Thursday, 1 November 2012
Lock Up.
Ok, so it has been a long time since I have posted. The reason for this is because the entire
community is new and it is in my contract that we are not to enter the
construction area. Since outside was
mostly complete it is difficult to post on progress I cannot see. After several weeks in wonderment we were
finally able to be supervised into the inside for a view on Sunday. Unfortunately when we arrived the tiler was
in the process of tiling the down stairs area.
We were able to view some of the downstairs area by skipping over
tiles. I had forgotten so much of the
design and colours schemes and was relieved and pleased with the neutral colour
tones and the way that everything has jelled together. I love the idea of having a cupboard for
storage at the entry way for school bags, shoes, coats etc. and we will have
that now, perhaps I will even squeeze the vacuum cleaner in there. It was difficult
to get a good look at the kitchen from afar but it look nice. It is definitely not a gourmet kitchen or a
chef’s kitchen; but; God knows I am neither. It will probably have more
cupboard space than I have had previously. None of the landscaping has been
completed yet but after a drive by today the garage doors are finally on so it
is at lock up stage now. Yay!!
Thankfully; I have never been concerned about the time frame
for build as I have mentioned as it is a pay on completion deal. It looks like we will be in before Christmas;
which will be lovely. This is longer though; than the initial expectation of
September. It is difficult to comment on quality at this stage as it is still
has a very not quite complete look about it and we were not able to view the
back at all. We are back hopefully this
weekend for another more thorough look. I
am excited about seeing the upstairs and making decisions about who will have
which room. My children think they will
take the main bedroom to share; but I have other ideas.
On a last note I received an email regarding a possible move
in period of approximately 5 weeks away last Wednesday and that I would receive
an exact date 2 weeks before completion of settlement. This may prove a sticky point as some banks
have assured me that they require up to 5 weeks’ notice to handover. It sounds like a long time to me but I know
in my contract it states that there are penalties involved with late payment so
this is a big concern for me at the moment.
After speaking to the builder’s representative I was assured that banks
could handover in less than an week, hmmm. I have been asked to keep in contact
with the builder of my progress in this area as things proceed. I am hoping for
flexibility with this without penalty and I will post how this all pans out.
Till next week.
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
7 Weeks Later
Apologies for the long wait on an update. Unfortunately there was very little rain on
the slab throughout what seemed to be about a two week dry time before any
further work seemed to take place,
During this time the other homes also being built by Rawson had there
slabs laid. Hoping for the best!
The Frame and Roofing
Once the slab was ready the frames were wacked up pretty
quickly. Just half a day it seemed for
the lower level and about a day and a half for the second story…Amazing!! Not long
afterwards all the windows were in and the tiled roof up.
Bricks and Cladding
The brick work was; as expected; a much slower process. Approximately two to three weeks with no real
rain delay to speak of. I am loving the dark
colour of the brickwork. I am rather
fussy when it comes to this as I have seen some the less than appealing discolouration
on so many homes with lighter rendering brick works occur over time. The upper level of the home has some feature
cladding at the front and back of the home to add to the overall appeal of the façade. Seems to be the latest trend and I do not mind
it too much. It is probably a much
quicker process that brick work especially on a top floor.
Inside
As there is so much building occurring in the estate we are
not permitted to gain very close access to the individual homes. This may make updating on the internal works
that have begun just this week a little difficult but I will do my best. No garage door or front door yet so obviously
not at lock up stage. More photos to
come. It is so weird to see the progress
in the area happening so quickly all of a sudden.
A Change
I have had three emails from Rawson this far in the build process
two merely to let me know of major build
milestones really. The third I received
today to let me know of a change to original contract for the included Baumatic
kitchen appliances ie Cooker and Rangehood. I had checked these out and they seemed to be
pretty nice. I was a little unsure about the stand alone
model oven as I do not really like the idea of cleaning underneath them. It seems there has been a brand change and we
are now receiving a Westinghouse product which I will have to now check out in store. I am guessing Rawson got a better deal on
these or something similar. I am not sure how this will sit as they are not
what is included in the original signed contract. If they are at least equally as good then I
have no real complaints.
Monday, 16 July 2012
My Build with Rawson Homes at Fox Creek Estate.
A Slab!! A slab!!
As a first time blogger, I have been meaning to create this
for a few months now. After re-entering
the workforce full time in early 2011 I had decided to finally bite the bullet
and start the hunt for a more permanent family home. By late 2011, after much
research and hunting around I finally settled on a land package at Fox Creek
with Rawson Homes (no thanks to the sales department at Rawson Homes here…perhaps
more about that later). The package sold
itself to me. It was a close decision at the
end between this and a completed home with Allcastle which was 20,000 less but
for this extra amount I could gain an alfresco area, a downstairs study and an
upstairs living area. I would have
to be patient for a little while longer and wait out the build time.
The land at Fox Creek was completely undeveloped. Therefore, it would require some time to
clear the land and to place underground piping and cabling before actual building
could commence. To date this has
taken about 6 months since contracts were exchanged on the house and the
land. Time is of no financial
consequence as other than a deposit all other monies are only payable by me on completion. The longer it takes the
more I can try to save.
As a busy mum of two a package requiring little input from
me was appealing. Rawson have had a
colour coordinator develop 4 colour sequence choices for everything. I simply had to choose from option A, B ,C or
D. I had to do nothing after this but wait.
I drive past the estate twice a day as part of my usual routine;
so, I have been able to see each stage of development from the very beginning,
which is interesting and exciting.
As of sometime Friday 13/July the slab was finally laid for
four of the homes at Fox creek. One of
which was mine. Yay!! I imagine things will really start to move
quickly from here and each stage will be all the more exciting. Thinking 4 1/2 months from here and counting. Although we were advised of a September completion
date initially by our sales guy, we never really imagined this to be realistic.
We are expecting, weather permitting, for
completion some time in December. Before
Christmas? Hopefully!
Now that the slab is laid we are hoping for 2 weeks of light
rain to help the slab to settle and to prevent house movement and cracking
later.
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