Rawson Homes

Rawson Homes have been disgusting to build with from start to finish.
We visited the home centre on the central coast to select a builder to build with, we sat down with the sales person there who informed us that we would be eligible for a discount of around $7000 due to our land being registered already.happy with that and over all look and feel of the house, we paid the $1000 deposit on the spot. Come to time to sign the contract we were told no such offer existed and they couldnt offer it despite being clearly advertised at the home centre. On top of that Rawson was offering a "free" upgrade to the luxury package, when it came to colour selection we were told that we couldnt have certain selections still reflected in their own centre at Rhodes and advertising material by silver and gold stickers as they were part of the "old" offer.
When it comes to the build, where do i begin - we selected a house that we were happy with, after a solid 3 months we get a call from Rawson with the person stating that we could not get the particular house as it does not fit within the footprint of the allowable build profile on our DEP plans.turns out Rawson homes was actually reading the land plans upside down and the house could fit! By that time we had been so beaten down by the process, we selected a house much smaller to avoid any further delays caused by Rawson Homes inability to read a land survey/DEP plan.
Moving on to the actual build, over all communication was terrible, almost impossible to get any updates what so ever without constant follow ups.
Right from the get go the scene was set for a painful experience on the build front, i get some photos and a text saying they are laying the formwork but its not fitting properly.turns out they dont know how to read a survey marker either and were setting the house in the wrong location, luckily i told them to stop what they are doing as the house is in the wrong location. Moving on from that they finally poured the concrete, the slab overall looked of a quite poor quality, almost like they removed the formwork too early and it had crumbled away in places, this was never picked up or repaired by the Rawson team.
Right as the frames were due to go up COVID restrictions placed the building site on hold for 3 weeks, which also happened to be at a time when Sydney experienced some of the worst rain on records. I called the site supervisor worried that some of the items that had been delivered were stuck out in the elements (windows, joist packing etc) i returned to site to notice that these had finally been covered after expressing my worry a number of times. The site supervisor assured me the frames were not on site and not to be worried about, well that was half true.the frames were dumped on a site a few houses up and left in the non stop rain and soaking mud for 3 weeks.
Covid restrictions finally lifted and the frames went up, turns out despite being passed through the certifier, the frames have actually been set crooked on our slab which has lead on to the brickwork to being non compliant and hanging off the back and side of the slab up to 40mm it some places. (15mm is the max allowable limit under the building standards of NSW) Rawson Homes have repeatedly ignored my requests for this to be rectified.
On top of the non compliant issues, Rawson have refused to fix the terrible brickwork and other defects as well and will do everything they can to get away with as much as they can.
Other issues include scratched glazing through the entire house, scratched window frames, creaking floors, scratched bench tops, scratched appliances, poor paint work, garage floor was damaged and not repaired, facade and rear of house not being built as per plans.the list goes on. Post warranty work has not been better, this is no fault of the trades they hire here however, the warranty workers are far superior to the actual builders, however it appears Rawson will not fix what is required.
Overall the build quality is of a low standard, i could not recommend working with them.

I have paid my deposit on the 1st July 2022 and it’s over 4 months and they still have not submitted for council approval. When I paid the deposit they advised me that they will get everything done under 6 weeks. No one in the organisation knows what they are doing and constantly keep lying to me. Also when I called no one answer the phone. Worst customer service I have ever received in my life. They treat their customer like trash.

PEOPLE DONT USE THIS BUILDER.

The quality of tiles offered by Rawson are of poor quality or poorly laid in all 4 wet rooms.   The floor tiles have multiple continuous cracks crossing many tiles.   Some cracks span over 1 metre in diameter.   Over time the cracks have grown and continue to grow.   Of course Rawson wipe their hands clean and want nothing to do with it.   Tiles are 9 years old however tiles are A LIFE TIME PRODUCT.   We have never experienced this with other builds.

Be aware if you use the included products offered as part of your build as you may be getting poor/cheap quality.  Other standard inclusions such as carpet is "budget" quality which we have had to replace. Internal wall paint is sprayed on walls in thin coats and outside painting was poorly applied and requires a lot of maintenance.

We personally would not build or recommend Rawson because of their after sales service and quality of standard inclusions.

