Browse Forums Building A New House Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 21Mar 24, 2019 8:29 pm Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 22Mar 24, 2019 8:41 pm Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 23Mar 24, 2019 9:02 pm Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 24Mar 25, 2019 8:31 am I had a mate who shortly after moving in had his sewer banking up into the house. The culprit was an empty coke can in the sewer lines, so yeah I guess it would be good practice to cap off these lines, but in the real world no builder is going to do that... Good luck with the build, it sure is a headache and I can agree with you when you feel like you spend considerable time going over mistakes made during the admin stage that really should have been done by rawson admin. To even get the ball rolling the sales staff were pretty poor from my view, I had to do my own sketch on the block, with modifications we wanted (even though we had gone over all of the floorplan mods and additions verbally with sales staff) From a consumers perspective you're spending a considerable amount of $, yet I can also see they're snowed under with work with so many builds going on at once... Good luck with your build, looks impressive already! Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 25May 15, 2019 9:28 pm Hi Jimb00, I’ve just read all your updates and they are most useful ! I am surprised how long it’s taken though since you started the admin April last year. We are looking to build a Chifley as well.. eager to see your finished place! Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 26Jul 17, 2019 10:33 pm Just catching up with your build.. great to see the progress. Agree 100% with the electrical appointment.. sounds like you went in more prepared then we were but ours went quickly and without fuss too. I don't think they allow enough time some of the other appointments, I understand they aren't there for a design consultation but I think even an extra 30 minutes would help considering how long we are going to live with the choices. Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 27Jul 18, 2019 10:07 am Ok everyone, sorry for the lack of replies & updates but my attention has been elsewhere as something else which has been building finally got finalised back on the 7th May albeit very prematurely, so the last few months I haven't had much time rather than doing a bit of a drive by to take progress photos and then head back home. The excuse for lack of updates you might ask, our new identical twin girls - Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Now that I've got that news out of the way I can continue with some replies & updates. Really need this build to hurry up as the girls are carrying on about wanting their own space already, they grow up so fast! Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 29Jul 18, 2019 1:10 pm DR-JEKL I had a mate who shortly after moving in had his sewer banking up into the house. The culprit was an empty coke can in the sewer lines, so yeah I guess it would be good practice to cap off these lines, but in the real world no builder is going to do that... Good luck with the build, it sure is a headache and I can agree with you when you feel like you spend considerable time going over mistakes made during the admin stage that really should have been done by rawson admin. To even get the ball rolling the sales staff were pretty poor from my view, I had to do my own sketch on the block, with modifications we wanted (even though we had gone over all of the floorplan mods and additions verbally with sales staff) From a consumers perspective you're spending a considerable amount of $, yet I can also see they're snowed under with work with so many builds going on at once... Good luck with your build, looks impressive already! God that sounds like a ballache to fix depending on what was then above that section of sewer, fingers crossed Rawson are a bit more careful. When I queried it our SS said - "In regards to the front stormwater pipe for the driveway grate the plumber will check all pipes for any debris, and that pipe will be checked before the driveway is poured." I think everyone has the same experience with Rawson in that things they discuss with their staff just got ignored or forgotten and then the customer has to pay the price for their inaction which isn't fair at all. Another great one we got back in March was an unexpected $6,348.68 bill / letter of demand from council for a fixed levy under Section 7.21 (94EC) which basically is a 1% levy from the council for any CDC development under $3,000,000 to go towards upkeep of council infrastructure from what I understand. The letter said that after the CDC was approved on the 26th November 2018 and council had notified the certifier (DM Certifiers Pty Ltd) back on the 12th December 2018 that this levy would need to be paid (it should have been paid before work commenced!) and that work should stop immediately until either the amount is paid or council is advised of how it will be paid. It also stated that the certifier would be referred to the Building Professionals Board to investigate their professional conduct. We were never told anything about this levy by Rawson or by the certifier nor had we been sent anything to make payment on it previously, so it came as a complete shock to us that the council was now telling us that work would need to stop until it was resolved. There was nothing mentioned in the approval conditions of the CDC approval provided by DM Certifiers Pty Ltd. When I called Rawson to investigate we were told it's nothing to do with them as it's a fee from the council not them. I told them that seeing as they are arranging / managing the build and costs which includes plenty