Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4422Feb 06, 2014 6:55 pm Congrats Glacier on your handover. Hoping that you are enjoying some champagne in your new house. I sent my building report over to the construction manager yesterday afternoon giving 14 days for a reply. At lunchtime today I had both the SS and Maintenance Manager come to the house. We spent over 2 hours going through everything that was in the report and on our maintenance list. The bricks - they are going to pull down part of the column at the front that is crooked and it is going to be rebuilt. A person is coming up from Sydney and the whole house is going to be gone over and it will be re-pointed where needed, full brick clean and any suspect bricks will be removed and replaced. The roof - at the moment, we are going to get further information as to whether it is the wrong pitch as per our building report. I am going to get my building inspector back out to check and Rawson is going to get the roofer out to check it as well. With regards to the painting. Rawson has spoken with the painter and he assures that he has done three coats. The SS believes that there is 3 coats as well. So we have a choice, whether we take their word or we can get paint tests done by Taubmans and they will tell us how many paint coats there are. Not sure which way we are going to go at the moment. They have said that if we do do the tests on the paint and it comes back that there is not the three coats they will repaint the entire house inside. There is going to be considerable plaster work done in the house, as the void area is cracking (which is normal and to be expected) and they are going to re-skim the ceilings where due to normal movement in the house the plaster joins have become visible. The airconditioning issue - we have been given a letter today from the airconditioning company that the unit that we had in our contract was discontinued and the 140 unit replaced it. I am not accepting this letter, as I have done a lot of research on the unit and have been advised that the 160 unit was available at the time that my house was fitted out. The 160 unit is a 16kw unit where the 140 unit is a 14kw unit. Both the 140 and the 160 units are totally pathetic for my house, but I am going to fight to get the unit that we should have had. I believe that if the unit was discontinued the airconditioning company should have given us the respect as clients to advise in writing of the difference rather than us all having to find it out ourselves. I have been told there is not too much of a difference in the units and if you have a single storey house you will not notice the difference at all and the 140 is perfectly adequate. Where there are problems is when you have a large house like mine. I am impressed though that Rawson has jumped on my report quickly and have been open to fixing everything (as long as the roof is proven to be at the wrong pitch) Modified Fernside 38 Rawson Homes Blog: http://www.thehousethatmatandjenbuilt.blogspot.com Build Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60501 Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4423Feb 07, 2014 4:16 am Now I know why the SS was a little antsy with me on the phone yesterday arv - he'd been at your place Jen. Jen if I were you I'd be doing the paint test. I'd also continue to chase up the aircon unit thing too. The aircon is a blatant breach of contract which I'll be discussing hopefully today when the construction manager calls me back and if your paint isn't 3 coats, that's a contract breach too. Good on you for getting a response from them so quickly! It's good to see that you're ruffling some feathers. They really need to get their act together! Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4424Feb 07, 2014 6:47 am SEC Pinny - you have piers yippeee i went passed at 3pm & they were pouring them. I know - i'm a bit excited. I thought they looked fresh when I got there at 5:30. Fingers crossed the plumber turn up today. What else do they have to finish at your place SEC? Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4425Feb 07, 2014 7:14 am Quote: Now I know why the SS was a little antsy with me on the phone yesterday arv - he'd been at your place Jen. Jen if I were you I'd be doing the paint test. I'd also continue to chase up the aircon unit thing too. The aircon is a blatant breach of contract which I'll be discussing hopefully today when the construction manager calls me back and if your paint isn't 3 coats, that's a contract breach too. He was happy when he left me - what have you done to him Munchi? I am going to get the number of the taubmans rep and maybe I can have a chat about doing a paint test. The aircon unit, I will not drop as I actually think that a bigger unit than the 160 should have been sold with my house as it is clearly too small to cool my house. I have been told to only use it upstairs or downstairs and never try to do both at once - which is basically selling me a Nissan Patrol 4WD and putting a Nissan Micra engine in it, and not to drive it up hills or dont tow anything and you should be OK. If you purchase a house that is 43sq, if they are including airconditioning for the house as part of the 'package', they should include airconditioning that is sufficient for a 43sq house. Modified Fernside 38 Rawson Homes Blog: http://www.thehousethatmatandjenbuilt.blogspot.com Build Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60501 Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4426Feb 07, 2014 7:35 am SEC, our private inspector went on site 2 days prior to our PCI, main things in his list were paint touchups, brick mortars, some door locks which were not functioning properly, sealant removal for one of the glass screens - it was incorrectly installed at first and had to be changed. All in all it was not anything major. We were monitoring our site constantly and we started making note of the issues which needs to be rectified. Few kitchen cabinets required adjustments.We had our feature window scratched