We are not obviously the only owneres who have experienced issues. Lots of 1 star ratings

Quick to accept ‘fully refundable deposits’ but slack in returning those funds.
Over a month of excuses and no money in sight or even an ETA. Just keep being told ‘bare with us’.
Left a very sour taste, glad we didnt proceed if this is how small things are mishandled.
Fair trading now notified.

Never build again with rawson homes. I am not getting LIGHTNING what i choose on my electrical appointments and now they not covering under warranty. First they never reply to mails about complaints. The staff they send me for my defect inspection told me verbally that he will send electrical contractors to look in to but no one came and covid lockdown start. I almost forgot about this and now when I am following up they said you not under warranty. During construction also they changed my building supervisor and new one is blaming previous one for not giving me 40 mm banchtop whereas in my contract it's LUX package with 40 mm kitchen bench tops.
Stay away from these big name builders better go to private builders who look after their customers. Still I have to give one star to post my review.

This company build the home of my elderly pensioner parents. The build is of very poor quality. Immediately after completion, issues started to arise and more issues continued for the next few years:

1. A detachable bathroom sink (yes! The bathroom sink was loose and able to be partially lifted off the seating bench)
2. All the door knobs and locks of doors and cupboards started to fail - they have now all failed completely and are gradually being replaced
3. Cracks at corners (we can understand that vertical corner cracks happen notwithstanding the awful cosmetic result - but see [4] below)
4. Diagonal cracks spanning the ceiling from kitchen to lounge room (see images)

They warranted and repaired (1) and attended to repair (4) after a Fair Training NSW complaint and site visit, and loss notification lodgement with proceedings to start a HBCF claim in the NCAT. The (4) defect became apparent at the tail end of the major defects claim period. Initially after refusing to attend, I explained that I will go public with this experience, in the public interest. Their response was a threat of counterclaim of defamation. Ultimately, after the Fair Trading site visit (with my brother in attendance), they reluctantly came back to install an expansion joint, re-plaster and paint.

Immediately after the end of the 6 years warranty period, major issues started to manifest;

1. The rain water tank in the backyard started to leak onto the concrete pavement with now rust stains and adjacent concrete damage

2. The main bathroom shower waterproofing appears to have failed

(2) is most concerning. After negotiations with Rawson, they stood firm in not warranting (1) or (2) because these were flagged after (immediately) the warranty period. Now, despite professional silicon sealing around the shower recess, water continues to leak outside the shower and along the bathroom floor. Now we have to make a towel dam every time we use the shower - until the tiles are removed and the bathroom waterproofed effectively.

The point here is that the workmanship quality is questionable and the company (in our view based on this experience) represents everything bad, dishonest, unconscionable and greedy about the construction industry (based on the sheer number of minor defects, their reluctance to attend during the warranty period and refusal to attend immediately after the warranty period). Even when we tried to have these issues rectified within the warranty period, the Rawson team would begrudgingly attend (after a report-counter-report argument). Once the warranty period is done - you’re on your own. No good will.

My elderly parents could not liaise with these people effectively to have their statutory rights acknowledged. It was only after I returned from overseas that I took on the task. When compared to Allworth homes (who built our family home in 1988), Rawson homes is of poor quality built to barely last the warranty period.

Do yourselves a favour and appoint a more reputable, honest and trustworthy builder.

I had the pleasure to build my Benham 30 home with Rawson Homes. It was a knock down and rebuild project as I wanted to stay in my suburb. Rawson Homes were helpful and informative from day one. The selection process was very exciting and the staff members were polite and responsive, and the building process was fairly smooth and consistent. The best part was the ability by Rawson Homes to deliver and finalise the project in less than 10 month. A big shoutout to our site manager Mark, and our warranty officer Gordon for their assistant and prompt service. Thank you Rawson homes.

The workmanship is absolutely shameful. I would strongly advise no one to use Rawson homes in the construction of their home. After 5 years, the defects still keep coming up. The lack of professionalism and workmanship is below standard. USE ANOTHER BUILDER. Trust me

To be frank building a house is hard work and lots of compromises if you have a high quality orientation as I do. Having said that Rawson was good to work with, they delivered the house and managed the build very well. They also stand by their warranty, which a lot of others don't. Unfortunately they don't give design advice, or share their experience of do's and don'ts but overall I believe they are better than most.