of other fees from various other parties (hydraulic engineer, certifier, council fees for the CDC, etc) I can't understand how they think that this isn't something they should have known about and informed us about as part of the costs. They said that we should speak to the certifier as they feel DM Certifiers Pty Ltd should have been the ones to advise us of this. We followed up with DM Certifiers Pty Ltd and they said that a member of their staff had called council on the 17th or 18 October 2018 to check if this levy applied to our build they were told it didn't. We asked for records of who made the call, who they spoke to at council and whether they had any email / written proof or confirmation of this. They provided a name of who they spoke to at council (John) and the date range of when their notes say a call was made but that was the extent of their records. We then spoke with council about this as we didn't want to foot an extra $6,000 if someone has made a mistake. The manager of the regulatory services department said they had no records of this call from the certifier and after speaking with John he wasn't actually working on either of those days last year. John also said even if he was working on those days he would not give that advice without checking with the councils Forward Planning team first, so we went back to the certifier with this information as it seems like someone there didn't do their due diligence and now we are just expected to stump up another $6,000 we didn't know about. The director of DM Certifiers Pty Ltd came back with this great response - "I dispute the assertion that my services have provided incorrect information, or that I have resulted in additional costs being incurred. As part of the assessment of your complying development certificate an enquiry was to the Hills Council regarding whether contributions were payable. Hills Council considered the enquiry and responded that no contributions were payable. It is not my role to interpret Council contribution policy, instead I relied on the advice given to me by Hills Council, as does every accredited certifier. If it is alleged by Council that XXXX from my office did not call Council or receive the advice specified above, then I categorically deny that assertion, as the call was documented by file note and XXXX has a clear recollection of the specific phone call. The file note was not dated, yet that in no way results in the conclusion that the call was not made or attests to any misunderstanding in the advice we received from Council." I responded with the following - "We are not suggesting that you need to interpret Council contribution policy just that you need to correctly apply it to projects that you are certifying and having been in touch with Council they have confirmed that this type of contribution is always applicable for Hills Shire Council development projects. Despite you wishing to dispute the assertion that your company provided incorrect information it is clearly the case or we wouldn't be in a situation of having extra fees (that we were entirely unaware of until being forwarded correspondence demanding payment) that we have to pay. Are we to understand that this is the first development you have been involved in with Hills Shire Council? I have CC'd in XXXXX from Rawson Homes because I'm sure we're not the only customers of Rawson Homes under the Hills Shire Council who they would have contracted your services for. Surely if this isn't the first development you have handled with Hills Shire Council then you would have dealt with their contribution policy previously and should have an understanding of it. As for the advice provided by Council, based on the information provided by your employee XXXXX, we contacted the Council and they have confirmed that the person XXXXX claims to have spoken to (on one of two days she assured us the enquiry would have been made) wasn't even working on those days and couldn't have commented on our application. When you say that XXXXX documented the call it would seem that this supposed documentation was if anything of a completely substandard fashion. Neither a specific date and time was logged with documentation nor was written confirmation of any kind sought given the unusual nature of the advice XXXXX says she received from Hills Shire Council. I would dispute the fact that not having a specific record of the call on the file means that conclusions about this cant be drawn, and as for the clear recollection you say XXXXX has of the conversation i would disagree. When my wife asked her directly, she said it would be one of two days based on when she wrote the note, that to me does not sound like a clear recollection more like an assumption of facts based on a note that she herself wrote. Should you wish to speak with Council directly to confirm the advice they have given us i would suggest contacting XXXXX who has spoken with my wife. This is still something that i believe we need to try and resolve, otherwise i will have to follow my previously indicated course of action and make a formal complaint to the Building Professionals Board." This email sent to DM Certifiers Pty Ltd and CC'd to to the Rawson Homes Preconstrcution Manager went completely ignored with no response from either party. Does anyone think there is anything we can do / any further action we can or should take? We paid the levy to council to avoid it increasing and so that the build wasn't further delayed, but completely lost any faith that Rawson or the other parties they choose to engage (they selected the certifier, not us) are in any way competent. Found out the other day from the Preconstrcution Manager that our incompetent Preconstruction Administrator is no longer with Rawson Homes so no surprises