KDR - Rawson Balmoral (Modified) Sydney NSW

We're doing a knockdown/rebuild with Rawson Homes. We've completed the preconstruction administration and our file was handed over to construction on the 1st July. The design is based on the Balmoral 34 but is modified to suit our block and has an equivalent floor area of a Balmoral 38. The plans are posted below..

Demolition
The original house was of double brick & tile construction with two bedrooms and the original kitchen and bathroom. We purchased the property with the intention to knockdown and rebuild. Demolition commenced straight after Easter 2020.

Firstly the asbestos eaves were removed and then the roof tiles...

Part way through demolition...

Demolition completed. ECO Demolition did a great job, we're so glad we went with them...

Good luck with the build. Looking forward to seeing it go up!

Good luck Rob, the design looks really great. Specially I loved the Workshop you have planned for.
Where are you building in Sydney ? Have you got any Estimation to complete the work ?

Thanks Steve. The preconstruction administration was a real grind, we're looking forward to putting that behind us and seeing it get built.

Thanks Vin. Workshops can never be too big. We're in the Sydney southern suburbs, the St George area. Contract says the standard 43 weeks for completion.

Week 1 Construction
Our SS only received our file at the end of the previous week but he was straight into it... during week 1 the site portaloo was delivered, temporary construction fence & site signs were installed, sediment fencing installed, pegout completed and trucks started bringing soil to build up the ground to the required floor level.





On the morning of the day that Rawson took over the site there was a large rainbow in the sky after some light rain, we're taking it as a good omen...

Thanks for posting, Rob.
We are just in the process of signing up with Rawson Homes for a Oxford 24 in Sutherland.
How long was your preconstruction phase? We were told 6 months preconstruction plus 8 months construction.
Good luck with your build.

Hey Foxpro, 5-6 months is the basic (including council approvals) what it takes to reach on the construction stage. I tried to keep the process very fast and still it took 5 months to complete the pre-construction. So try to have clarity on what you want on the 1st interactions, keep the paper movement turn around quick and you should be able to complete the stage in with in 5 months.

Hi foxpro. Our preconstruction phase was abnormal and quite possibly the longest on record. No point making any comparisons against our experience. Thankfully that's all behind us, we're looking forwards now and focusing on the construction...

Week 2 Construction
We lost the first couple of days due to some rain but they were back on the job on Wednesday and quickly finished bringing in and levelling the fill.

Week 3 Construction
It was a busy and productive week...

• Pier & slab excavation, pier inspections and pier pour were completed.
• Formwork was started.
• Internal drainage was completed.
• Installation of reinforcing steel was commenced.

Week 4 Construction
Another busy and productive week...

• Slab formwork was completed
• Waffle pod and slab reinforcing steel installations were completed
• Formwork inspections and slab reinforcing steel inspections completed
• Slab pour was completed

All this was complicated by some untimely wet weather..
Sunday 26/7/20, 5mm of rain
Monday 27/7/20, 74mm of rain
Tuesday 28/7/20, 26mm of rain

Despite the waterlogged site the guys from Nicsons Concrete pushed on in the difficult conditions and got the slab poured later in the week

Week 5 Construction
The slab was left to cure so it was a very quiet week. Quite boring actually... a bit like, well, err, watching concrete cure. The only things that happened were the foam blocks forming the brick rebates under the porch & alfresco slabs were removed and the concrete pits for the external drainage were delivered.

This is a photo from our External Colours Appointment which shows our selected colour scheme...


External Colour Selections
Main Brick: Austral The Avenue - Maddox (EXP)
Mortar Colour: Off White
Brick Joints: Ironed
Main Roof: Colorbond Monument
Gutter: Colorbond Monument
Fascia: Colorbond Surfmist
Barge: Colorbond Monument
Rainwater Tank: Colorbond Monument
Metal Capping: Colorbond Monument
Windows & Flyscreens: Custom Black (equivalent to Colorbond Night Sky)
Front Door: 2340mm(H)x1020mm(W) Infinity INF 5VG with clear glazing
Front Door Sidelights: Two x Stegbar Breezway Louvre Sidelights, 475mm(W), 152mm blades, clear glazing, one x fixed upper blade, split top & bottom blades to be opened independently, low profile handles & keylocks
Garage Door: Seville profile, Woodgrain Finish, Knotwood Southern Cedar
Driveway: Avista Gunmetal coloured concrete

External Paint Schedule
Front Middle Pier: Taubmans Knight Grey T15 27.6
Matrix Cladding: Taubmans Smokehaze T161-4
Stria Cladding: Taubmans Wise Owl T15 33.2
Front Door & Frame: Quantum Tint Light Oak x 2 Coats
Eaves: Taubmans Crisp White T15 3.1
Decking: Quantum Tint Light Oak x 2 Coats
Laundry Door & Frame: Taubmans Wise Owl T15 33.2
Garage Exit Door & Frame: Taubmans Wise Owl T15 33.2
Meter Box: Taubmans Monument CB 66
Downpipes: Taubmans Monument CB 66
A/C Elec Cover: Taubmans Monument CB 66

Looks Good Rob. Have you got your Frames ordered ? Hopefully if the weather remains good, next 4-6 weeks you will be able to see the external structure of the house.

Is it safe to have the form exposed from the slab like that?

The foam on the face of the slab is to be bricked. They simply burn or smash the foam to reveal the void. Personally, it was a crappy job on my alfresco and I chipped it all off and rendered it. Stupid idea with waffle slab.

My suggestion, get rawson to fix it but rendering it. No matter how they finish it, it looks bad.

Hopefully it doesn't effect the structural strength along the edge.

Thanks Vin. Frames will arrive soon, but in the mean time the next thing they plan to install is the external drainage. How's your house coming along? Haven't seen any new pictures on your thread for a couple of weeks.

Steve is correct, the foam you can see is used to form a rebate in the drop edge beam for brickwork under the porch and alfresco slab. The foam has been subsequently removed. It looks reasonably neat at the front porch but the alfresco is a bit crappy... the foam moved during the pour and the concrete lines are crooked.

It'll be fine, the bricks in the rebate under the alfresco slab are mostly cosmetic.