Would give 0 if we could. We are 2 families buying 2 blocks of vacant land in leppington and paid $1000 for the tender of one block. The sales guaranteed to provide the report in 1 week and now 3 months have passed and nothing has been done! They did not even try to investigate the land while it's open for valuation. We were waiting for the tender report and chasing after the sales several times hoping the report could help us choose between 2 builders and Rawson Homes disappointed us by DOING NOTHING after taking the money. So we now decided to proceed with the other builder that has been more professional and willing to go the extra mile for customers.

I used Rawson for the construction of my new home in a knock down rebuild in the Sydney Region. Overall I am really pleased with them and happy to recommend. The initial phase of the process was slower than I would have liked as at times was hard/slow getting things through the Admin teams.
Once the build phase started the construction moved along quickly and with relatively few problems right through to completion. The quality of the build for me was high with only a few minor defects found at completion and rectified quickly by them.
Our site supervisor was Rod and I can't fault him.

As a first home buyer entering the market we were looking forward to starting our home & land search. We made an initial appointment with Rawson homes. Firstly, Andrew who spoke to me over the phone did not book us in for an appointment at the agreed day/ time. No confirmation and information was sent across to us which we requested prior to our visit. We visited the Leppington Rawson Office and were directed to Home & Land. We were met by 2 ladies at the office and I must say we didn't feel very welcomed. We requested a catalog which wasn't provided to us. However, some other couple we saw leave had a catalog with them. The other lady on the left was not friendly or helpful at all. Seemed she got off the wrong side of the bed. Honestly I wouldn't have wanted someone that morose & unpleasant work on our home designs. We are customers and perhaps, we didn't fall into their 'client' profile as a minority in number. I don't know. But this is unacceptable. We realised the difference when we walked into All castle homes and they were so welcoming and we weren't made to feel uncomfortable. Quite disappointed with our first experience. Rawson Homes. You just lost a client and we will make sure to inform others about our experience. Not organised, Not helpful. We would definitely not want to deal with such an attitude and service from a home builder.

I must say this is the most responsive company I have ever dealt with in resolving issues, their customer service is amazing. I have had a warranty issue with my home and they have been absolutely amazing in getting it rectified. I love my Rawson home, it is outstanding quality and they really do care about every home they build for you.i would definately build again with them without hesitation.

If you think you are going to have the quality of their display homes, you will be very very disappointed. The actual workmanship is very poor and see them for yourselves. Good Luck!

My wife and I built our new home through Rawson Homes in Bexley, Sydney. Couldn't be happier with the end product.
At first I didn't think we could build through a project home builder as our block is narrow (9m wide), but Rawson was one of only two builders who had layouts that would fit our block. We may modifications to the house foot print, which was surprisingly cheap to do. In terms of costs;
- house base layout $350k
- we made size and quality modifications and added upgrades including timber floor boards) about $120k
- site costs (including compulsory water tanks, demolition) about $100K
- Rawson Homes 40th anniversary special (fantastic deal including $70k worth of home upgrades, with a solar and battery package) $10k

Total new home spend was about $580k. This was much less than if we had gone through an architect and builder, which I'd received estimates of anywhere between $750-900k.

It was about 15 months from when we moved out and started renting to when we moved in, but the actual build took about around 12 months.

The initial pre-construction period was a bit intense, having to make all the decisions up front, but in hindsight it was the best way to do it as it meant there was no stress for us during the build.
Our Project Manager John C was great, always responded promptly to our questions during the build and was easy to deal with when I picked up little defects (having them fixed quickly). There was a bit of a delay due to a few reasons including COVID-19, but I was happy my builder took care during the build and kept it progressing.

Would I build through Rawson Homes again? Yes, definitely would.
Did we save money going through Rawson homes? Yes, I estimate we saved at least $150k.
Are we happy with the quality? Yes, I can't fault anything. In particular, the kitchen, bathrooms and floors are great.

My wife and I built our new home through Rawson Homes in Bexley, Sydney. Couldn't be happier with the end product.
At first I didn't think we could build through a project home builder as our block is narrow (9m wide), but Rawson was one of only two builders who had layouts that would fit our block. We may modifications to the house foot print, which was surprisingly cheap to do. In terms of costs;
- house base layout $350k
- we made size and quality modifications and added upgrades including timber floor boards) about $120k
- site costs (including compulsory water tanks, demolition) about $100K
- Rawson Homes 40th anniversary special (fantastic deal including $70k worth of home upgrades, with a solar and battery package) $10k

Total new home spend was about $580k. This was much less than if we had gone through an architect and builder, which I'd received estimates of anywhere between $750-900k.

