Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 31, 2018 9:40 pm G’day all. Thought it about time I started my thread as I look daily hoping for other Rawson posts, so here is mine.
A bit of background. We are building in the Newcastle area, knocking down and rebuilding. Our block has a side slope of about 1.5 meters across the build so our site costs are more than your typical block. We started out by going to Tender with Clarendon, as we really loved the Boston 36. Long story short the customer service we received was quite disappointing but the nail was that they wanted a setback of 10 meters which left us with very little yard even on a 605 square block. They wouldn’t budge so we looked elsewhere. This brought us to home world at Thornton and CSC Steve Jones. Steve has been in the game for over 30 years and knows his stuff. We were sold on the Chifley. The entrance has a void to the ceiling on the 2nd floor which gives off such a sense of openness which I loved. The 2nd floor we didn’t love so much only because we felt it didn’t utilise the space as we wanted as a lot of Rawson homes seem to only do half a house on the 2nd floor unless you go bigger. This forced into the 42 ii. We love the design and can’t wait for it to get started and moved in in around 12 months we guess. What we have found with Rawson is that the admin is very slow. We think deliberately so, to space out all the builds they do, which I’m sure most of them do. It does our heads in, so if you can accept the time it takes, you won’t be as stressed as us. An example is Our plans came back with a number of errors from the drafting team, windows changed things like that. We resubmitted our plans over 3 weeks ago and apparently they are only now getting to them, so if they come back wrong again, then factor in another month whilst they stuff around. Our local CS people are very nice and can only do what they can do, so what can you do but keep sending emails to keep on top of them. Especially at selections our guys didn’t up sell us on anything and even offered great cost saving ideas, which brings me to a very important point for everyone building a new home. YOU MUST REVIEW EVERYTHING WITH A FINE TOOTH COMB. Especially anything to do with non standard inclusions that you choose. An example of this is, sliding windows are cheaper than awning windows. We changed a number of them to sliding but instead of money back to us, they charged us $900 extra for each window. We questioned it and it was corrected as a credit to us. There are other examples, so if you don’t check everything you will be ripped and pay to much. This wouldn’t just be a Rawson thing, they would all do it. Pretty easy way to make extra profit. OUR HOUSE Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ OUR FIREPLACE Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ OUR HOME THEATRE. 120 inch screen and Epson 4K projector. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 2Jun 02, 2018 10:43 pm Salfield "What we have found with Rawson is that the admin is very slow." We are put near Maitland and have decided to build the 42 MK II also however we are only JUST at the beginning with out first official tender appointment booked in for two weeks time. It has been a lengthy process for us to settle on a house. Our current home we built through Coral Homes, but for various reasons decided against ever using them again! We also are dealing with Steve, he has been fantastic since the first day we walked in there over 12 months ago when shopping for house to place on our second block of land. I've tonight read MANY threads, one thing they all had in common was stating admin was VERY slow, often pushing people past that magic "120 days". Are you at this stage yet? We were in a bit of a rush to get our last home built (living with family for "6 months" which turned into 4 years - we HAD to move asap). The Chifley can in a way take it's time as we have a roof over our heads and can leave here on our terms when it suits us. A super lengthy admin process will frustrate me, but probably more so my husband haha! Steve mentioned today when we saw him that of the tender meets our needs he'd expect us to turn dirt in roughly 6 months time... I'm now starting to question this I love the fireplace too by the way!! We were actually discussing this today and if we should or shouldn't move forward with one or not. I think for us it may come down to cost, if they potentially have less expensive options we may just spoil ourselves... just not with the epic one they have on display in Thronton haha!!! Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 3Jun 02, 2018 11:20 pm Chipamelon Salfield "What we have found with Rawson is that the admin is very slow." We are put near Maitland and have decided to build the 42 MK II also however we are only JUST at the beginning with out first official tender appointment booked in for two weeks time. It has been a lengthy process for us to settle on a house. Our current home we built through Coral Homes, but for various reasons decided against ever using them again! We also are dealing with Steve, he has been fantastic since the first day we walked in there over 12 months ago when shopping for house to place on our second block of land. I've tonight read MANY threads, one thing they all had in common was stating admin was VERY slow, often pushing people past that magic "120 days". Are you at this stage yet? We were in a bit of a rush to get our last home built (living with family for "6 months" which turned into 4 years - we HAD to move asap). The Chifley can in a way take it's time as we have a roof over our heads and can leave here on our terms when it suits us. A super lengthy admin process will frustrate me, but probably more so my husband haha! Steve mentioned today when we saw him that of the tender meets our needs he'd expect us to turn dirt in roughly 6 months time... I'm now starting to question this I love the fireplace too by the way!! We were actually discussing this today and if we should or shouldn't move forward with one or not. I think for us it may come down to cost, if they potentially have less expensive options we may just spoil ourselves... just not with the epic one they have on display in Thronton haha!!! Great choice of house. 