wall. The way the slab has been set out in this area there will be no cavity between the bricks and the internal frame for the first 2 brick courses in the edgebeam rebate. I'm curious if this might create a dampness problem and how the termite barrier and damp course will be arranged here.



8. There is a wet area earthing detail in the engineering plans but I can't see that it's been installed in the shower room or laundry.

Hi Rob, the timber roof trusses have been installed and the brickwork has been completed. I am expecting this week Fascia gutter installation should be completed and aiming to complete the Roof tiles next week. I couldnt visit my site in past, I have plans to visit this Saturday and will post the updates with photos afterwards.

Week 6 Construction
This week the external drainage works were mostly completed. This included the downpipe & surface drainage pipework at the sides and rear, the absorption trench and the connection to the sewer main. The front pipework is to be completed later so it does not get damaged.

It took a bit longer than expected due to encountering a lot of rock in the backyard

Also, made more difficult by some more unwelcome wet weather..
Saturday 8/8/20, 22mm of rain
Sunday 9/8/20, 3mm of rain
Monday 10/8/20, 39mm of rain
Tuesday 11/8/20, 3mm of rain















Quality control inspector on the job, eagerly checking out the backyard and slab of her new doghouse...

Week 7 Construction
The steady progress continued this week...

• Termite perimeter barrier installed
• Ground floor frame delivered
• Frame hardware delivered
• Floor joists delivered
• Steel delivered
• Windows delivered
• Frame carpenter commenced installing the ground floor frames

Week 8 Construction
Lot's of activity on site this week...

• Frame carpenters continued installing the ground floor frames
• Frame carpenters also commenced installing the floor joists
• First floor perimeter safety rail installed
• Stair void fall protection installed
• Concreters returned to fix the the slab defects (more on that later...)

There's quite a number of steel columns and beams in the house structure. The largest beam weighs 1.25 tonnes and the crane couldn't reach to the back of the house to lift it into position so a different crane had to be brought to site a couple of days later. Another of the beams was found to have some connection bolt holes drilled in the wrong location which was corrected on site by welding the connecting beams into position.

Hi Rob, progress seems good. Who did identify the issue with wrong bolting ?.. Was it the independent inspection or the Site Supervisor itself ?

Hi Vin, The bolting issue was found by the contractor putting up the frame. It looks to be an error by the steel detailer/fabricator. The bolt holes were only about 45 to 50mm out of position but it would not have been possible to put up these steel beams with that misalignment.

Week 9 Construction
A bit slow this week...

• Frame carpenters continued their works
• First floor frame delivered and partly installed
• Replacement steel beam and post were delivered.

There was no work done the second half of the week... the frame carpenters could go no further until a replacement steel beam and post was delivered at the end of the week. The new beam and post was required to work around an error in the slab pour.

Week 10 Construction
More steady progress...

• Frame installation completed
• Windows installed
• External door frames installed
• Roof trusses delivered and craned onto the first floor
• Perimeter rail removed

The street gets a bit congested when craning in the deliveries...

Week 11 Construction
Lot's of progress this week...

• Plumbing rough in was started
• 2 loads of bricks were delivered
• First load of brickies sand was delivered
• Brickies hardware delivered
• Lintels delivered
• Repairs carried out to the perimeter termite barrier
• Bricklayer started the brickworks

We chose a brick with considerable variation between bricks... light/dark and also with differing firing marks from the kiln. We hope it'll look great, but the colour variation needs to be mixed up... the manufacturer calls this blending and recommends that this is done during laying. The advised method is to select bricks from down and across three to six open packs to ensure an even colour distribution across the surface. We raised this with the SS when the pallets were delivered as you could see quite a difference in colour between the packs, some lighter and some much darker. The SS got straight on to the bricklayers and the guys from King Kong Bricklaying have done a great job so far in blending and laying the bricks.

Week 12 Construction
All week just very steady progress with brickworks...






On a less positive note, we found significant damage was done to our favourite street tree, most likely from one of the brick deliveries. There are broken branches on the ground, in the site bin and even more broken branches still hanging down in the tree canopy. This is one of four trees that are covered by a specific Council tree protection order. We're a bit disappointed about this, it's just completely unnecessary carelessness...

