Rawson Seaview 36 - Schofields

Hello Fellows,

I have signed up with Rawson homes to construct Seaview 36 in Schofields area and due for my tender presentation in next two weeks.

Wanted to check your thoughts what all I should be careful about while attending the Tender presentation. I have selected the 50K worth of upgrades package that includes Centralised AC, Upgraded Bathrooms (Mains and En suite), Upgraded kitchen with appliances.

On top of it I have selected the higher ceiling (prestige Option), , Luxury flooring, Prestige Safety and Driveway. Since, I have plan to perform the decking in Alfresco thus not opting for the Tiles in it and to save the cost. I am budget shopper and wanted to go for laminated throughout common areas and Kitchen and rest carpet thus though Luxury flooring is better as there is no tiling available in it.My total have already come to $450K where I have only kept provision for Butlers pantry and Fly screen.

I have done structural change in my house design where I have flipped complete rear half the ground floor but not sure what will be the commercial impact as that will be shared with me during the tender presentation.

Was looking for your inputs based on your experience with Rawson and if specifically you have also made Seaview what additional I should be provision to manage any cost rise surprise later.

Thanks

Continuing my thread of build. To control the costs, I decided to move forward with Seaview31 with trend facade design which was one version lower than Seaview36.
I attended my tender presentation with Gerry at Rawson office on 23rd Jan 2020. The meeting went really well, where Gerry explained each and every component really well from tender. One of thing which I realized that at times calculations provided from Rawson had little discrepancies in it. I got to know about that after accepting the tender. I raised that point to Gerry and I have been told that it will be taken care during plan presentation as credit note.
So, its worth calculating all the costs upfront to prevent any such situation. Since, this is House and Land package I am going with Rawson, so I had to sign the contract 1st inorder to move for Plan presentation which will further developed for DA/ CDC application.
I signed the contract on 7th Feb and now booked for my plan presentation for 25th Feb and I am eagerly waiting for it.
My entire focus is to have the plans reviewed and signed-off to as early as possible so the application can be ready to submit to council.

Current State:
1st deposit done to Rawson for Land and Home package - 10th Dec 2019
Tender presentation - 23rd Jan 2020
House contract signed on 7th Feb 2020
land registration due on 19th Feb 2020
Plan Presentation and Exterior selection - 25th Feb 2020
Final House Drawing signed - 01st Mar 2020
Electrical Plan Signed - 01st Mar 2020
Internal Appointment completed (Awaiting variation list)
Application Submission to DA - 15th Apr 2020
Construction Certificate submitted to DA - 17th Apr 2020
Approval received from DA - 01-May-2020
Tiles Selection - 17th Apr 2020
Construction Commenced - 29th May 2020
Slab Pour completed - 05th June 2020
Frames Completed - 02nd July 2020
Brick layer - Work in progress
Pre-lining inspection - Yet to plan

Hi Vin, we had our tender presentation just last week with Gerry as well, and mostly everything is as expected but there was one item that I am not sure is required and wondering if you had a similar experience since we are both under Blacktown council (we're in Colebee)
- Provide Statement of Environmental Effects (SOEE) - $1,320

We are building a Kingston 31. Gerry said this was because our double garage is only 5.4m wide and council require it to be 5.6m wide. Which I couldn't find anywhere in the development control plans. I compared this with my uncle's house also in Colebee and his garage is only 5.3m wide and didn't see anything in his tender about it being non-compliant. Hopefully you don't have the same issue.

Hi Jedi, its good to hear that someone of the same journey as I am. Kingston31 is really good design and i looking forward to see how your designs take place.

I didn't find this clause in my tender, probably cause my garage is 5.6 meter in total with 4.8 meter opening to it. Another reason could be that my site costs are fixed so they may have factored everything in it.

Have you accepted the tender yet, as I understand that this would be the last time you can do negotiation with them. Do share what inclusions you going on with. I have choose Your Home Your choice option with couple of custom upgrades in it.

So, finally after wait of 4 weeks, I attended my Plan presentation at Rawson Homes Rhodes office. Rebecca was our presenter and she was quite good. She provided a structured and methodical walk through of overall house starting from external structures then ground floor and followed with First Floor. Post that we did discussed, around Doors and Windows.

During the plan presentation, the major variations I gone through with:
1. Entrance Door color upgrade
2 .Placement of pool and if any additional piering required
3. Changed one wide and tall window into Sliding door
4. Recess to sil for stacker door in Alfresco
5. Addition of Window splash back to Kitchen and Butler Pantry
6. Added Door for under stair storage
7. Gone for bigger windows into Master bedroom.
8. Selection of windows that needs to have obscure and clear
9. Placement and model selection of the fireplace

Now, I have to wait until next week when the variation list with pricing will come. Post confirming the same, Rawson will progress with drafting the design.

After plan presentation, my exterior color selection was also done. Since most of the items I already agreed at PGH bricks, so only timber items was remaining. Exterior selection meeting wrapped up like with in 30 mins.