It was about 15 months from when we moved out and started renting to when we moved in, but the actual build took about around 12 months.

The initial pre-construction period was a bit intense, having to make all the decisions up front, but in hindsight it was the best way to do it as it meant there was no stress for us during the build.
Our Project Manager John C was great, always responded promptly to our questions during the build and was easy to deal with when I picked up little defects (having them fixed quickly). There was a bit of a delay due to a few reasons including COVID-19, but I was happy my builder took care during the build and kept it progressing.

Would I build through Rawson Homes again? Yes, definitely would.
Did we save money going through Rawson homes? Yes, I estimate we saved at least $150k.
Are we happy with the quality? Yes, I can't fault anything. In particular, the kitchen, bathrooms and floors are great.

Rawson homes is building next door to us. Their contractors are absolutely abysmal.they constantly dump empty food packets and cigarette stubs on our lawn. I have caught them red handed stealing electricity from box. They have complained to their site manager a few times but it seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. They are a big nuisance. They even put their toilet in front of my house despite having place on the lot they were working on. Very unprofessional and poor builder.

Communicating with Rawson has been a fruitless, frustrating experience.

We raised an issue about our vanity heights because they seemed low. When measured, they are 760mm to the top of the vanity and 770mm to the top of the basin.

When we questioned our Site Supervisor about this, we were told this is a Rawson standard height and nothing could be done. I asked to be shown where this was stated and was ignored.

I then followed up with Admin and the Construction Manager who both told me this was correct but still could not provide any documentation. Two weeks after raising this issue, the Construction Manager decided that something could be done, however at our cost. We did not feel this was appropriate as we had not signed off on this height. He then said he had escalated the situation to Upper Management and they would contact me shortly.
I was not contacted and had to chase up the Head of Construction a week later.
Three weeks after raising this issue, he conveniently provided elevation plans that we had never seen before. This showed that the vanity should be installed at 800mm from the structural floor. He stated that after tiling, the vanity will be at a height of approximately 760mm. He also shared the construction plans of the Display Homes at Kellyville to show me that this height was consistent, however, what he didn’t realise is that their Balmoral Display Home has vanities at 800mm+ from the Finished Floor Level (FFL).
He then had to backtrack and say that when signing our contract we accept that our house will be different to display homes. The part of the contract that he referred to states that “the building work must be in accordance with the contract”. He and the Construction Manager have both stated that the contracts and plans don’t include the vanity height so have they really built our vanity in accordance with the contract?

Every professional that we have sought advice from has stated that this is not right, which makes you question the tradesmen they have working for them. What is even more disappointing is their own employees agreed the height is too low, yet this poor workmanship is accepted at Rawson and they continue to build homes like this. Is this the kind of company that you would like to invest with?

It does not take a professional to see that it is not right and yet they are not phased. A simple everyday task like brushing your teeth is going to be a problem, especially for somebody taller.

We have spoken to other Rawson customers who are dealing with the same problem but have begrudgingly signed off on it because of other ongoing problems and language barriers. Rawson knows there are no consequences for their actions because of situations like this. Their customer care is 0/10!

We chose Rawson thinking that they were trustworthy builders and what a facade that has been.

If you choose to work with them, please save yourself the hassle by asking them to include the vanity heights in your plans, especially if you have the Caroma Cosmo basin, and make sure that the height is from the FFL, not the structural floor.

100% satisfied with our recent dealings with Rawson Homes. Mitchell Gulemond (In Newcastle area) have been simply great with our dealings. Unlike most in the market – Mitchell, has been very honest and helpful (and this guy is indeed to be trusted in what he says!)

Poor quality workmanship, bricks and walls that are warped, terrible plastering. Repairs done to substandard quality. Unresponsive to emails, calls and texts. Standard response to issues are ‘within standard’. Plumbing, electrical, frames and plastering all has issues prior to handover. Items to be rectified agreed upon and then they change their mind. Cracks in ceilings, walls unsanded, square set not square, floors are uneven. Only quality work completed was the tiling.
They pass the buck by claiming it is the tradies fault but they employ the tradies. Paint colour wrong.

Attitude of Rawson home employees is dreadful. Customer service deserves a minus score. Takes multiple phone calls and emails to have someone reply and when they do reply they say they aren’t doing anything about the issues which have been ‘fixed’ over 10 times.