Interior Selections

We met Annie roughly two weeks ago for our interior selection meeting at the color selection centre in Rhodes.  We were very pleased with the interior selection process.  The initial appointment with Annie lasted for approximately four hours.  During that time, we went through the entire house, one room at a time.  Annie showed us through the various areas of the Rawson Selection Centre, where we were able to view the products that were available to us as part of the standard inclusions, as well as the products we were able to choose as upgrades.  Annie was a wealth of knowledge, and was able to draw our attention to a number of finer details that we may not have considered on our own.  Although we had some ideas going into the meeting, she really helped with the practical side of the layout and materials.  Whilst the initial appointment lasted four hours, there were many decisions to be made afterwards, and a number of changes in the couple of weeks that followed, before signing off on our selections.  Over the last week or so we have been deliberating over the gas cooktop and fridge / freezer pigeon pairs.  I can finally say we are done. Annie has been extremely patient, and unbelievably efficient.  Her communication is second to none.  Email requests for changes, quotes etc, have been followed up almost immediately, and we have been very happy working with such a lovely, professional staff member, where nothing is too much trouble.

As I am reflecting over the week, I’m so glad we added the Envy upgrade to our tender.

Among other things, the upgrade adds 40mm caesarstone benchtops for the kitchen, 20mm for the bathrooms, and a nice fltout of the laundry.


Kitchen:
We have have chosen 40mm standard caesarstone in 'osprey' for the bench, polytec sheen polar white cabinets and drawers, and polytec belgian oak in matt as the island bench feature panels and drop-down bench. The sheen polytec finish is a variation. This is quite a practical 'middle of the road' choice given the surface shine is not as significant as 'super gloss', which we found seems to show every fingerprint, yet it is also not as dull and flat as the standard included 'matt' finish. We also added this upgrade finish to the vanities in the bathroom, ensuite and powder rooms.
We have added a lowered 'drop-down' bench section in 70mm laminate, off the end of the kitchen island, similar to the one featured in the display home at Kellyville.
We had a few other low cost variations added in, such as finger pull cabinetry, and extra drawers in the island bench section.
Over the week, we also decided on a fisher paykel pair of 635mm wide fridge/freezer units which the kitchen manufacturer ELBA and Rawson thankfully accommodated in the kitchen layout. We struggled to find good alternatives for the standard gas cooktop, and after reviewing 6 alternative options that Annie quoted for us, we decided on the Bosch PCI815B91A.
Towards the end of this week (during our electrical appointment, which I will discuss in the next post) we managed to get approval for the installation of a concealed 20mm timber batten behind the over bench cabinetry to accommodate future LED Strip lighting.  Also, a sneaky 260mm deep drawer in the island bench will be used to hide an internal power point within the cabinet. This will keep the kitchen free of USB / iThingy clutter, as they will charge 'out of sight', inside the 260mm drawer, and off the kitchen bench.

Caesarstone - Osprey

Polytec - Polar white

Polytec - Belgian Oak

Drop-down bench will feature in Belgian Oak Laminate (see colour sample above).  In the display home, it is made from white laminate, which up close, looks rather cheap and nasty.  Annie pointed out that this is because the joins are much more visible in white laminate, which is why we decided to change the colour of the drop-down bench to Belgian Oak.  It will also match in with the feature panel on the island bench.

Bathrooms:
Similar to the kitchen, we chose 20mm caesarstone in 'osprey' benchtops, polytec sheen polar white cabinets and drawers. A few extra drawers were added, as we felt the standard vanity didn't have enough.  We chose non-standard basins and went with the Caroma Leda Vasque bench top basin for the Main and Ensuite vanities, and decided to have these semi-recessed in the Powder room vanities, where cabinet space isn't as crucial. A soft close Caroma Cameo toilet is included in all these rooms as part of the Envy Bonus. Lastly, we couldn’t resist the modern Caroma Newbury Bath, so we upgraded these in both the Ensuite and Main.

Upgraded bath

'Envy' included toilet

Upgraded sink

Laundry:
The Envy Bonus gives you a rather simple but nice little laundry fit out with a drop in sink/cabinet, laminate bench top and broom cupboard. We chose Snow Fabrini bench laminate which mimics the color and character of the osprey caesarstone, and polytec matt polar white. We also requested that the cabinet be moved up the wall towards the hallway/linen cupboard to gain more space for the whitegoods.
We are getting very excited about our huge, functional laundry!