😁. We also looked at all the builders. We’ve been down to Sydney and Wollongong and after Clarendon let us down we went with Rawson which I don’t think we will regret. Steve is great and he was very close, money wise, in his estimations. We have our final selections, tiles and electrical in a couple of weeks, so can’t comment yet on how long the build/breaking ground. It’s funny, we want in as soon as possible, but also don’t want it rushed. The ladies are very nice at Wickham and the tender presentation is pretty good with Steve. You get to have a look around at the inclusions. Yeah we love the fireplace but the one at Thornton is too much, plus it’s over $16k apparently. We’ve gone the 1600 but there is a 1000 which is cheaper. This is what our will basically look like and the price installed was pretty reasonable. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Glad to see another Chifley 42. We can keep each other updated. 🍺😁 So did you guys sign up to the new $70k promotion? Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 4Jun 03, 2018 8:51 am Great plans! We have that fireplace in our current home and absolutely love it, we are in early stages of planning our next build and that fireplace is mandatory. It heats our very large 56sq open plan house easily. Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 5Jun 03, 2018 9:36 am gogo65 Great plans! We have that fireplace in our current home and absolutely love it, we are in early stages of planning our next build and that fireplace is mandatory. It heats our very large 56sq open plan house easily. That’s great to hear. No problems with it? Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 6Jun 04, 2018 4:59 pm Chiming in to agree with you all on how great Steve is. I was reluctant to build at all, but his honesty and openness was what convinced me it would be worth it. I can't really comment on the admin because our land took 5 months to register, so we did a bit of the admin in that time, then they went from settlement to turning soil in 6 weeks if you exclude the Christmas shutdown. Melanie in the Wickham office is an absolute gem and super efficient. She's amazing and I kind of want her to come organise my whole life for me, she's so good! Julie, the colours consultant, was fantastic too. She knows her stuff and is really helpful. The only thing is I wish they had tried to upsell us a bit, there are things I didn't even know you could upgrade that we would have taken up if they were offered. (Of course I can't think of an example now.) Our site supervisor is great too, a good bloke with a real sense of decency. He doesn't let ** work go and he's never made excuses, just said he'd get any issue fixed - and honestly there's only been one or two so far. Congratulations on your build, it's going to be great to see it come to life! Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 7Jun 04, 2018 6:29 pm CG Scardycat Chiming in to agree with you all on how great Steve is. I was reluctant to build at all, but his honesty and openness was what convinced me it would be worth it. I can't really comment on the admin because our land took 5 months to register, so we did a bit of the admin in that time, then they went from settlement to turning soil in 6 weeks if you exclude the Christmas shutdown. Melanie in the Wickham office is an absolute gem and super efficient. She's amazing and I kind of want her to come organise my whole life for me, she's so good! Julie, the colours consultant, was fantastic too. She knows her stuff and is really helpful. The only thing is I wish they had tried to upsell us a bit, there are things I didn't even know you could upgrade that we would have taken up if they were offered. (Of course I can't think of an example now.) Our site supervisor is great too, a good bloke with a real sense of decency. He doesn't let ** work go and he's never made excuses, just said he'd get any issue fixed - and honestly there's only been one or two so far. Congratulations on your build, it's going to be great to see it come to life! Thank you. Yes we are looking forward to it. Julie is great, so you must think of those up sell things, so we can look at it. 🤔😁 Good news about your site supervisor, as we all know, it comes down to them it seems to get a good build. We don’t have Melanie, we have Eleanor, who is also good, but it sounds like I might need Melanie for some life issues. 