KDR - Rawson Balmoral (Modified) Sydney NSW

Week 24 Construction
Just a little bit of final progress in the week winding down for the XMAS break...

• Upper storey downpipes installed
• Upper storey expansion joints sealed
• Feature column at front facade painted
• Upper storey eaves painted
• Upper storey cladding painted
• Upper storey downpipes painted
• External tap outside laundry replumbed to the recycled supply (was mistakenly connected to the drinking water supply)
• Dent in roof repaired

Hi
Was your build a KDR?
If so did you go thru Rawson for the KD?
Some advice on that would be great.
Also what was the negotiation process like and who did you go thru if you don’t mind sharing?
Finally, how upfront were they about the costs and was there any hidden surprises prior to signing?
Thanks for all your photos
Good to see the process

Hi
So you went with the Rawson Oxford
Can you share if there were any surprises from them prior to signing contracts? Did they throw you and additional inclusions?
Which package did you end up choosing the Luxury or Prestige and did you notice the difference? It would be great to see some photos of the build if you can share

Hello,
Looking great! Could I please ask what colour is your brick, and which brick company its from?
Many thanks
Emma

Check the first page, it has his selections listed.

Weeks 25, 26 & 27... XMAS break

Week 28 Construction
So, the XMAS holidays are over and the builder was back at work this week...

• Scaffolding lowered & reconfigured (after upper roof and external walls completed prior to XMAS)
• Slab concrete repairs carried out ( alfresco rebate and porch step down)
• Ground floor roof trusses repaired (previously damaged by other trades)
• Alfresco roof trusses installed
• Additional noggins installed (for towel rail supports, etc)
• Materials delivered for ground floor facia and guttering install next week

Hi original collector,

Yep, our build was KDR... we knocked down a small 2 bedroom brick cottage with original bathroom and kitchen. It was overdue for either knockdown or renovation and we purchased it in 2017 with the intention to KDR. There's some photo's of the original house and the demolition in post #2 viewtopic.php?p=1874853#p1874853

We organised the demolition ourselves. Rawson will do the demolition for you if you want, but they'll tell you that they'll just subcontract it to one of the same companies as you would but add a markup for their time/effort. I got the impression that they preferred you to organise it yourself.

The way I went about engaging the demo contractor was firstly to think about and research our requirements and write it down in a scope document. Reading other peoples experience here on the forum helped a lot with this. I arranged for most of the services to be disconnected/abolished directly with the service providers (electrical, telephone, optus, NBN), excepting water (required for the demo) and the sewer. We also had a couple of extra requests (help moving a tree and a spa). This all went into the scope document which we sent to about a dozen companies requesting a quotation (many of the company names sourced from these forums, but also google search). We received seven quotations and it was clear that half of them didn't bother to read the scope document, merely providing a generic/standard quotation that ignored the fact that most of the services had been disconnected/abolished already and also ignoring any of our special requests. That made the evaluation easier as those quotes went straight in the bin. At that point it came down to 3 companies and after a bit of clarification we chose ECO Demolition.

ECO Demolition weren't the cheapest or the dearest. We chose them because the price was reasonable and during clarification talks we simply got a good feeling about them... they listened to any of our requests and were happy to work with us on the tree and spa relocation. They were very upfront about the pricing, there were some possible additional costs highlighted in their quote which had clearly stated rates. Two that might have applied to us were Concrete Cutting and Hidden Material/Asbestos however there were no surprises, no additional charges were incurred, what they quoted for was what they charged. Nothing we asked was a problem for them and they certainly went the extra mile... on the last day during the final cleanup they even went around and nailed back a bunch of loose palings on the fence and they erected my temporary fence which I had stored ready to put up after they had left. ECO demolition were a pleasure to work with and I simply cannot recommend them highly enough.

Hi Emma12,

Our brick is called Maddox. It's from The Avenue range by Daniel Robertson (a company owned by Austral). You can see more about it in the brochure here http://bbp.style/PUBLIC/products/brochu ... re-NAT.pdf As luxbuild pointed out, all our external selections are listed in post #12 viewtopic.php?p=1877371#p1877371

We found choosing bricks to be a little difficult... the bricks in a brochure or on a computer screen and even at the small wall at the display centre look so different to on an actual house. Fortunately, if you ask, the brick suppliers will hand out a list of addresses of houses you can drive past to have a look. We were actually leaning towards the Stratton (also from the Daniel Robertson The Avenue range) until we went and looked at the bricks on actual houses.

The brick we really would have liked was the Mowbray Blue or the Bowral Blue, however these had an upgrade price of over $20K which is just not good value for money. The Maddox brick that we went with was only a $1K upgrade (for a 38 square sized house).

Thank you so much super helpful!! Teally appreciate this.

Week 29 Construction
Our SS had indicated that the ground floor roofs would get installed this week but it wasn't to be, we're looking forward to the house getting more weather tight so hopefully that will get done next week. Nonetheless, a bunch of other stuff got done...

• Ground floor fascias and gutters installed
• Additional temporary safety barricades installed around ground floor roof areas
• AC electrical rough in completed
• AC indoor unit, refrigerant piping, condensate drains, dampers and ducts installed

Week 30 & 31 Construction
Week 30 was a little bit slow but finally the ground floor roofs were completed and now it feels like momentum has returned after the XMAS break...

