The plans of mice and men

After 3 aborted attempts with other builders, I wonder if Rawdon Hill feel lucky or wary of their clients?  Regardless, they have been very willing to adapt the Montague to our requests.


I have scanned and simplified a copy of the final plan with the modified areas shaded in blue.
The changes are:

• 600mm extra width to the garage
• 600mm extra length to the house through the garage, entry, WIR and ensuite. (This allowed us to move the ensuite toilet out of the WIR space, giving us three usable sides to the WIR)
• 960mm extra length to the house through Bed2, family room and verandah.  (Rawdon hill extend in brick lengths... 120mm I think)
• Moved the fridge to where the pantry was, and removed the hallway in favour of a walk in pantry.  We added a solar tube (skylight) to the hallway outside the toilet to compensate for the loss of light from the WIP.
• Swapped a window for French Doors in the Theatre room.
• Put a floor drain into the laundry.
• Moved the electrical meter box onto the porch (garage wall)... so we don't have to worry about excessive EMF while we sleep, and so I can flick the circuit breaker without having to venture out in the rain with a torch.
• Added doors to the study.

The cost for all this was very reasonable, with small refunds for downgrading to poly-marble shower bases for example.  I won't give the specific amounts here as each client's results may vary because of various factors and I think it would be unfair to Rawdon Hill.  I can say (having been through the modification costing process with numerous builders) that what they quote is fair and reasonable.  We were pleasantly surprised with the overall cost (relative to other quotes), for us the total came out less than most other builders even though the starting price was higher to begin with, and the house is much closer to our desires.


One thing we didn't get was a bath in the en-suite, but we think a spa bath outside the en-suite door might be a nice substitute.


I will take the space here to mention some other builders we had pleasant experiences with:

• Kevin Warner at In Residence Building and Design. He's worth a look if you have the need for a custom house, want a good honest builder, and have the budget to allow for it.   He provided really great feedback on our plans and came out with something that would have been great - we just couldn't afford it. 
• Carlisle - we were very tempted to go with them, if only we had the block to fit the size of the house plan that we really wanted.  Again, quick and easy costing for available modifications.
• Clarendon - had a very easy time modifying a plan and getting costings.  The problem here was that they only did galley kitchens (same basic kitchen design in every house), though this may have changed.

I would also recommend that you check out some of the home building forums to see what other people think of your builder.  Home One is very popular: http://forum.homeone.com.au/.  If you want to comment on our build you can do it there: Building with Rawdon Hill at The Avenue Estate