A number of colour decisions were made during our appointment with Annie.  Interior wall color will be quarter tint Surf Mist.  Surf mist is the colour we chose to use externally, and on the window frames, so it should all tone in rather nicely indoors.  Our package allows for one feature wall, and we chose this to be the upstairs nib wall in the leisure room. The nib wall has a recess within the leisure room which will be painted in 'Candlewood'.

The front door, study rimm double glass doors and staircase will be stained in Sikkens Ebony, a lovely rich, dark colour. The staircase itself will be a closed tread, finished in Victorian ash featuring timber posts, handrails and stainless banisters.






















Stay tuned for the next post - electrical fit-out plans!  Some hints so far, but we have more ideas to share that hopefully others can learn from!

KD is for Knock Down - Part 1

We have the survey 'siting plan', which we received during the preparation of the building plans. This is critical for locating the trees, buildings and levels to submit with our demolition application.

I have been cleaning up around the house after the regular mowing and general drop-ins. We have lots of sandstone garden edging and lots of bricks and concrete/mortar spread throughout the yard. Over the last 2 months I have been increasing the areas I mow and clearing out the rubbish and weedy growth. I never fail to fill the Green waste bin, which our friendly neighbour always rolls out every fortnight. I can nearly see the back fence now!

I have sifted out sandstone from the bricks and mortar lumps and have also started to lift the garden edging. I plan to use the sandstone for a retaining wall later on. I counted 46 lineal metres of garden edging and a small square of sandstone paving. The rest of the garden edging and some plants will be 'recycled' to use later. 

We also submitted a tree application for the removal of a large Mango tree with Parramatta Council.  A couple of days later, I received a call from a council officer stating that "you don't need council approval to remove fruit trees".  Whilst we were of course pleased that we could go ahead and remove the tree without permission, I was a little baffled as to why they physically perused and accepted the application in their Parramatta offices in the first place, as it meant that they then had to issue me with a cheque refund for the application fee.  We are very pleased to be able to remove the tree, as it would have been an eyesore from our kitchen and eastern side access corridor. Not only is it an unattractive tree, but it smells of rotting fruit, and attracts flying bugs.  Even if you were willing to put up with the smell and appearance, it is too large and tall to even get to the fruit.

We have also been advised to disconnect the Natural Gas Meter. This is a rather puzzling process. Our gas retailer, Origin doesn't actually own the gas meter, or the network that delivers the gas. Rather, Jemena is the group that maintains this infrastructure. It seems a disconnection is not a simple matter of turning the tap off and locking/tagging the outlet. In effect, Origin submit a request on your behalf, called an abolishment. The strange thing is, there is not a standard price for this service. Origin were unable to even give us an approximate price guide.  I don't know what to expect when the bill arrives and I'm a little anxious about it.

So, earlier this week I received an email saying that the Meter Removal and Service Cutback had been sent to the local distribution network. When I visited today I was pleased to find a missing pipe on the meter. There was also a a neat little cutting where they obviously pulled back the service connection from the meter.

So we are ramping up to get things happening now.

Missing pipes can be good ;)

Very neat operators.

The next step will involve getting the demolition application into Parramatta Council via a Complying Development process.  Stay tuned!

Pre-Construction Phase (Plan Variations)

Its been a long time between posts. Firstly, we enjoyed an overseas trip to the US in March, and during the trip we were issued with the siting plan, floor plans, and elevations. On our return in late March, we arranged a meeting with our colour consultant and our plan presenter at Rawson's office in Rhodes.  Rawson were very prompt in following these things up, and seemed very keen to get things moving, much to our delight.

We set an agenda to work through some areas of the plan;

• Front door style and finish to be determined during selection and plan presentation
• Render moroka colour to match colorbond Surfmist for the entry pilar
• Cladding styles available / Upgrade options for Brickwork and cladding
• General items relating to location of services, afresco area, windows, niches etc.
• Issues with interior & exterior contract items not reflected in plan

During the meeting we discussed external colours and materials.

• Brick: AUSTRAL / WILDERNESS - Rosewood (from the updated inclusion range)

            Finish. Ironed joint

            Mortar. Off white

• Roof Tile: Monier HORIZON - Barramundi

            Ridge; A-Line (ENVY package upgrade)

• Gutter, Downpipe, Rainwater tank: Colorbond - Monument

• Windows, Facia, Barge, Fly Screens: Colorbond - Surfmist

• Cladding: Scyon Stria (see variations) 325mm; Colorbond Surfmist

• Garage Door: B&D Panelmasta; Profile - Contemporary ; Colorbond - Surfmist

• Driveway; Coloured concrete; Colourmix - Charcoal. 