I am hoping that the variations I have requested should remain in the budget I have provisioned. Will post how the variation come back .

Last week on Friday, I received the variation list from Rawson for the changes I requested. I am quite Ok with the values they proposed for the variations. Details below:

Provide Element 1200 natural gas fireplace to Family Room as per Real Flame quote $10,815
- Approximately 600mm (H) x 1420mm (W) x 625mm (D) framed and plasterboard box
surround to suit; and
- Relocating standard internal gas bayonet to suit

Drafting Note: Provide service free area on site plan for pool by owner prior to construction Note
approximately 11,000mm (L) x 39000mm (W) and approximately 2000mm (L) from dwelling
and 1500mm (W) from the left hand side boundary, max depth 1950mm.

Provide approximately 2150mm (H) x 870mm (W) square set opening in lieu of one x -$290
2340mm (H) x 820mm (W) flush panel hinged door to Pantry

Provide one x aluminium sliding door (ASD2321SP) in lieu of one x (ASW2121TSP) window $285
to front elevation of Bedroom 5

Provide one x aluminium fixed feature splashback window (AFW686H x 2650W-SP) in lieu of $1,980
tiled splashback to Kitchen cooktop run

Provide one x aluminium sliding window (ASW0618SP) with approximately 900mm $260
(H) sill height in lieu of standard range facebrick to Pantry

Provide standard range facebrick in lieu of one x aluminium fixed window (AFW2014SP) to -$315
Rumpus/Theatre.

Provide recessed sill to one x aluminium stacker door (AST2333SP) to Kitchen $150

Provide recessed sill to one x aluminium stacker door (AST2326) to Family Room $150

Provide one x aluminium sliding window (ASW0918) in lieu of one x (ASW0618) window to $35
Bedroom 4

Provide standard range facebrick in lieu of one x aluminium fixed window (AFW0318SP) to -$130
Bedroom 1 Ensuite.

Provide one x aluminium sliding window (ASW1824T) to side elevation of Bedroom 1 in lieu $345
of one x (ASW1218) window to rear elevation of Bedroom 1

Nylon Mesh Flyscreens' Provide corrosion-resistant $860
aluminium mesh screens to Alfresco stacker doors in lieu of previous upgrade


Delete two x 720mm (W) flush panel hinge doors to Laundry Linen cupboard. -$580


Provide three x 2340mm (H) x 650mm (W) flush panel hinged doors to Pantry shelves. $870


Provide one x 720mm (W) flush panel hinged door to Dining Room to allow for under stair $250
storage.


There were quite a few other variations which I didnt opted for i.e. recessed wet areas for Ground Floor and First Floor as that looked like over kill to me. Now the file is with the Drafting team and I assuming it may take 10 more days for them to come back with revised plans to me for Sign-off.

Looking forward to have the same ready asap so can clear this stage for the purpose of application submission to CDC. Also, until my revised plan signed off, I am not going to get the appointments for internal and electrical.

Borehole Report and Certificate 149 has also come so seems like progress is happening. Only frustrating thing is that it is too slow for now. Will post again as soon I get the drawings available from them.

Hi Vin, have you considered having a garage door or even just a double glass door opening to the rear of the garage? That way you can get direct access from the garage straight into your backyard, which can make life a lot easier. Very good if you need your garage for entertaining/mancave reasons too.

No mate, I havent considered it. Though now it sounds really good idea to checked. I will drop a line to my PCA and seek what cost I should expect. Since, I have very wide lot i.e. 19 Meters, thus have 6 meters of access on one side to backyard, that makes life easy.

Got a call from my PCA at Rawson that drawings are almost ready and will be available by Monday. Eagerly waiting for it, so once its signed off, application can move forward for the CDC.

Also, got booked in for my Colors & Electricals on 6th Apr and Tiles for 17th Apr. So looks like, almost on the end of Pre-Construction.

TO keep the cost down, will focus to select from my standard inclusions only and the promotion I have received.

Does anyone know or can suggest, the Downlights pre-wire, does it include fully operational connection with female plug of downlight, that I only need to cut the ceiling after handover and install the downlight of my choice ?

Also how many downlights can be supported by the dimmer , if any one have idea around it.

Have added details on promotions I have got.

Yeah your pre-wiring will include everything - essentially you just need to install the down light itself. Probably worth having them do the whole thing if you can afford it, as they'd do 90% of the work on it anyway.

Hey Bramha, Actually the cost of DL connection is $65 per connection however a full blown will cost me $138. Thus I was thinking that I wil just get the connection for DL whereever required, and later do ceiling cutout myself and install the downlights.

I may save almost 40% from what I have still provisioned.

Wow, they are charging that much these days? That's some crazy mark up. Definitely save a lot by doing the other end yourself then.

FWIW my provisions holes were cut and they installed quick connects on one light per lighting circuit for tetsing purposes. So out of the 53 D/L in my homes all holes were cut I have about 20 quick connects fitted.