there. I'd like to say that this will hopefully mean that no one else has to suffer having her handle the admin side of getting their build to site and cause them no end of stress, but perhaps it's a case of better the devil you know Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 30Jul 18, 2019 2:45 pm debdeb Hi Jimb00, I’ve just read all your updates and they are most useful ! I am surprised how long it’s taken though since you started the admin April last year. We are looking to build a Chifley as well.. eager to see your finished place! Howdy Deb, glad you're enjoying the updates even if I am a little tardy in getting them up As much as it might look like I'll take any opportunity to pour criticism on Rawson and the haedaches / delays their staff have caused, admittedly we only found the property for the knock down rebuild in Baulkham Hills on the 21st April 2018 after seeing a Chifley 42 for sale in Kellyville earlier that day and falling in love with it but just wanting to be a bit closer to the CBD. We exchanged on the property on the 25th April 2018, first went to see and speak with a Rawson Homes consultant on the 28th April 2018 so that was our absolute first interaction with Rawson Homes. We completed the application form and paid the $1,200 deposit to arrange the site inspection on the 29th April 2018. We went back & forth with the salesperson to try finalise things for the tender to be completed and signed off on the plan from the salesperson on the 25th May 2018 so that then the formal tender could be prepared. There was some back & forth about the non-standard and rather front loaded progress payment schedule and also a new promotion Rawson was running and whether we wanted to stick to the original promotion or go for the new one. Our tender presentation was on the 2nd July and we paid the $5,000 deposit on the day to keep things moving. We were advised on the 6th July that changes were needed to the plans as the width of the house was going to be greater than that allowed with CDC (75%) and some other items so we got an amended tender on the 12th July. The previous owners of the property we purchased had two children and were hoping we would allow them to stay on in the house after settlement and rent from us to allow their kids to finish out the school term / year at the same school. Settlement for the property occurred on the 19th July 2018 and we were happy to get rental income from the previous owners whilst we were still going through all the admin side of the build and the various appointments (internal, external, electrical, etc) with Rawson, so it wasn't until we started to get to the pointy end of things in October and it looked like everything should be finalised with the admin side of things and we would get to site in early December that we gave notice to the tenants that they needed to move out. The tenancy agreement we had with the previous owners was for a 28 day notice period which we gave them on the 13th October 2018, so they were to be out by no later than the 11th November 2018. We had to wait for the property to be vacant before we could then arrange for the gas disconnection and that had a 20 business day lead time, and that needed to be done before the demolition guys could start. So it was going to be cutting it to have the build started in December with all the various notice periods, lead times, demolition timeframe, etc, but I like a challenge and so thought it was all entirely possible especially if the gas disconnection occurred sooner than taking the total 20 business days. Unfortunately even though the tenants moved out on the 10th November 2018, we got the gas disconnected on or around the 21st November 2018 and the demolition all completed by the 10th December 2018, between then and early January 2019 was all just delays caused by Rawson and the Christmas period shut down because they couldn't get the kitchen plans right, kept sending us things to sign off they had never sent us before but would try to say they had sent them and we just hadn't signed them (these were things that should have been signed off at the in person appointments at the Rawson head office so you would think their staff would take some responsibility for not getting the things signed off they needed to during the appointments, or at worst emailing them to us for sign off afterwards). Delays from early Jan 2019 to 7th Feb 2019 when Rawson took over the site were a mix of delays with our bank having to do an "as complete" valuation to give unconditional approval and Rawson so not entirely the fault of Rawson, but we wouldn't have been in the position of having to wait for the bank at that stage had all the other delays caused by Rawson in 2018 not been there. I can only hope that the information I provide assists others with their Rawson process, whether it makes it any easier or just gives an idea of things you really need to make sure you pay attention to so they don't screw you over, I'm not too sure Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 31Jul 18, 2019 3:01 pm luxbuild Just catching up with your build.. great to see the progress. Agree 100% with the electrical appointment.. sounds like you went in more prepared then we were but ours went quickly and without fuss too. I don't think they allow enough time some of the other appointments, I understand they aren't there for a design consultation but I think even an extra 30 minutes would help considering how long we are going to live with the choices. 