Bit of background, the wife & I had been looking to buy a house for a while with the main requirement being that it had to be within 30-40 mins commute to Sydney CBD and on at least a 700sqm block with decent frontage. After seeing many houses and many auctions and the prices people were asking for something that just wasn't going to be exactly what we wanted she finally found a house she absolutely loved but it was in Kellyville which pushed the travel time out just that little bit too far.
14th April 2018 - We went to see the house in Kellyville (3 Farmhouse Avenue for those interested -https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-nsw-kellyville-128012882) and fell in love with it. The front landscaping was nicely done, they hadn't really done anything with the backyard, but wow the house was just ticking all our boxes ... maybe it was the fantastic interior designer job they had done on it, the massive master suite, who knows, ultimately the finish was top notch in our books.
So this is the house that started our Rawson inspiration -
Here's some pictures I found of the interior later on a home styling blog - https://www.adoremagazine.com/home-tour ... atedwarmth
Now, we just had to find a way to move the house a little closer to the CBD ...
The agent that was selling the house told us it was built by Rawson Homes so after we went to see the house we wanted went to see Rawson Homes at the Kellyville display village just down the road to tell them of our plans. We looked through all the display homes they had, booked in an appointment to sit down with a salesperson the next weekend and then also took a trip out to the Homeworld at Leppington to look at the Chifley they had there.
21st April 2018 - We went to see a property that was for sale in Baulkham Hills, very different proposition but it was on a flat corner block with just a little over 700sqm and 18m frontage -
Perfect, we walked around the block and it seemed to tick all the boxes, nice quiet wide street to boot and we just needed to buy it and then work out what to do with the house later. I don't think we actually set foot in the house as we had a plan and nothing was going to stop us, what could go wrong?!
The house had passed in at auction the previous weekend and after some negotiation and sticking to our guns despite the owners asking for more and other offers trying to match our initial reasonable offer coming in, our offer was accepted on the 26th April 2018. We agreed on a 3 month settlement so we would have time to try and work out all the house side of things and this worked for the current owners who would like their children to be able to finish out the school year at their current school if possible. As it was likely going to take more time to sort the house out we also agreed to rent the house back to the current owners for at least two months and then monthly ongoing after this. Ok, we have a block of land with a house we don't need, time to get back in touch with Rawson Homes.
28th April 2018 - We met with Hennie Roos at Rawson in Kellyville and he was great, took us through all the different plans, gave us what we needed to started and even printed us off some full size flipped plans so we could play around with drawing up the modifications we would want and come back to him to get an idea of what sort of cost we'd be looking at.
Below is the list of the main items & modifications we asked for and the rough pricing Hennie provided for these things -
| Item | Price |
| Chifley 42 Classic with LUX Inclusions (price is subject to change on the 1st May) | $ 444,600 |
| Estimated Site costs | $ 70,000 |
| Luxury Redefined Promotion | $ 5,000 |
| Garage Extension with 5.2 opening (not quite triple) | $ 8,000 |
| Extended Alfresco full width (includes slab & roof) | $ 11,000 |
| Family room extension inc. tiling | $ 7,500 |
| Extension 1st Floor BR3 including carpet | $ 7,400 |
| Island bench custom | $ 5,000 |
| Butlers Pantry | $ 11,000 |
| Rock wool between ground & 1st floor | $ 1,200 |
| Sound screen insulation around a cinema or room | $ 1,200 |
| 2 x cavity sliders | $ 980 |
| 1 x hinged door | $ 360 |
| Gas Point | $ 380 |
| Water point to Fridge space | $ 380 |
| Tiles smart waste outlets | $ 1,250 |
| Ceiling to cornice height tiling for 4 x bathroom | $ 8,000 |
| Higher vanities throughout | $ 1,000 |
| Bi Fold Door to Alfresco | $ 5,500 |
| Glass Balustrade to staircase | $ 9,000 |
| Bi Fold WIndow t Kitchen | $ 4,000 |
| Additional cabinetry to WIR Bedroom 1 | $ 1,000 |
| Extra hinged door to BR 4 | $ 380 |
| Swap bathroom Shower & Wc – combined wet area – no charge | |
| Roller door to rear of garage | $ 900 |
| 2600mm high ceilings to ground floor in lieu of standard 2450mm | $ 5,500 |
| Electrical allowance | $ 5,000 |
| TOTAL | $ 615,530 |
29th April 2018 - We sent back a completed application form and paid the $1,200 deposit to Rawson Homes to lock in the current pricing and so the site survey & soil test could be arranged. Below is the standard Chifley 42 Plans we started with -
24th May 2018 - After going back & forth with Hennie on the different modifications & upgrades we'd like to make we ended up with the following "final" marked up plan -
We were given the following updated rough idea / estimate of costs by Hennie -
| Chifley 42 LUX with Classic Façade | $ 444,600 |
| Site costs, council costs | $ 70,000 |
| Demolition Allowance | $ 30,000 |
| Luxury Redefined | $ 4,990 |
| Plan Changes & extensions | $ 59,500 |
| Non standard Variations | $ 33,760 |
| Display Home Upgrades | $ 33,055 |
| Electrical Allowance | $ 5,000 |
| TOTAL | $ 680,905 |
We signed everything off so that our tender could start being prepared.