I purchased 35 quick connects ($70) and 55 D/L ($412.50) so say $500. I recall provision being approx what you quoted above so saved approx $3369, and sparky quoted me about $500 to wire in quick connects and fit lights so ultimately a $2800 saving.

ourrawsonbalmoral38 This sounds really good. Since, I already have 20 DLs in my package all what I need to do is to provision 20-30 more DLs. Your guidance really helped me saving money and trouble.

Did you use the same sparky from Rawson, or after handover you took services of another Sparky who installed all the DLs and Quick connects.

I haven't had handover yet hopefully in 4 weeks time that will occur.

I had a few quotations done by a few sparkies off hi pages one guy was great good response time, great price and spent the time to do an itemised quote so i will go with him.

If your roof cavity on 1st floor has plenty of room you dont have to get provisions by rawson. I had to as we had a sloping roof design so bugger all room in the roof cavity once gyprock is on so i couldnt do lighting fans etc after handover.. (I was surprised how much room the AC divertor unit took up and all the ducting also!

Having said that Ive found hi pages to be a waste of time for tiling, fencing, decking and a few other projects!

Thanks for the input dear. I just received email from Rawson Homes that due to COVID-19 restrictions, my internal and electrical appointments have changed from Face to face to Remote session.
I am not sure how effiicient will it go but am going forward to it to ensure that the process shouldnt be delayed due to logistics reason.

Hi,

How did your virtual electrical appointment went? We are close to finalise plan drawings and would be looking for interior colour/electrical/tile appointments soon.
1. Can you clarify more on the idea to cut downlights cost and to do after hand-over. We are building a double storey and heard it will be hard to install downlights ourselves for ground floor after hand over. Any tips here? Rawson charges around $140/downlight.
2. Are virtual appointments as good as face-to-face for all interior selections?

Thank you

Hi Vishwada, yes I gone through with both the appointments and I would say that electrical was fairly easy however, internal appointment was bit tough and if you havent done your homework specially in regards of color selections between Polytech and Stone benchtops you may get confused.

For Electrical.
The appointment was really easy, as they will be running a tool on your remote sharing which shows what your standard connections are and wherever you want to place light, switches, powerpoints and stuff. Recommendation for you to do a rough sketch of yours to place the light and send that in advance to your builder. I asked Rawson to send me my standard plan in advance with full catalogue of items with costs associated. I had 20 Downlights already in my package which I utilized on ground floor, I added 18 additional DL provisioning which costed me $65 per connection to First floor. As per contract it mentions that they dont cut, however, in other post I have been told they generally cut and leave the wiring there which you can later seek assistance form Sparky for Quick connects & LED light installation.
My overall additional expense was around $3500 which includes some expensive Stair case light ($133*4), Fan in Alfresco approx $450 and Extra Circuit for Pool $550).

For Internal
I took Your Home Your choice promotion from Rawson which already included upgraded bathroom, Kitchen, Applicance everything. So I decided on the Benchtop color first and then and visited Ceaserstone showroom in Alexendria to seek inspiration on Color scheme. It was worth visiting there, as they really suggest nicely.
I also visited the Carpet showroom i.e. Ascent carpets in Castle Hill and selected my Timber flloring and Carpets. Thus these elements did not taken much time of mine while selection.

Both the ladies Lisa and Chloe from Rawson was exceptional and went beyond time to ensure we have satisfied with the appointment.

Which design by the way you are building.

So finally, I am done with the Electrical and Internal Appointments with Rawson Homes last week. I believe I was first in the lot at Rawson Homes who had to go through with virtual appointment instead of Face to face due to recent restrictions put by government. It was surely not what my preference was, but I decided to give it a go.

Electrical Appointment:
Chloe from Rawson home was our consultant for Electrical appointment. She was really thorough with her knowledge in Electricals. Prior to the appointment, she sent me standard electrical plan of my house, price of popular items e.g. Power Points, Junction Box, switches etc and Whole catalog of Electricals with pricing.

I used the standard light and started placing Down Lights, Down Light provision, power plugs and other light requirements to the consultant. I must say, the appointment was fairly easy. Our consultant shared the screen with Clipsal tool that had all my original items provisioned and it was like adding removing of the lights , power points, Electrical circuits etc. best part was, you can see live impact of the costs of your decision and can fine tune if you see its exceeding the budget. Chloe was fairly good in suggesting the cheaper alternatives wherever required and provide guidance on how to contain the cost without much compromising with the looks of the house.

I originally had 20 DL in my pack. So I provisioned all the DLs on ground Floor and for First Floor I requested to provision the DLs to save the cost. I will get an Sparky service later to install quick connects and LED lights into it. On the variation I added, 18 Down Light Provisions, 10 Jump Boxes across the house, Double power points throughout the house, 3 CAt6 cables, Stair Case light 1 40 Amp Power circuit for pool, Fan installation in Alfresco. In total it costed me approx $3500 variation on top, originally I provisioned $5K for Electrical so was fairly happy with the selections I made.

So in nutshell I was happy with on virtual Electrical appointment and finished it with in 3 hours of allocated time.


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