KDR with Rawson Homes - The Edge 39 - HANDOVER 26/9/16

Hi Everyone.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading posts from others who have built, or are currently building with Rawson. I felt I should share my experiences to 'give back' to others who may be considering a knock down rebuild.

I will be cross posting the blog and making posts across the forum for more open discussions.
Edge 39 on BLOGGER.com



Progress to date is as follows; ( i will update this as we go along )

December 2014 - Purchase and Contract Settlement of the property
February 2015 - Tender/Contract Sign
April 2015 - Pre-Construction exterior plans and variations
May 2015 - Interior selections, tiling variations
June 2015 - Demolition and Contract PA's quantified (hydraulics and sewer)
- 16th - Site Supervisor (Mark Smith) assigned and Construction file release
August 2015
- 8th-9th - Site leveling and Concrete Piers
- 13th-15th - Formwork
- 17th - Slab pour + Slab Part 2 + video
September 2015
- 1st - External Plumbing
- 10th - Frames
October 2015
- 30th - Brickwork Begins
November 2015
- 17th - Second delivery of bricks and scaffold for upper storey
December 2015
- 4th - Brickwork 95% complete and Brick clean

January 2016
- 18th - Upper Roof tiles
February 2016
- 3rd - Eaves and Cladding
March 2016
- 9th - Roof complete
- 17th - Waterproofing
- 23rd - AC rough in
- 30th - Plaster



September 2016
- 26th - HANDOVERhttp://edge39.my-letter-box.com/2016/04/march-wrap-up-electrical-ac-and.html

Hi SteveMc

I look forward to following your posts - we are working with Rawson to complete council plans

Looking forward to getting that finalised so we can move onto selections and finally construction. Feel like we've been working with Rawson forever already

Hope it all goes well

Site clearance certificate. Cleared and ready to go.

Those that enjoy watching things getting destroyed. You'll enjoy the latest blog post.
Demolition action

For those that dont like to stray too far from the forum i have linked some demolition action with the video below;

Hi Fizzed,

We are probably not far from the build process and have likewise spent over 6 months of pre-construction discussions. This process however is still not quite finished.
The estimating team are currently sitting on our plans. They have been working with them for over 2 weeks now, and still no word on a Site Supervisor allocation or any timing on the schedule of works. They run this serial process in the planning phase which obviously delays things from a practical point of view.
I am waiting for the file to be released which will be the official handover from planning to construction. This should be complete before the 17/7 according to our administrator. Once the handover is complete, we will be advised of our assigned site supervisor, and scheduled works will be communicated thereafter.
Personally, i'm hoping they wont delay beyond this date as i'm keen to get things moving. A start this month will hopefully mean project completion around March next year.
Fingers crossed i'll be speaking with our SS sometime next week.

Sorry missed your reply

Yes I've found the admin stage a long and slow process where some things just seem to take forever for no
logical reason. Anyway, fingers crossed your file gets handed over and your SS gives you a call ASAP!

I'll be happy to follow along with your progress. We are at the negotiating building plans/pre-colour selections stage. Looking forward to the knock-down of the old house on our block because then it will feel like we are really building a house!

Hi Canberra gal,
Watching the demolition was quite entertaining. It's also good once the site is clear to get a sense of light and space. Are you planning to take on the Demolition yourself or have it done by rawson in the contract?
Be careful as Demo crews often neglect to give you anything but a fistful of variations. At least plan for a 20% in extra costs. I was very lucky. Others will relate to you of the hidden treasures found when tearing down a house.
Just be prepared.

Thankfully we are going with Rawson for the demo - just hoping for not too many rocks!

SteveMc - did you do the demoliton yourself or did Rawson do it. I'm investigating the option of doing the demo ourselves. At the moment the official Rawson tender is $5000 more than the most expensive quote I have received. We've asked Rawson to get a 2nd quote.

Yes. I paid for a separate certifier to approve the Demo, communicated with adjacent property owners. Once that was complete, I advised the Demolition Contractor, who then isolated the asbestos. Once we had the clearance advice from the hygienist, mechanical removal and ground clearing works finalised the job.

I had several quotes from service seeker and the original offer from the first Contractor we spoke to. There was about 6k between our selected Contractor and others that quoted. Rawson later gave me quote for $20,200 which was in the same range as others. I ended up going with the first quote which was 14k. Just shop around. You can definitely do better than rawson.
Even with the cdc Demo, I saved 5k

We've had quotes come in from 4 demolishers & they range from $15900 to $19700 & Rawson's came in at $25,000. But some demolishers who quoted didn't even come out - just looked at Google maps to work out their price. So feeling very wary about who to give the job to & the quality of the job.

Go with your gut. Read up about your contractors. Google them and search in this forum. If you know someone who has worked with them, you can't go past that advice. Demolition companies can be a daunting choice. Just make sure you have a little extra for surprises.

Lastly .. Don't assume rawson's quote will be 'all inclusive'.

One step closer to the construction works;

From Rawson Homes;


Lets get to work

Exciting times - congrats!

You are officially in construction! Congrats

Oh, and with Rawson, remember they put a 20% loading on all sub-contracted services as their management fee. So, if you go with another contractor, it should be at least 20% cheaper than Rawson's quote. We, however, are so time poor that we are happy to pay the 20% management fee because it saves us having to source contractors, get quotes, make sure they turn up on time and do the job right.

Well, it's been a while since hearing our site supervisor was assigned. Good news, the plans have now been handed over.
The site peg out, fencing and sediment fencing will be starting next week. At this stage, we are expecting a complete slab within the next three weeks.
So happy to hear things are moving again, but I was made aware that brick layers will likely be delayed as they are short in supply. No doubt we will see the progress stall at frames for a couple of months as others have noticed in Sydney.

SteveMc: I can contest to the delays with brickies in Sydney when building with Rawson. Ours was approximately a 3 week wait from when the frames were completed until they started laying bricks on Tuesday this week. Its unfortunate but I hope you get the brickies on site sooner than we did. I like the fact the Rawson are honest and up front with their timeframes though.

Steve, SS mentioned he's got only 2 sets of brickies doing his job and he's got 16 projects atm. From what i can remember around May he mentioned 6 brandnew projects he's picked up and the rest were take overs. Also, watch out for the carpenters, as our build were delayed with carpernters who did half a job or were not showing up. But i guess you are lucky as he is starting your job, unlike mine that he took over. Glad things are rolling and can't wait to see your build progress!