100% they don't allow enough time, especially for the internal appointment. Unless you want something out of the box they are out of their depth and even though I had tried to make sure I had documented and even provided them with plans / renders of what we wanted they just ignored this and said "well let's talk about it and I'll make my own notes" .... it's no wonder the first time the kitchen plans came back they were completely & utterly wrong. My wife and I couldn't believe it when they tried telling us the standard kitchen kickboard height was / would be 25cm and that's all they could do ... who wants to see 25cm of kickboard, let alone have it take up space that could otherwise be in the drawers if a more reasonable 10cm high kickboard. The same thing with kitchen drawer handles, apparently the widest they could do these was 30cm, this is on drawers that were doing to be 90cm wide so how ridiculous would this look. We also wanted to put in some different bains in our master ensuite (Caroma Moon 700 Inset in Lava - https://www2.caroma.com.au/product/item/75753), heated towel rails in all bathrooms and things like that and happy to pay the extra cost and were through the same supplier (Caroma) so surely this wasn't a difficult request. All of these things we originally were told in our internal appointment we wouldn't be able to do as we had to just choose an option from their standard offerings, and wasn't until we kicked up a stink they allowed us to make the changes we wanted and charged a nice mark up on the price we could get them for elsewhere - but you have to have the house finished off by Rawson without these things (eg. can't ask them to exclude the basins or a dishwasher or oven, etc from their price so you can just install different ones yourself afterward) and can't have them installed after the fact, so you're damned it if you & damned if you don't. Perhaps we're just difficult customers and wanted a level of customisation from a project home builder that was too far out of their norm, but I wouldn't have through specific basins from the same supplier or heated towel rails were such an out there request Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 32Jul 19, 2019 12:36 pm Ok, photo time. I'll stick each weekly photo set in a new post just to give an idea of when during the process things were done & how long between different stages. 7th April 2019 - Bricks arrived on site: Due to wet weather almost nothing happened for a week or two apart from a yard clean, but finally it appears the bricks have arrived on site. Here they are in all their glory!! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 33Jul 19, 2019 12:52 pm 21st April 2019 - Bricklaying commenced (finally!): Still due to wet weather almost nothing happened for two weeks, but finally the bricklaying started. Really just a little bit around the rear alfresco & Western side of the house but just happy to see some progress at this stage due to all the rain we have been having. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Bit disappointing that it seems lots of the floor wastes have been damaged so unsure if this will cause any problems with sealing / waterproofing of the wastes -> Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Also Rawson had to fix up some areas of the slab where the step down was out by 50mm and extended too far into the garage & laundry so they have had to chip away this 50mm which looks a bit ugly so hopefully it gets covered up-> Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Almost wish I hadn't looked as appears window and the bi-fold door frames are just chocked up with waste so hopefully this won't effect or jam up the bi-fold door smooth operation, but I guess that's just what an active building site looks like and this all gets cleaned up at some stage - Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 34Jul 19, 2019 1:00 pm 28th April 2019 - Bricklaying continuing: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Some internal shots as well so you can see the various rooms taking shape - Front Study / Bedroom: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Home Theatre: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Butlers Pantry: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Kitchen: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Living Room: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 35Jul 19, 2019 1:04 pm Suggest you check the workmanship of the bricklaying carefullly before paying the progress payment. Also check if slab is level and framing is straight and ready for plasterboard fixing. Now is the time for these checks. Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 36Jul 19, 2019 1:14 pm 5th May 2019 - Bricklaying continuing and broken window replaced: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 37Jul 19, 2019 1:17 pm 12th May 2019 - Bricklaying continuing: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 38Jul 19, 2019 1:22 pm 19th May 2019 - Bricklaying continuing, scaffold installed for upper bricks and roof truss install: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 39Jul 19, 2019 1:26 pm 26th May 2019 - Bricklaying continuing, roof truss & gutter installed and roof tiles arrived on site: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Re: KDR - Rawson Chifley 42 (Modified) in Baulkham Hills NSW 40Jul 19, 2019 6:28 pm 2nd June 2019 - Bricklaying continuing, top roof tiles installed, solar panels installed and eave carpenter booked: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Build Thread: Building a Rawson Chifley 42 in Baulkham Hills NSW All progress photos on Google Photos: HERE Just started the Build process for Chifley 42 with Rawson homes, will keep you all posted with the Build progress. 0 2911 Even if it's not being sub-divided and you want to keep it as Torrens title, you will still need to talk to a town planner or Council themselves, to see if they will allow… 1 11163 Thanks again Simeon for being so elaborate. Appreciate it. Its gives us a very idea. Kind Regards 4 3821 |