Battlefield Rawson

We are currently no closer to resolving issues with the builder Rawson Homes…in fact we may be further away.

They want to charge us an extra $2k to upgrade to the inverter model of the lesser air-con unit they’ve schlept us with under the guise that the $13.9k unit they promised is really an $8k unit PLUS installation. Mick ended up showing them a quote for the top-of-the-line model including installation for $13.9k, suggesting they change supplier. Apparently we haven’t taken into consideration that the $8k unit requires, “truss support, boxing in duct droppers, concrete slab and builders margin.” I would like suggest that they look up the meaning of the word ‘installation’ in the dictionary.  

On top of this they can’t guarantee us that the roof of the house conforms to estate guidelines and say that they can’t be sure unless we give them another $7K for final plans to be drawn up and submitted for approval and then bill us for more money if we have to make changes. We were promised by the salesmen that the house structurally conforms to the estate guidelines. We understand that colour selection approval is up to us but something like the roof should be their area of expertise. As Mick said to them in an email, “it was reasonably assumed that, being one of only three listed builders for the estate, you would be aware of which houses structurally meet the requirements and a verbal guarantee was given by your sales office more than once. To take my money and turn around now and say you are unsure (and ask for more money to check!) is not acceptable.”

Valiantly trudging ahead (mainly because we need to submit external colours today, regardless of issues, to the developer just so we don’t lose our $20k bond), we looked at bricks on the weekend. We’ve selected Austral Bricks Silver in their Urban One range. They are a light, neutral brick that are interesting to look at (photos don’t do them justice but I took some nevertheless). They looked good in full sun and over-cast light, as we were fortunate enough to see them in both. They will go well with feature colours, the roof, and plants/grass out the back. We have also submitted “lagoon” as a feature brick around the garage and upstairs balcony, which is part of the Austral Colour Brick range and looks rendered because the brick and mortar have a colour application on them. We were also considering using one of the neutral colours from that series as the main façade brick and if we did this, we would then pick a dark brick like “iron” as the feature brick for the façade, as we cannot have any one finish for more than 70% of the façade.

Also interesting to note is that the people at Austral had no idea what is meant on our plans where it says, “1.5mm raked feature joint every 9^th course of brick.” When asked about it, Rawson was also unable to explain it or provide photos of it. Nice to know we’re in such capable hands…(sarcasm is hard to convey on a blog).

We also managed to head back to Winnings Appliances and check if the smaller Smeg oven fits my roasting pan…which it does (thank God for small miracles). Mum has suggested we just have the oven on the block…at this rate, I think that may just happen!

Anyway, as always I have photos to show to soften this depressing post:

Austral - Urban One - Silver - Facebrickwork (will be at back and sides of house):

Feature brick colour - Austral Colour Brick Lagoon (around garage and upstairs balcony):

Austral Colour Brick - Lagoon and Seagrass:

Austral - Urban One - Silver:

 Colourbond and Taubmans Colour - Surfmist - (Metal Railing/downpipes/fascia/guttering/cladding)

 Drivethru Coloured Concrete Driveway - Golden Tan:

 Taubmans Morokka Render - Cable Ash (right of facade and right side of house):

 Taubmans - Gravel - (Timber Pergola for Balconies/Front Door (also similar to the roof colour - Colourbond Woodland Grey)):

The Willy Wag Tail who kept me entertained during the grueling brick selection process:

Our Facade (we're sticking to the colour scheme as well):