5th June 2018 - Our broker said that the Rawson payment schedule is rather front loaded with 25% at Slab Pour and that this may cause issues. We spoke with Hennie and he said he's sure something can be sorted out down the track to appease the bank.
This is what our broker provided as a more normal / acceptable schedule, would appreciate any wisdom people have here as I have no idea who to believe -
The response we got from Hennie seems to be pretty generic, again interested in others opinions on this -
"Rawson Homes is one of the largest builders in NSW. We have spent a lot of time calculating the costs that we outlay at each stage to ensure that we are not out of pocket when having to pay for materials and labour. The most costly stages of a build are slab, frame and brickwork. Before we even commence works on site, we have spent in excess of the $15,000 (5K Tender Acceptance & 10K Contract Signing Deposit) for a Knock Down Rebuild which has been paid by the client. This is a common occurrence for builders, due to the increased expense associated with council application fees, home owners warranty and expert reports (engineering, surveying, geotechnical etc).
We also carry out an annual review to ensure that on average across the houses that we have construct we cover the costs incurred whilst not charging too much. We can appreciate the banks position, but also we need to ensure that we are not taking on too much risk.
With this large volume of homes, the vast majority of banks accept our progress claims schedule without amendment. On the small percentage who require a change, the only change that is required, is to shift 5% from the slab claim to the frame claim.
You can request this variation with your Pre Construction Administrator after Tender Acceptance during the “Pre-Construction Process”
10th June 2018 - We received an email from Hennie telling us about the new "Unwrap your way to $70k" promo Rawson are doing compared to the "Luxury Redefined" promo. Basically it would mean the price of the Chifley 42 Classic would go up to $456,300 (compared to $444,600 previous pricing) and the "Unwrap your way to $70k" promo is $9,990 (compared to $4,990 with the "Luxury Redefined").
Had to do some thinking on this one but ultimately as the "Unwrap your way to $70k" would include a lot of extras we wanted it seemed to make financial sense to go for it so we agreed to the change. We are still going with the "Energy Saving Bonus" which gives the Tesla Powerwall, Inverter and Solar panels, etc, but decided not to go with the "Street Appeal Bonus" as there didn't seem to be any tiles or bricks that we particularly liked more than the standard
18th June 2018 - We received an email to book in our tender presentation and booked in for the 5th July 2018.
5th July 2018 - The tender presentation went pretty much as we thought it would and was great to also be able to look through a lot of the internal choices (eg. different tiles, taps, sinks, toilets, etc) at the Rawson head office showroom as we got there a little early so had a wander around. After getting some clarifications from our tender presenter (Gerry Fochesato) we signed the tender and paid the $5,000 deposit so things could continue.
6th June 2018 - Got some bad news about our proposed "almost 3 car" garage, going to have to reduce it to barely over a 2 car garage because we are on a corner block that is only just over 18m wide. We were very specific about wanting the bigger garage from our first discussions with Hennie so it's a bit of a pain this has only come up now ... there goes the idea for putting in racks for storage on the side of the garage
12th July 2018 - We received our "Tender B". I'm going to put this information here because when we were looking at other Rawson builds and trying to work out how much certain things we wanted would cost we couldn't really find any clear information so hopefully this helps someone if they're looking at similar modifications / upgrades. Sorry if it's a bit of a dog's breakfast.