• Ground floor roof install completed
• Skylight measure was completed
• Spreader downpipes were installed and painted
• Glass in fixed windows installed
• Front deck eave sheets removed and replaced/reinstalled
• Front deck installed
• Scaffold to the right hand side and alfresco removed

Week 32 & 33 Construction
The pace has really picked up, lot's of good progress being made...

• Lower brick clean completed
• Lower roof rail removed
• Render to the blueboard of the deck completed
• Deck eave and balustrade paint completed
• Deck balustrade metal capping installed
• Electrical rough in completed
• Rangehood ducting installed
• Lower eaves completed
• Stacker doors installed
• Pre-lining inspections carried out

Week 34 & 35 Construction
What a difference a couple of weeks make, the internal linings are in and the place is looking more like a house than a construction site....

• Ceiling, floor and wall insulation installed
• Internal lining materials delivered to site
• Issues from pre-lining inspection rectified
• Gas meter installed and connected to mains
• Plaster install and setting completed
• Plaster sand completed
• Lower downpipes installed
• Staircase installation started

Week 36 Construction
The great progress continues...

• Rainwater tanks delivered and lifted into position by crane
• Plumbers relocated the first floor bathroom shower head, shower mixer and shower floor drain ( which weren't centralised within the shower)
• Plumbers cut up the floor slab and relocated the ground floor shower room floor drains (which weren't located as per plans)
• Termite protection reinstated for the relocated shower room floor drains
• First stage waterproofing installed in ground floor laundry & shower room and first floor ensuite & bathroom
• Fixout material and hardware delivered

Week 37 Construction
We have reached lockup stage and the internal fixout is well underway...

• Second stage waterproofing completed
• Internal fixout carpentry commenced
• Kitchen cabinets delivered and installed
• Bathroom vanity cabinets delivered and installed
• Rainwater tank plumbing completed
• Stone benchtop measurement completed
• Stair plaster patch completed

Week 38 Construction
Another busy week with lots of work getting done. The bathroom vanities and shaving cabinets were installed at too low a height. Fortunately we noticed it before the tiling was started so it it wasn't too difficult to remove and reinstall them. At this stage we're quite happy with how the house is turning out...

• Bathroom vanities & shaving cabinets removed & reinstalled
• Internal fixout carpentry completed
• Stair patch sanding completed
• Internal painting commenced
• Second stage waterproofing inspection completed
• Underfloor heating installed
• Baths delivered
• Tiles delivered

Week 39 Construction
This week the tiling of the wet areas got underway. They've been hard at it all week... in fact the tiler worked the Easter Friday public holiday and the painter worked the Easter Saturday & Sunday public holidays...

• Front deck handrail & privacy screen installed
• Caesarstone benches installed
• Basins installed
• Under tile cement screed installed
• Ensuite and Bathroom vanity mixer height corrected
• Laundry, shower room, ensuite & bathroom floor tiling installed
• Bath hob walls installed

Bathroom & Ensuite Internal Colours/Tiling Selections
FLOORS Montaze Grey Matt 300X300
WALLS (full height) Urban White Gloss 300X600
FEATURE WALL Montaze Grey Gloss 300X600
FEATURE BACKSPLASH Oden Grigio Gloss Herringbone 20 X 100
VANITY BENCHTOP Caesarstone Snow
VANITY CABINET Polytec Bottega Oak Woodmatt


Shower Room Internal Colours/Tiling Selections
FLOORS Aurora Grey Matt 300X300
WALLS (full height) Classic Carrara Gloss 300X450
VANITY BENCHTOP Caesarstone Snow
VANITY CABINET Polytec Bottega Oak Woodmatt


Laundry Internal Colours/Tiling Selections
FLOORS Capstone Dark Grey Matt 500x500
SPLASHBACK Urban White Gloss 300X600
BENCHTOP Ceaserstone Snow
CABINETS Polytec Thermolaminate Classic White Matt

Week 40 Construction
This week mainly just painting of the internal walls/ceilings and tiling of the wet areas. Also, the bricklayer returned to brick under the alfresco stacker doors and to redo the brick sill under the window splashback window after the window height had been adjusted to suit the installed bench level...

Week 41 & 42 Construction
Week 41 was mainly just painting & tiling so it seemed a little slow, but week 42 was quite busy with lots of visual progress...

• Internal & external painting mostly completed
• AC fit off completed
• Overhead electrical connection from street pole completed
• Electrical meter installation requested from distributor (AGL)
• Plumbing fit off completed
• Electrical fit off mostly completed
• Wardobe shelf fitout completed
• Tiling of wet areas completed

Week 43 Construction
43 weeks is the amount of time stated in the contract to reach practical completion... subject to certain caveats, such as rain delays, etc. So week 43 has now come and gone, but to be frank, we'd rather they build us a good house than a quick house, and at this stage it certainly seems that they're building us a nice house. Week 43 was a little bit slow as our SS, who currently has 13 houses to build, took a well deserved 4 day weekend. Nonetheless, some useful work got done...

• Internal door handles fitted
• Upstairs floors sanded flat in preparation for carpet laying
• Garage door installed

Also, we're eagerly waiting on AGL to have the electricity meter installed. We requested it on April 16 (soon after the overhead electricity line was installed) and AGL are supposed to get it done within 6 business days, but we're at 12 business days and still waiting...