Rawson Homes - General Thread

Hi Flint, we decided we would piggy back a couple of PowerPoints but now I think we should have just done them at the time. All the little jobs you need to do when the build is finished really start to add up.

As for the TV. We put a 4 PowerPoint at the base of the wall and a single next to the outlet on the wall. If you choose a wall mount they put it through the wall. I have attached a pic for your reference.

Hi Fee,

Thanks for your reply. That is true, i will have alot of jobs after handover so I will look at getting all the power points installed then - isnt it around $70 per powerpoint?

Is that a data outlet next to the higher single power point?

That is a bull nose plug.. It is so you can run cables in the wall cavity

bull nose plug hey? That sounds practical...how much was that to install and did rawsons run the cables or can you run them yourself?

I too piggy backed the power points on two walls but kicked myself by not putting enough on the external wall areas downstairs.
You can save some money post handover but consider the sections not accessible like external walls.
I also had lifestyle mount and cable my tv. $350 to mount the bracket, custom cable all connections through the cavity, mount a soundbar and setup the whole system.
I'd say you're better off doing this after handover, otherwise your doing it all yourself. Peace of mind in my case, as the gear cost me $$$$ and I didn't want to risk things.

It's just a plastic tube (in the wall cavity) with these openings at the top/bottom for you to run cables down. Cost was $100 or so I think which when you see it during the build, wonder how. Its far neater so get it done is my advice.

Bear

Found a pic of ours


Top quality workmanship

Bear

Pretty disappointed with Rawson today considering the money we are spending with them. We are a week out from selections, electrical and tiles etc but after reviewing our final plans we enquired about changing one window in a bedroom to a slightly bigger window. That’s it nothing else, one window. We understand that plans have to be redrawn, but surely that’s a pretty simple, quick thing to do.
Well our CSC replied to us saying that it will cost over $600 for a re draw fee, fair enough, before going on to Basically intimidate/extort us. The email goes on to say that if we do go ahead, on top of the fee and the cost of the new window it will take 10 days to get them back and then another 10 business days for something else to happen stopping our build going ahead until that is done.

Pretty disgusted with this stance and feel like writing a nice email back, but they have us over a barrel because we just want the house built.

Hi,

I think you may have to understand that they (and you) are so far down the line that they don't want hold ups too. They probably do this fee as much as a 'please really think about what you want and get it right now so we don't have to keep going back and forth' as much as it does cost them in man hours. What you think might be a simple change might mean a lot in the background (such as checking building codes/the persons time to redraw/etc). I'm only guessing here, I'm a Rawson buyer too, not an employee or building certifier.

However, I'm pretty sure that when we did our electrical/colours, we had our design amended (free) as when we sat down with the guys to pick and choose, they made suggestions (we're in Newcastle so had Julie and Ron) about what we could do and we liked them....and no charge. I would go to the meeting and see if you can squeeze it into the conversation/ask what they think about things and see what they say. Admittedly, you've mentioned it's a bedroom window so might be difficult. Give it a go, can't hurt especially if Rawson suggest making a change on something else, get this change done at the same time.

Bear

Hi,
During my plan presentation, and also just after that, I have made so many changes in window sizes, most of them were free, some costed $50. However, at a later stage and after your plans are drawn, they normally charge admin and redraw fee. I think in this process, they need few people to get involved for correct documentation of the change.
I also experienced the same, when I tried to remove one electrical plug point, and they said it will cost the extra admin fee, and finally I did not go for the change. I think, this is common practice by all project builders. However, with smaller builders, it is easy to change things at any stage.

Hi Guys,
I am a bit concerned about my land as the geotechnical report came back stating the site classification is class S (which i initially thought was a good thing as it is slightly reactive).

After looking at the subsurface report, the findings are this:

FILL depth (m) = 0.5
Depth to Rock = 0.5

I am worried that my site costs may be a massive money pit.
In the footings section, they say "All footings should be founded below any topsoil, slopewash, deleterious soils or uncontrolled fill, and should
have a minimum embedment of 0.5 m. All footings for the same structure should be founded on stiff or better
strata of similar consistency and reactivity to minimise the risk of differential movements."

Should i be worried?

Hi everyone!

Long time voyeur, first post My husband and I have been looking at housing display for 26 years. We went out to Leppington Homeworld a couple of weeks ago - just for a drive. We went into the Rawson displays as we had preferred the designs and build quality over others. I had fallen in love with the Edge ( as we have a narrow but long block), but being a couple and 1 cat, I couldn't justify that much house. Then we walked into the Evoke - we both fell in love instantly! We registered our interest and left very excited about the prospect of having a new house for the first time in our married lives. An appointment was made to see them this Sunday for preliminary discussion. I have been poring over this forum, planning every little detail, armed with a list of things to take to the appointment.

I received an email today, informing me that Rawson will not build on our block, as we are on a main road and there is a clearway on our side of the street. There are obviously builders out there who will build on our block, otherwise all houses on our side of the street would be pre-war.

I have enjoyed living vicariously through you builds, and will continue to do so. The Evoke was perfection. To say I am devastated is a gross understatement.

I know it's a long shot, but has anyone else built with Rawson in the same situation as us?

Good progress for us, the frame is complete, the carpenters did a pretty neat job. Bricks are delivered as well.

Nice bricks, I'm assuming they are an upgrade?
Can you let us know the colour and how much extra yours cost?

Hi,

The brick is Austral Symmetry Asphalt, is it an upgrade for $3999, and we have checked with Austral, the upgrade price is reasonable for a 2 Storey house.
Before selection we drove by many houses build with this brick and other bricks and finally selected this one, hope it comes out nicely.

Cheers,
ND

Awesome, thanks that does seem pretty reasonable and less scary.
I just got the Austral retail pricelist and the rawson standard bricks range from $1454-$1597/1000 and the Symmetry range are $1850/1000.
Choosing bricks is hard, same brick at different time of the day or even having a second look at it can seem like a different brick!

Anyone know if Rawson do izone controllers? http://izone.com.au/

Structural things we did:
-got rid of the silly empty 'feature' box on the stairwell to make it a double width staircase.
- expanded the front lounge and upstairs 1m out to the side boundary so the whole house was wider, ditto the 5th BR (which is a media room in the display) and room above.
- totally redesigned the upper floor to make better use of the block and not to have such a long somewhat unnecessarily huge ensuite and WIR that didn't use the space well, ditto the long bathroom at the back in the display, and made all bedrooms at least 3-and a bit metres square.
- had all the BIRs deepened to 650mm as the standard won't fit IKEA wardrobe internals which are 600 deep, and you do need 600 deep to property hang clothes imho.
- got mirror sliders on BIRs but had them extended in height too
- kitchen/family expanded 1m toward rear, has made it a much more liveable space
- took the 5th ensuite BR option downstairs as 4br + 4 living rooms seemed a bit ridiculous.
- rear patio expanded 1m further toward rear
- I regret not popping the kitchen/living roof up a foot or 2 higher - we had just locked in the structural stage when the new Googong display opened (not a Windermere) where the living area had a higher roof which makes for a stunning space.

Rawsons construction is slower than my expectations. In 3 months 10 days (since I handed over the land), brickwork just started. After 2 days of brickwork the brickies disappeared. How is the experience of others who are building?

no.. they do not do any 3rd party controllers... which really sucks.