Also I'd be interested to know if anyone else with more experience thinks we're getting ripped off on anything or if there are perhaps items we should remove and get done through separate contractors after we're in the house.
SITE COSTS
DEMOLITION & SITE CLEARING
SITE PREPARATION
CONCRETE SLAB
WATER CONNECTION
ELECTRICAL CONNECTION
SEWER CONNECTION
PIERING TO SLAB
STORMWATER CONNECTION
GAS CONNECTION
DRIVEWAY
RETAINING WALLS
TELECOMMUNICATION CONNECTION
WIND CLASSIFICATION
ACCESS FOR CONSTRUCTION
TOTAL SITE COSTS: $88,705
AUTHORITY CONDITIONS
CDC BUILDING REQUIREMENTS
AUTHORITY BUILDING REQUIREMENTS
TOTAL COUNCIL CONDITIONS: $3,140
CLIENT VARIATION REQUEST
PROMOTION
40th Anniversary Promotion 1 - UNWRAP YOUR WAY TO $70K*
$9,990
PLAN CHANGES
-= GROUND FLOOR =-
Provide approximately 5980mm (L) x 830mm (W) extension to Garage towards side boundary, provide approximately 5200mm (W) Garage opening including Panelift Garage door to suit;
$3,660
Provide approximately 1960mm (L) x 600mm (W) extension to Ground Floor Powder towards side boundary, including reconfiguring as per sketch, provide one x additional Lux standard Shower with standard tapware to suit, provide one x aluminium sliding window to suit;
$6,075
Reconfigure Dining, Lounge and Theatre as per sketch, including rename Theatre as Study, provide one x 2340mm (H) x 820mm (W) flush panel hinged door in lieu of standard opening to Study, rename Lounge as Theatre including provide two x 2340mm (H) x 720mm (W) flush panel cavity sliding doors with platinum 3000 cavity sliding door pockets to suit in lieu of standard opening
$1,820
Reconfigure Kitchen as per sketch including delete standard Butler's Pantry and Walk in Pantry, provide new sink run along rear elevation including underbench cupboards to suit;
($1,690)
Provide Butlers Pantry to previous Dining room (refer Seaview 36 Display at Homeworld V as a guide only), including approximately 2800mm (W) 40mm Standard range Caesarstone benchtop with underbench and overhead cupboards to suit, provide one x aluminium fixed splashback window in lieu of standard, provide single Clark Monaco undermount sink including Stylus Venecia mixer tap including polishing of Caesarstone to suit, provide approximately 2800mm (W) laminate tall unit Pantry to opposite wall; and
$11,385
Provide approximately 4590mm (L) x 1290mm (W) extension to Family towards side boundary, aligning with Laundry to suit.
$5,285
-= FIRST FLOOR =-
Provide approximately 4590mm (L) x 1290mm (W) extension to Bedroom 3 towards side elevation to suit extension below, relocate BIR to side elevation, relocate Bedroom 4 BIR to Bedroom 3 to suit, extend Bedroom 2 WIR and Linen to suit previous BIR space;
$ 5,410
Relocate separate WC to Main Bathroom, relocating Shower to suit;
($ 250)
Provide approximately 500mm (L) x 3720mm (W) extension to Bedroom 5 towards front boundary, reducing Lounge to suit; and
Note
Provide approximately 1100mm (L) x 6790mm (W) extension to Bedroom 1 towards rear boundary, reducing Lounge to suit and reducing void to suit.