😂.. Have you got a build thread? Cheers Simon Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 8Jun 05, 2018 9:01 am Hi, We are currently looking at many display homes to decide on a design and like the Clarendon Boston 36 and also the Clarendon Madison 38 but i just checked out the Rawson Chifley 42 online and it looks awesome. Did you say it was on display. Have you been given a price from Rawson? I'd love to know a ball park to see whether a design like that would be within the budget. We previoulsy built through Coral Homes too and at the time remember that Rawson offered full package of landscaping, driveway etc etc...not sure if that is still the case. Thanks Ash Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 9Jun 05, 2018 9:31 am ashjay Hi, We are currently looking at many display homes to decide on a design and like the Clarendon Boston 36 and also the Clarendon Madison 38 but i just checked out the Rawson Chifley 42 online and it looks awesome. Did you say it was on display. Have you been given a price from Rawson? I'd love to know a ball park to see whether a design like that would be within the budget. We previoulsy built through Coral Homes too and at the time remember that Rawson offered full package of landscaping, driveway etc etc...not sure if that is still the case. Thanks Ash Hi ash. Mate we are doing the Chifley 42 mark ii which you wont find on Rawsons website. You can find it if you google it and it is on one of the ibuild sites i think. The 42 is there but im not sure if it is on display. The chilfey 37 mark ii which is on display at thornton is identical to the 42 on the ground floor but its the 2nd floor that is different/bigger. Rawson still do the driveway and will do landscaping but landscaping is an extra cost which we will do ourselves. Ball Park cost for us is btw $500 and $600 but we are on a sloping block so our site costs are more than a flat block. Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 10Jun 05, 2018 11:11 am Awesome thanks for the info, I will check it out. We will have a slope ourselves, but I think no more than 1 metre across the whole block. Our block isn't registered yet so awaiting final details. It's pretty overwhelming with so many home builders to check out and so many homes available. Hope your build goes well Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 11Jun 05, 2018 12:49 pm ashjay Awesome thanks for the info, I will check it out. We will have a slope ourselves, but I think no more than 1 metre across the whole block. Our block isn't registered yet so awaiting final details. It's pretty overwhelming with so many home builders to check out and so many homes available. Hope your build goes well No problem. I know a lot of builders won’t touch you with a slope. Clarendon wouldn’t go above 1 meter for any split in your house. I know that for certain. It’s a big commitment so got to get it right. 😁 Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 12Jun 07, 2018 8:58 am Rawson do landscaping? That's surprising I will have to check that out! Were building the balmoral MK1 38 (modified a bit to suit our site reqts and personal choices) in Lake Macquarie with the Chifley metro fascade. Hopefully we'll start building by Oct, had our initial tender presso and our colour selection appt is next month Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 13Jun 07, 2018 5:25 pm DR-JEKL Rawson do landscaping? That's surprising I will have to check that out! Were building the balmoral MK1 38 (modified a bit to suit our site reqts and personal choices) in Lake Macquarie with the Chifley metro fascade. Hopefully we'll start building by Oct, had our initial tender presso and our colour selection appt is next month I’m pretty sure they do. They always say they do anything but it will cost you more than if you did it yourself could be wrong. Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 14Jun 07, 2018 6:07 pm Salfield I’m pretty sure they do. They always say they do anything but it will cost you more than if you did it yourself could be wrong. Yes that's true! Hmm on 2nd thoughts it's probably easier & cheaper to organise 3rd party landscaper ourselves Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 15Jun 07, 2018 6:23 pm DR-JEKL Salfield I’m pretty sure they do. They always say they do anything but it will cost you more than if you did it yourself could be wrong. Yes that's true! Hmm on 2nd thoughts it's probably easier & cheaper to organise 3rd party landscaper ourselves I’d reckon, that’s if you can find a landscaper. We haven’t had much joy yet. 😔😁 Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 16Jun 07, 2018 9:16 pm Salfield DR-JEKL Salfield I’m pretty sure they do. They always say they do anything but it will cost you more than if you did it yourself could be wrong. Yes that's true! Hmm on 2nd thoughts it's probably easier & cheaper to organise 3rd party landscaper ourselves I’d reckon, that’s if you can find a landscaper. We haven’t had much joy yet. 😔😁 As in they're too busy or? Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 17Jun 07, 2018 9:19 pm Yes that's true[/quote] As in they're too busy or?[/quote] Yeah too busy I guess. Won’t return calls and I’ve rang 3 or 4. Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 18Jun 07, 2018 9:21 pm Salfield Yes that's true As in they're too busy or?[/quote] Yeah too busy I guess. Won’t return calls and I’ve rang 3 or 4.[/quote] Oh ok I'll fwd through the details one of the other forum members gave me for their landscaper (they were building a rawson house at cameron park) Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 19Jun 08, 2018 5:42 am DR-JEKL Salfield Yes that's true As in they're too busy or? Yeah too busy I guess. Won’t return calls and I’ve rang 3 or 4.[/quote] Oh ok I'll fwd through the details one of the other forum members gave me for their landscaper (they were building a rawson house at cameron park)[/quote] Thank you for that. 🍺 Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 mark ii in Newcastle. 20Jun 08, 2018 9:17 pm Nice to see another Chifley! We'd have loved to build the 42 but our local council have a weird rule on the first floor rear setback... Lucky the 37 just fits! I know a few people at work building new homes with a bunch of different builders and they're all complaining about slow admin periods. I don't think it is something you can escape with so much new home building going on in NSW! Looking forward to seeing your progress! Always get multiple quotes, no matter how reasonable/cheap you think it is. 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