Week 13 & 14 Construction
Lot's of actual progress but not a lot of visual progress, except for the scaffolding, mainly just lots of bricklaying...

• Scaffolding installed
• First floor steel installed
• and bricks, bricks, and more bricks

We noticed that one of the brick walls seemed to be misaligned with an upstairs window by about about 2 or 3 inches. Fortunately we noticed this early and when we notified the SS he had the bricklayers take out some of the bricks to adjust the length of the wall so it aligns properly with the window...

Week 15 to 19 Construction
Almost 6 weeks of brickwork, it went on for so long that I almost lost interest. Then the roof trusses finally went up, well most of them, there was a mistake with the roof trusses for the front right corner so there was a delay while new ones were manufactured. Finally, the fascia and gutters were installed.

Week 20 & 21 Construction
Lot's of progress over the last 2 weeks, we now have the top floor roof installed and the place is feeling a lot more like a house...

• Upper storey roof battens installed
• Upper storey colourbond roof installed
• Solar panels installed
• Frame carpenter returned to install niche in ensuite which was mistakenly omitted when the frames were manufactured.
• Floor joist under main bathroom relocated to avoid clash with plumbing
• Plumber returned to complete plumbing rough in
• Point of attachment and internal cables installed for overhead electrical supply

robw17 : great progress! Do you get a structural engineer or an IBI to complete a site inspection at every stage? From most of your posts, looks like you've identified many of the problems with the build.

I'm planning to start building my first new home soon, so trying to get an idea of what its like.

Like Hispeed. Also, keen to know how the exposed plumbing and reinforcing was fixed in the slab. In my case, i was like a hawk every day during the slab, site prep, augering and bulk filling filling piers, reinforcing, formwork etc. I was actually present during the pour, so was happy to see the reinforcing being lifted in each section as the concrete was pumped. I was overly involved to say the least, as all these companies purport themselves to be turnkey, certified, regulated etc.
this sadly is not the case as others will agree, and i'm not sure independant builders can actually force these companies to rectify and amend issues as was my experience.

I had a structural engineer carry out a slab prepour inspection and I have engaged a building inspector (Howard Ryan) to do the usual stage inspections. I'm a mechanical engineer myself and also try to keep a close eye on things. I've seen other people building in our area who haven't inspected anything until ready for handover... by then it's too late to see much of what should have been looked at. The cost of an independant building inspector is only a small fraction of the cost of the build.

There have been a few more problems than what I have disclosed. Not all have been rectified yet and perhaps if we weren't keeping such a close eye on things maybe some might have been missed. In my view some of them should not have happened but so far Rawson have been reasonably good at addressing them and that's the best you can really hope for. When I have more time I'll consolidate them into a defect list so we don't forget any of them and to keep track of the status.

Week 22 & 23 Construction
More good progress for the last 2 weeks. There seems to be a bit of a push to get the upper storey work finished so the scaffolding can start coming down before XMAS...

• Feature column at front facade rendered
• Upper storey eaves installed
• Upper storey colourbond flashings installed
• Upper storey cladding installed
• Upper storey timber work around windows installed
• Upper storey brickwork cleaned
• Upper storey cavity sliding door frames installed
• Frames straightened

Unfortunately the ceiling/eaves for the front balcony didn't get done the way we requested so there was an argument about it for part of last week. A resolution seems to have been reached that involves reinstalling the eave sheets to eliminate a myriad of unsightly joints. The roof was supposed to be extended over the front balcony like this (which we copied from a previous Rawson customer), and we were going to fit a timber inlay in the recessed ceiling area...


Instead, the eave sheeting was extended back to the front wall like this, which will be a cleaner look, but we won't be able to have the timber inlay because there's no recessed ceiling...


Also, our favourite street tree was significantly damaged again (for about the fourth time). Another major limb torn off and tossed in the site bin by a careless delivery driver. Unfortunately it doesn't seem that Rawson can do much to prevent it happening.