Rawson Acacia Mk II build - North Kellyville

Hi all,

I've mentioned this in other threads (here and here) but thought I'd start my own thread.

As per the title, my wife and I are building the Acacia MkII with Rawson. I'll be making an effort to keep it gripe free (I think it's very easy to fall into that trap) and if I can I'll offer up things that I've learnt (from all over the place, including these fine forums) on the way

Oh - I gots a blog too

On Tapatalk so can't see your signature currently. What stage are you at?

We are still in the pre-build stages. Had the plan presentation last week.

Blog is at http://ablogaboutafamily.blogspot.com

Congrats loop on your process so far. We had Rachel too and she was really great, always got back to us the same day and was spot on with timeframes etc.

I think you've made some nice changes, especially removing that pillar between the doors opening on the alfresco.

We found Ron really good at going through the plans too but we did miss one door that will be a little shorter than the others.

Lastly instead of doing the polished concrete for the alfresco have you had a look at some of the polished concrete look pavers and tiles? Don't think I saw them at Rawson's supplier but have seen them somewhere in my travels - they mightn't end up any cheaper but may be easier to arrange. I think its a good match to your bricks as well.

When are you expecting your next lot of plans?

Thanks for the tip regarding the pavers - hadn't heard of them, so will keep them in mind.

Next plans should be arriving either late next week or early the week after - we don't have a tight timeframe so the stresses others have faced are less so for us.

Read through the blog, your house will look great. Awaiting to see your internal colours when you get to that point.

Been a while between updates, I know!

Apart from waiting for the developer to finish building our street, we've just had our colour/interior, electrical and interior tile selection appointments. They were an awful lot to cram into two days, that's for sure. We came away with not too much in extra costs - electrical was a shade over $2K, tiles under $1K. Now we are debating whether to upgrade to a freestanding bath

Tiling went well, done in about two hours, and the next 45 minutes was spent waiting for the bloke to finish the paperwork - at which point he comes and tells us that the floor tiles we had chosen are discontinued, so we have to go back next Saturday!

The developer has also advised us that he'll be letting builders on site to do soil tests and contours by appointment, so next this is to query our Pre-Construction Admin and see if she's done that yet

Still very happy with Rawson so far.

Well, we've finally completed all our variations and picked a tile! Rawson sent us the contract on Friday last week so that has been signed and sent back on Tuesday.

Looks like we'll have an agreed start date of 10th of October!

Congrats loop. Look forward to hearing of your progess.

Congratulations loop!

A start date of October 10th, you must be really pleased. That must make you one of the first people in Stage 2/3 to get started. Good luck and I will look forward to following your progress in your blog.

All the best with your build loop. Really like the Acacia, it was on our short-list too. Noticed you went Surfmist garage door. We picked this too. Was a bit worried after making selection and remember thinking we should have gone wood lock merbau but our garage door went on a few weeks back and couldn't be happier with how it turned out.

Look forward to reading on your progress!

Thanks!

Funny thing is that we originally went with Surfmist, but we changed it at the colour appointment to Merbau timber-look

So a brief update!

Slab went down in December, about the week before Christmas, and already the frames and trusses are up. The site supervisor tells us that the brickies are booked for either the last week of January or the first week of February.

A whole flurry of action after a long period of silence!

Congrats loop. Its a great feeling to see it all take shape. I remember being so excited at that stage but measuring every opening and room size thinking it was too small and they'd got it wrong. It was just me though and it all worked out great.

Your blogging is about as regular as mine was - I want to see some pics!

Hehe, yeah, we sneaked in and walked around a bit and thought it was all a bit small, but its difficult to get the full picture with no linings on the walls.

I'll post some pics real soon

Wow - I didn't realise that it had been so long since I posted ... or blogged!

I'll do a brief summary here and post more comprehensively (and add some pics) on the blog

We've really had no major hold-ups or interruptions once the actual build commenced (slab went down in in December)

Our site supervisor has been great, calling regularly to report on progress and scheduling.

We did pick up a couple of things during the walk-through (before the gyprock went up), such as the kitchen island being 200mm closer to the benches than the design and a gas pipe standing proud of the bricks and quite frankly looking ugly (not vertical)

As of today, we are essentially at lock-up stage with the walls and doors, architraves, window sills, kitchen and laundry cabinetry all installed. The tiles are going down today so it's only that, the carpets and paint before we take possession of our new home!

Then comes the task of arranging turf, washing line and a letterbox and the major appliances before we can start moving in!