$750
-= NON STANDARD VARIATIONS =-
Provide upgrade to 'Daikin' Premium Inverter 20KW ducted air conditioning with two zones in lieu of 14KW Standard Inverter, due to house over 35 squares
Included
Provide two x additional air conditioning zones
$900
Provide 2040mm (H) x 820mm (W) flush panel cavity sliding door in lieu of standard opening to Bedroom 1 Ensuite
$450
Provide 2040mm (H) x 820mm (W) flush panel cavity sliding door in lieu of standard to Bedroom 1/Bedroom 4
$450
Provide one x aluminium fixed corner window (AFW1625SP/AFW1630SP) in lieu of standard to Family (refer closed Chifley 42 display at Gledswood Hills as a guide only)
$1,450
Delete BIR's to Bedroom 1 (Client to install fitout after handover)
($ 1,020)
Provide R2.5 Soundscreen insulation to between floor joists (Living areas only, excludes over Garage)
$4,380
Provide approximately 950mm (H) vanities throughout dwelling
Note
Provide 10mm fully frameless Shower Screens in lieu of standard semi-frameless throughout dwelling
$5,220.00
Provide one x external gas bayonet point to Alfresco
$380
Provide solidcore flush panel hinged door in lieu of standard to Garage internal access
$160
Provide R2.5 Glasswool insulation to Garage and Alfresco ceilings
$695
Provide a capped off cold water point to fridge space
$380
Provide 60mm Standard range Caesarstone in lieu of 'Promotion' 40mm to Kitchen Cooktop run and 1200mm (W) x 2000mm (L) Island Bench including two x waterfall ends
$3,675
Provide approximately 950mm (H) Kitchen Cooktop run and Island Bench in lieu of standard
Note
Provide 40mm Standard range Caesarstone benchtop in lieu of 'Promotion' laminate benchtop to Laundry fitout
$545
Provide 2100mm (H) Stegbar framed mirror sliding robe doors in lieu of two x standard hinged doors to Bedroom 5 BIR Note: Minimum 1200mm (W) opening
$350
Provide standard range ceramic floor tiling (selected from Rawson Homes extensive range) in lieu of broom finished concrete to Porch.
$435
Provide concealed leaf guard protection to standard gutter and valleys
$4,325
Provide one x additional garden tap to rear of dwelling
$380
Provide single colorbond roller door in lieu of standard range facebrick to rear of Garage
$800
Provide one x aluminium bi-fold door (ABW2427-3) in lieu of standard to Family/Alfresco, including recessed sills to suit
$2,915
-= DISPLAY HOME UPGRADES =-
Refer to Chifley 40 Display at Emerald Hills as a guide only 26 Provide Square set ceiling junctions to Ground Floor and First Floor
$3,990 throughout
Provide Gainsborough Angular passage and privacy sets (Code: 1800ANGSC & 1805ANGSC) in lieu of standard throughout dwelling
$275
Provide Feature aluminium fixed window (AFW772x2410SP) with no bottom reveal in lieu of standard to Office
$55
Provide Feature two storey plasterboard niche including full height vertical Cedar shiplap cladding (78mm x 26mm) (Stain finish as selected) in lieu of standard to Hallway including 180mm framed wall to suit.
$2,930
Provide aluminium awning window (AAW2424SP) with no bottom reveal in lieu of standard to Lounge
$195
Provide Two x Hafele No.15 pull out unit with Loox lighting strip in lieu of standard cabinetry to Cooktop run
$620
Provide Full height laminate overhead cabinetry in lieu of standard to Cooktop run and Pantry
$1,020
Provide One x Hafele concealed drawer to Cooktop run
$180
Provide Aluminium fixed window (AFW2306) with no bottom reveal in lieu of standard to Pantry
$55
Provide Aluminium fixed window (AFW2318) with no bottom reveal in lieu of standard to Family/Dining
$210
Provide Recessed slab setdowns in lieu of standard to Ground Floor wet areas
$600
Provide Full height ceramic wall tiling in lieu of standard to Ground Floor Powder
$1,995
Provide 300mm Caesarstone apron in lieu of standard to Ground Floor Powder Vanity
$890
Provide Recessed wet areas to First Floor in lieu of standard Drafting Note: Highlight recessed wet areas
$1,050
Provide 140mm Caesarstone apron in lieu of standard to two x Bedroom 1 Ensuite Vanities
$1,230
Provide 140mm Caesarstone fascia in lieu of standard to Main Bathroom Vanity
$680
Provide Full height ceramic wall tiling in lieu of standard to Bedroom 2 Ensuite
$1,995
Provide NX8 Series alarm system with three sensors, including single power point and additional phone point.