by some vandals, its frame was damaged, external laundry door lock was damaged, one of our cladding was damaged- again by vandals. Then our main door needed another coat of stain, feature wall was not painted etc etc. All in all it was mainly paint touchups and brick issues. Painting and staining were completed within a day. I'm not sure the amount of work still pending for you. But usually it will all be fairly completed before PCI. Also our handover happened a day before the actual date which was told by SS. All in all I am very happy with the build. My house was very clean too. Didn't expect that after some of the stories I heard from fellow bloggers. Also a handover gift too. My advise for everyone is to go back to your plans and make sure EVERYTHING is done as per the plans. We used to pick up stuffs and immediately inform SS. And this got rid of many of our issues as and when it was done. Also please get a private inspection done. I will posting a review about the build soon. Jen I am so happy that you are getting enough attention from the top blokes hope it all gets sorted for you soon. Munchi we never had any delays until the last few payments. We lost couple of weeks here and there because of painters and kitchen guys. Also main flooring riles were also late. It looks like everyones build is delayed at this phase. Thank you everyone for your wishes. I will post pictures soon. We haven't got any of our furnitures yet. Its getting delivered only by end of feb/ beginning of march. Best wishes to everyone who are currently building. And I must also say that, ours is so far the best looking house on the street. Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4428Feb 07, 2014 11:51 am Wouldn't mind some contacts for inspectors in the Sydney metro area too... Glacier - congrats on the build completion. Looks great and can't wait to see the finished product! All the best for the post-build projects! Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4429Feb 07, 2014 2:18 pm tinny Wouldn't mind some contacts for inspectors in the Sydney metro area too... I'll send you a PM when I get home, I haven't got his card on me but we like the guy that Archicentre put us in touch with. Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4430Feb 07, 2014 6:07 pm Thanks for the tip with the inspector Glacier. I was wondering if you brought the inspector through at PCI or not. We'll try to do the same as what you've done. I've tried contacting the construction manager twice now about the aircon. No call back.. I also spoke to daikon today - yes the 160 was out of stock for a period but is back now. As far as I'm concerned, that's what I should have fitted since it's now available. I'll be informing the CM of this when he finally decides to call me back. Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4431Feb 07, 2014 7:17 pm tinny Wouldn't mind some contacts for inspectors in the Sydney metro area too... Glacier - congrats on the build completion. Looks great and can't wait to see the finished product! All the best for the post-build projects! We are using archicentre for our inspections, works out to about $450 per visit, I have used them before for previous home purchases and can vouch for them, they give a comprehensive report each time and well worth the peace of mind! Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4432Feb 07, 2014 9:24 pm gregandjules We are using archicentre for our inspections, works out to about $450 per visit, I have used them before for previous home purchases and can vouch for them, they give a comprehensive report each time and well worth the peace of mind! Forg I'll send you a PM when I get home, I haven't got his card on me but we like the guy that Archicentre put us in touch with. Thanks guys! Going through the list of inclusions/options again.... does anyone know if pantry shelving is a standard inclusion with Rawsons? Its one of those things I thought was obvious... but we assume too much. Also - has anyone done a lowered sill or slab-recessed sill for their stacker doors to the alfresco area? I'm hoping to do a deck to the same finished floor level as the house but thats holding me back plus some uncertainty whether the standard 85mm step-down is going to be too little space to do joists for the deck timber... cheers, Tinny Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4433Feb 08, 2014 6:02 am Hi Tinny. We're getting all our stacker/sliding doors recessed into the slab. Its only $300 each. http://camdenbuild.blogspot.com.au/ by invite only please pm me Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4434Feb 08, 2014 5:11 pm Bubbles - pm me and I'll send you the name of the guy we use (his details are on my work laptop). He's about $250 an inspection. Very thorough. Update: the spray coats of our interior paint was done this week. Had a peak through the windows and the colour looks great. Not as dark as I thought! Interested to have a site visit next week to see it properly. Very interested to see the black paint in the toilets! Haha. Blog has been updated with photos. Still waiting for my call back from the CM about the AC... Already called his office twice. He might want to call me back soon before I take a day off and drive to Sydney to bail him up face to face. I'll be much more agitated if I have to take time off.. Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4435Feb 10, 2014 7:31 am I was recommended Mal Wright building inspections. He was $465.00 for the inspection, but I was really happy with how thorough he was. Received a reply back from the CM last week regarding the building report. The building inspector has said that the garage roof has only a 1.5 degree pitch, where it should be a 2 degree pitch. The roofing material that has been used is only good until 2 degrees. Rawson has said that they will not do anything about the roof as it is not leaking. The excessive amount of silicone that has been used they will also not do anything about it. My next step is to speak with the manufacturer of the roofing material and get them to come out and inspect it and see if the roofing material is suitable for such a low pitch. Painting - I had an independent painter come out on Friday. He has said that apart from a few patches where he can see through it, that he would be happy to accept that it is three coats. So we are going to go with his word and not pursue it any further. I am actually really happy about that one as we are going to have enough disruption with quite a few of the ceilings being skimmed and repainted. I have also been advised by the CM that nothing will be done regarding the airconditioning unit. I am going to speak with Department of Fair Trading to see what I can do about it. Modified Fernside 38 Rawson Homes Blog: http://www.thehousethatmatandjenbuilt.blogspot.com Build Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60501 Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4436Feb 10, 2014 1:04 pm I'll be keeping an eye on the Air Con unit. We got an upgraded one with the birthday bonus. We have met with our new SS today. This is our 3rd supervisor since our build began. If you count the one that we had for about 3 days. He seems really on the ball, keen to do a good job, and fairly flexible about letting us walk through at different stages, eg: after bricking, before electrical rough in, etc. Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4437Feb 11, 2014 7:30 am munchi Thanks for the tip with the inspector Glacier. I was wondering if you brought the inspector through at PCI or not. We'll try to do the same as what you've done. Munchi we got our inspector to inspect the house 2 days before our PCI. I found that very useful because we got time to go through the report and the PCI was a lot less stressful. I would recommend you to do the same. Any questions feel free to PM me. Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4438Feb 11, 2014 10:17 am Interesting about the air conditioner, I haven't had a spare moment to cross check our contract. We didn't have any birthday specials or builders promos, just the add the caesarstone/air con/blue frames for $5,900 from memory. We have used the air conditioner more this summer than last, and it is more effective if you don't use both zones at once, on the occasional time we have, it didn't have enough grunt to get all the way to our bedroom, so we have screwed closed the vents on two of the bedrooms we don't use and it has helped a lot. Maintenance started 9 months ago and is still going, I have had a brand new front door (warranty issue with Corinthian) sitting in my front hall since before Christmas, at lest Rawson are going to foot the bill for the window frosting we had done after we moved in. Still waiting on glass replacement, bricks to be fitted to the inspection hole in the alfresco, and a replacement pump for our water tank. Most of these are booked in for Friday week, but I am over the whole thing. For those who follow my blog, I have temporarily closed it down, due to an increase in break and enters in our estate, and I just wanted to be careful about what info has been shared. I will probably lower the security settings again in the near future. Built the Seaview 36 with Rawson Homes - Read about it on my blog http://lamaisondemorgan.blogspot.com.au/ Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4439Feb 11, 2014 2:21 pm Hi All, Long time no post! We finished our final round of maintenance last week, was just a few plaster patchings and paint touch ups. Everything on my maintenance list has now been completed, which when reading through all the other issues seems like nothing in comparison! (either that or we're blind). We did have numerous issues through build, but being able to visit the build site quite often and double checking the paperwork and variations as we went through meant there weren't too many issues left standing by the time we did handover. I'm pretty happy with most of our trades, and especially our SS, who went above and beyond time and again to resend trades out, fix issues that were incorrect on his versions of paperwork compared to ours, and generally dealing with me calling him heaps! AirCon for us seems to work pretty well, even if we have the whole house going (3 zones), though we do have to pump it up to max fan setting. (and we had no specials, just the same as smorgzzz, the $5900 upgrade package) We're expecting our front fence shortly, and I need to organise the garage flooring and we should be done. All these once off purchases sure are expensive! Hello to all the new builders, I hope your experience goes as smoothly as possible. My main advice: 1. Don't sweat too much about anyone getting things wrong in the build, just point it out, be on top of where things are in your paperwork, and they WILL fix it. I always went back with the signed documents, variation numbers, descriptions, plans, whatever. I found that the paperwork the SS got ended up having quite a few differences than what we signed off on (for whatever reason). 2. Visit as regularly as you can, check out the major stages of build. 3. Get that independent inspection done. We only did one at PCI, but for the cost, recommend getting one done earlier before lock up too. Re: Our Benham 33 journey 4440Feb 11, 2014 4:22 pm Koroboo - what are you doing to your garage floor? We used a diamond grinder and then epoxy painted it, was about $500 from memory, best thing we did. It has reduced the dust being tracked through the house. Built the Seaview 36 with Rawson Homes - Read about it on my blog http://lamaisondemorgan.blogspot.com.au/ Any advice on how to ensure the kit home granny flat that im thinking of buying will get council approval. The kit home companys wont release plans without a deposit and… 0 7209 of course there are legal avenues. You've already mentioned it. Sue them. I find it odd that lawyers wouldnt be willing to take on the case, given CCT evidence and… 1 23764 "Losers" "humanity" "off time" "your" "top notch" "love symbol" Sounds like ponzo is done using other people's toilets 36 23884 |