We also raised a second set of variations relating to (the most important listed below);

• Classic facade - Newport Cladding to be replaced with Styria 325mm Cladding
• Relocate Air conditioning unit to side elevation of Stairs
• Relocate Rain water tank to side elevation of Family 
• 2340mm (H) x 1020mm (W) Eden 4 Pivot door with translucent glazing in lieu of 2400mm (H) x 1200mm (W) Lumina LUM1S clear to Entry
• Provide 2229mm (H) Garage opening in lieu of standard
• Provide one x aluminium fixed feature splashback window (AFW 772mm (H) x 3500mm (W) SP) with standard range tiled returns in lieu of 'Envy promotion' glass splashback
• Provide 870mm (H) Benchtops from finished floor level in lieu of standard

During the meeting, we were alerted to the fact that our chosen brick was a slurry brick (ie has a glazed exterior), and as such would likely have some imperfections, caused by the exterior colour being chipped off through handling, cleaning etc.  We were advised that we would have to sign a disclaimer acknowledging this fact, as in the past Rawson have had clients complain, and request that the bricking be redone.  We hadn't considered this fact, and went away with a plan to think about it. Changing to a non-slurry brick was going to be much more costly.
In the meantime, we have since visited the display homes again and found some that were built with slurry bricks (with no thanks to the Rawson staff at Kellyville, who couldn't even advise us what bricks were used on the display homes!)  Despite our initial concerns, we decided that the potential issues with slurry bricks weren't a big deal for us.  Yes, when you look up close you can see some minor chipping, but overall, it's barely noticeable.  And we were looking at a house with a brick that is even darker than our selection.  We have looked at these homes many times, and never once noticed an issue with the bricks, so happily signed the disclaimer for the slurry bricks.

The next variation was signed, and ended up being approximately a break even with the removal of the LUMIA pivot door. We also got our sketched markup of the modified plan we received in late March that will go to drafting;

The Plan Presentation at Rawson's office was a lengthy process, taking at least half a day.
Now with all that, we are up to date, but leads me to start a new discussion; the display home vs reality.

Display Home vs. Building Reality

The last variation required significant clarification after we requested a fixed window splashback in the kitchen. To demystify the code, AFW = Aluminium Fixed Window, and this was set at 772mm high.  Why so high? A high splashback means that the wall cupboards above the bench need to be installed quite high.  This is a significant concern for us as my wife is height-challenged!  With a bench height of 870mm, and the splashback allowance, the resulting cupboard height is roughly 1650mm.  Very high for a short person!  In any case, we would have learnt about this issue during our interior selection phase, but it came to a head when we opted for a feature window splashback.

The discussion surrounding this issue lasted nearly a week, until we found out the hidden truth of the display home. If you are installing an integrated rangehood (as we are), the kitchen manufacturer requires a minimum of 772mm distance from gas cooktop to over-bench wall cupboard.  Without this minimum, they will not warrant the kitchen.  The distance drops slightly to a minimum of 668mm if you opt for a stainless rangehood.

Fair enough you say, but there are gas cooktops installed in the display homes that are not within the minimum clearance specified!  When you push Rawson and challenge them on this limitation they yield the fact that their display homes are not to the manufacturer's specification!  Quite clearly they disregard the practical side of these homes, preferring to focus on the fact that they are just a very large marketing brochure.  I'm just glad our plan presenter finally decided to talk straight on this topic.

After learning this information, a few other things started to make sense.  When we first went through The Edge 39 in Kellyville with a sales consultant, we questioned the horizontal bannisters on the open staircase.  They seemed quite unsafe, as a child could easily climb up and over the railing!  The sales consultant muttered under his breath that it probably wasn't to standard building safety codes, and that he didn't think you'd be able to build it this way!!!  

So, one question is; are display homes issued an occupation certificate? 

More importantly, after the Homeworld display centre has completed its 6+ year term, they sell these homes off - is it without any home owner builder warranty?  This would mean it's all for show, and the final unlucky owner of these homes is none the wiser. 


I just cant shake this highly questionable practice, but i'm sure every other project builder in the sales market does this.