Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 22, 2019 10:24 pm Hi folks, I have been looking around various model home builders and when comparing price vs inclusions, I have found Rawson prices to be much higher than others. I'm building in Ryde NSW and the sales consultant advised that the site cost could be as high as $130,000 based on previous developments in the area! When consulting others such as Kurmond, Masterton or McDonald Jones, they gasp when I mention the huge site cost. There's approx a $100K difference in price for a similar house with inclusions. Rawson says that they're upfront with their cost and they pride themselves with being upfront and fix their price whereas others will hide this upfront and hit you during construction. Those who have dealt with other builders, do you get 'upgrade' or 'additional' cost surprises during the build where for instance other construction-related costs get added, therefore increasing the overall cost from what was proposed in the tender? For instance traffic management, construction access e.g. double-handling of materials, marine, wind classification, etc. I'd rather deal with a company that is transparent with their pricing so I know what I'm up for but am in 2 minds whether the security of upfront cost with Rawson is too steep but fixed or going with someone like Kurmond or others would be cheaper but during construction will hand me invoices for additional charges that were not covered in the initial tender consideration. I haven't gone to tender yet and I just can't get any straight answers from builders it's mind-boggling how there's no consistency in pricing. Am I the only one confused? Any experience with builders will be much appreciated. Re: Selecting a Builder - Rawson high upfront site costs 2Sep 22, 2019 11:02 pm Did they even come out and take a look at your block? Would be good to know how they come up with that figure. They may have done some ground testing in the area that shows the ground needs some special prep or something. Ask them to justify the cost - if they can't, then look elsewhere! Follow our progress at: https://the35thweek.blogspot.com Canberra knockdown rebuild https://the35thweek.blogspot.com Re: Selecting a Builder - Rawson high upfront site costs 3Sep 23, 2019 12:13 pm Do you know if the sales consultant is saying that's what Rawson would charge or what you need to budget for, for example adding in demo costs, council contributions etc? Can you tell us more about the block you are building on? Sloping block/busy road/reactive soil/CDC or DA? Re: Selecting a Builder - Rawson high upfront site costs 4Sep 23, 2019 3:27 pm A colleague of mine is out >$40,000 in additional site costs with Kurmond in the Ryde area.. He just finished in late August. His build is also a KDR. All of these costs were either just before he commenced building or during the build, so at that point you don't really have an option but to pay them.. Re: Selecting a Builder - Rawson high upfront site costs 5Sep 23, 2019 4:39 pm You'll have to pay the tender price so they can do a site survey etc before you can get some firming pricing, although that also starts the clock ticking on when you have to accept the tender by etc. Re: Selecting a Builder - Rawson high upfront site costs 6Sep 24, 2019 10:22 pm Hi all, Thanks for your responses. The sales consultant advised that based on previous Rawson builds in Ryde, additional site costs we need to prepare for will be between $90K - $130K, depending on site condition, slope, etc. It's what we need to budget for. Note, the estimated additional site cost of ~$130K is on top of the following which is already firmly priced: 1. Site Pre including event cut & fill 2. Council and Authorities including council fees, homeowner warranty, private certification fees 3. BASIX/EERS There is a slight slop from front to back, it's on a quiet street, facing a power pole. It's not in a flood or bush fire prone area although it is backing a major arterial road so we may need sound proofing, etc. I've paid the initial $1,200 for Rawson to conduct the soil and contour tests. We're having our tender review soon which I was told would give me a better indication of the actual site cost that I'll be up for. It's just when talking to other developers, they don't include these in their initial quote. I guess I'll just have to wait until the tender is out to know what I'm really up for. Demolition is separate. I've opted to do it ourselves. We're opting to go CDC in hoping to get a quicker turnaround. Re: Selecting a Builder - Rawson high upfront site costs 7Sep 24, 2019 10:37 pm Huhness, I enjoy reading your chifley37 blog and how you've gone through the journey. There's a lot we'll learn from what others have gone through. Who else did you shortlist and what were the main reasons you decided to go with Rawson? Did you also notice how pricing variations between builders? Re: Selecting a Builder - Rawson high upfront site costs 8Sep 25, 2019 12:35 am jokster @Huhness, I enjoy reading your chifley37 blog and how you've gone through the journey. There's a lot we'll learn from what others have gone through. Who else did you shortlist and what were the main reasons you decided to go with Rawson? Did you also notice how pricing variations between builders? Thanks jokster ! We actually went 6 months into the building process with Mojo Homes, we were going to build the Soul 40. We learnt a tonne in those 6 months, well worth the $3,000 tender fee. I won't go into why we didn't end up going with Mojo, water under the bridge now.. We were going to build the Soul 40, the initial price came in at about the same price as the Chifley 37. But, Rawson include flooring and a driveway and their sale at the time was better for us. Then when we tried to spec the Soul the way we wanted the price at the end of the colour consultation was just over $110,000! That didn't include any flooring. Where with Rawson we got the same or better spec for just over $50,000. Pile as many things you want into the initial tender, I felt the prices were better as there was more attention from the estimation team, then you can accept or remove the items all you like. Rawson were much more upfront with costs and while it probably depends on your sales person, they really quoted everything as a worse case scenario for us and the price came down as things were confirmed. I can't say what the final price of the Mojo house would've been, we never got a final contract price, just lots on provisional sums. I do know now that there are many things which we would of had to change to meet new BASIX requirements and our council requirements which Mojo's compliance team completely missed, all of which Rawson were upfront about. Re: Selecting a Builder - Rawson high upfront site costs 9Oct 01, 2019 11:41 pm Thanks for sharing your experience Huhness. So, we finally had our tender presentation at Rawson's main office in Rhodes yesterday. Pretty confronting. the additional site cost ended up being $100K. Sales quoted $130K. That was a relief. They do quote for the worst-case scenario. This included the stormwater allowance, additional H1 slab, tiger tails, electrical pole, etc. So much additional cost that you can't see adding value to your home Going through CDC to hopefully shorten the approval process. There are a few restrictions but we're willing to compromise. We had a minor issue on the siting as the alfresco side extension we opted for could not fit the inward tapered nature of our block. Looking at options to see how we can extend it to the back instead of the side. We did pile as much stuff in the tender and Rawson said we can augment the internals as required on succeeding appointments once the approvals are sent through. What I'm finding encouraging about the Rawson process is that they present you with a capped price and provide allowances for certain things based on similar previous builds. If it goes over their allowance, they'll wear the cost and if it ended up being less, we get it back as credit. Fair deal. So far so good. I am not sure whether Perth has its own way of doing things in regards to this. Most of Perth has class A (sandy soil), except for some areas near rivers or hills. 2 8238 Is anyone building with Mojo and have a recent site cost tender 0 12156 Just started the Build process for Chifley 42 with Rawson homes, will keep you all posted with the Build progress. 0 1081 |