$1,290
-= PROVISIONAL ALLOWANCES =-
Provide allowance for Staircase upgrades: PROVISIONAL ALLOWANCE
$7,000
Provide allowance for Tiling upgrades: PROVISIONAL ALLOWANCE
$3,000
Provide allowance for Electrical upgrades: PROVISIONAL ALLOWANCE
$5,000
Provide allowance for Kitchen Servery upgrades: PROVISIONAL ALLOWANCE
$2,500
Provide allowance for Under Tile Heating upgrades: PROVISIONAL ALLOWANCE
$4,000
Provide allowance for Internal Wall insulation upgrades: PROVISIONAL ALLOWANCE
$3,000
TOTAL CLIENT VARIATION REQUEST: $107,845
SUMMARY
Package Price: $456,300
Additional Site Costs: $88,705
Additional Authority Requirements: $3,140
Client Variation Request: $107,845
Tender Fee Paid: -$1,200
The total cost to construct is: $654,790
16th July 2018 - Had previously contacted McDonald Contracting, a company specialising in moving homes to see if there was a possibility of someone perhaps wanting to buy the house on the block. Turns out they can have a chap pop around tomorrow to look at the house and check things out but the person I spoke to in the office thinks the house is lovelly and wouldn't have any troubles finding someone who would want to buy & move it.
17th July 2018 - In good news settlement of the property went to plan and we now own the house & land, in bad news McDonald Contracting says the house is too big and that they would never get approval (assume from council?) to move it. Very strange as I had provided them with the address and real estate ad for the house showing pictures and the plan so I'm not sure why they initially would have even said it was possible or sent someone out to look at the house without looking at that information first - oh well, plan B .... Does anyone know a good demolition company in Sydney that also does some salvage to try and keep the demolition costs low!?!
23rd July 2018 - We have been contacted by our pre-construction administrator at Rawson (Simone Brummell) who advised our file is with drafting to begin on our application plans. Once these are ready we'll have our plan presentation and the external colour variation meetings which should take about half a day for both meetings.
There was also a note about a drafting variation so will be interesting to see what this is for.
31st July 2018 - We received our application plans from Rawson and booked in our plan presentation for the 16th August 2018. All of a sudden we realised that although we've been out to Austral Bricks & PGH to look at tiles and bricks we haven't actually deciding on everything such as the front door, timberwork, driveway colour, cladding colours, fascia, gutter, downpipes, rainwater tank, window frames etc .. Crud, looks like we'll have some busy weekends ahead of us to make sure these things are locked down.
8th August 2018 - We received the drafting variation from Simone at Rawson, looks like a slight change to the site preparation, slight change in some windows needed but a big one is they seem to have not included the bifold windows from the kitchen to the alfresco in any of the original costings despite this clearly being requested multiple times and on all the plans (even the application plans we were sent had the bifold windows on them!?)
Do we have any recourse on this seeing as we have already signed a tender that should have included this or basically is it a case of it doesn't matter if they were depicted on the plans, if the cost was left off the tender due to an error on Rawson's part either we have to just cough it up if we want it or if we don't it's a case of too bad, no bifolds then?
10th August 2018 - That basically brings everything up to date so a busy weekend ahead of finalising all the external colours and getting this information over to Rawson before our plan presentation meeting on Thursday next week.
Based on a suggestion from KateAndDuke in another thread I've spent the best part of the nights this week modelling up the house in Live Home 3D (http://www.livehome3d.com) so I could play around with the external bricks / colours, etc so I will post up some images of the different combinations we're thinking of but unfortunately even though I've used the images from Austral Bricks & PGH websites specifically for 3D modellings I think the way the bricks look in real life / different lights will likely be very different so will really have to try and make sure we see lots of houses with the different combinations on the weekend.
Still needing to find a good demolition company in Sydney, preferably one that also does some salvage to try and reduce the cost as they house we need to get rid of was only recently renovated so a lot of the internals should be good
Similarly if anyone looks over the costings in our tender above and thinks there is anything we should scrap from the Rawson build and get done later after completion as it will be cheaper please let me know, always looking to save $$$$$.
This is my first build post so if I've done anything wrong or posted up any information I shouldn't have please also let me know and I'll edit it out. Thanks in advance, hope people find this useful and looking forward to hearing any suggestions everyone has.