Rawson Homes ACT

It took us a little longer to get through the pre-construction stage, much like many others. We understand that the more detailed and planning is upfront, the smoother the process will be later on. However, we are very grateful for how the construction stage progressed. It moved faster than we had expected. Our site manager, Chris, was excellent… Read more ·  1

at coordinating trades at each stage. He always did his best to say yes to any small adjustments we requested during construction. Even our neighbours commented positively on Chris, as they could see him consistently on-site, coordinating work and ensuring everything ran smoothly before the house was completed. We built a two-storey home and are very happy with the final outcome! We had heard mixed reviews about other project builders in the ACT from friends, which made us feel even more confident in our choice of Rawson. Rawson has been around for over 45 years, which can show they are reliable with great leaders and staffs around to make the dream home into reality.

Review of Rawson Homes – Extremely Disappointing Experience I purchased a home from Rawson Homes back in August, and the experience so far has been nothing short of terrible. • Contract Issues: Multiple errors were made in the contract, which took significant time to amend. This created unnecessary stress and confusion right from the start. •… Read more

Settlement Pressure: I was pressured with unrealistic settlement dates of 14 and 21 days, forcing me to scramble with my broker to organise finance in an unreasonably short timeframe. • Title Plan Failures: Rawson Homes failed to submit title plans successfully. The first submission was rejected and required amendments, and now we have passed the sunset date without resolution. • Poor Communication: Despite repeatedly contacting my solicitor, I only received one-sentence responses with no meaningful updates or clarification on when the unit title will be registered. Instead, I was informed of an extension all the way to March 2026. • Financial Impact: I’ve had to extend my loan, yet I am still no closer to settling or moving into the property. No clear timeline or concise information has been provided. • Unprofessional Conduct: Their solicitors have been unprofessional, and dealing with their agents has been an exercise in frustration, with no forward motion or genuine effort to resolve issues.

Overall, this process has been stressful, costly, and deeply disappointing. I would strongly caution anyone considering Rawson Homes to be aware of the lack of professionalism, poor communication, and the significant delays that can arise.

Over 48 hours and no response from Rawson.

AMAZING customer service – We were originally turned away by RH rep who told us they could not work with our block in Ginninderry but we really liked the Corrima so we decided to give RH one more try. This time we found Pete, (ACT Regional Sales Manager). He was an absolute godsend. He took a look at our block, followed up and made enquiries with the developer so we could… Read more ·  1

get the plans approved. He went above and beyond. He gave us EXCEPTIONAL customer service. Met with us on several occasions to go through our building plans with us, answered all our questions, chased up anything he wasn’t sure about and got back to us. Would let us know anytime there was a promotion going so we could make use of it. Because of the background work he did, our plans were approved without any issues in a timely manner. Our pre-construction process was absolutely seamless because of Pete. He is the sole reason we signed up with RH. We cannot thank him enough.

The selection process with Fran and Claire was great as well. They gave us fantastic customer service and were both very prompt in addressing any inquiries/concerns. All our interactions with RH staff have been outstanding.

We have now started the build process and so far, our experience has been good. Our site manager (Robert) emails us weekly with updates and so far everything he says will be happening has been done. We hope things continue this way. We will do a mid-construction review in a couple of months.

We have read a lot of negative reviews about RH and was starting to get nervous but we know sometimes people document their bad experiences but not the good so we want to document ours for others to know.

I wouldn't go with anyone else! – From start to end Rawson have been the best experience I have had. I have had past experience doing an old renovation and extension some 20 years ago, however, this time I wanted to do a knock-down and rebuild. My friends had told me about cost blow outs with single builders which really worried me as I had to stick to a budget up front. Every… Read more ·  1

step along the way I was informed about options and costs. The whole project actually came in $10k under the original signed contract! The design consultant was great, since it was just me making the decisions each of the planning meetings seem to go so easily and she understood what my tastes were too.

The site managers were great, they kept me informed as to what was going on with the house every week or so. The electrician was fantastic, he offered really great practical options during our electrical walk through and went out of his way to incorporate additional changes. Overall the build was completed in just over 6 months. Rob the site manager did everything he could to ensure the house was ready on time and we moved in before Christmas. All my friends and family who have been through my new home have commented on the quality of the build. The house is even better then I imagined in my head and everyday I think about how lucky I am. Thank you to the Rawson team, especially Mal, Fran and Rob who made the whole process so easy - I could honestly do it all over again and wouldn't change a thing.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly – To begin with we were very happy with Rawson Homes, the sales guy was awesome, so friendly and informative. Always answering any stupid questions we had. I chose Rawson because of the good reviews they had. When we sat down with our sales person he explained the provisional that had to be put aside in case they hit rock during excavation. He… Read more

suggested we should allow $10K followed by another $5K to cover a drop edge beam if needed. However he felt the $10K would be enough to cover extra rock and a drop edge beam. By the time we got the third version of the quote the extra $5K was removed as the people at corporate “can’t remember who” thought it unnecessary. Of course we were happy as that was $5K less. After the soil classification report was received pricing did not change and we continued through the process and signed the tender. During this process the local Rawson manager quit and a temporary one “[Name Removed]” filled in. A couple of days before having our internals meeting we were blindsided by a revised quote, the $10K variation for extra site works was removed and replaced with, $10,670 JUST for a drop edge beam, $6195 for ENM/Natural material spoil (remove extra soil) and a mind blowing $30,000 provisional for site works. So in other words an extra $36K+ beyond what we had budgeted. Their excuse was that after sitting on our soil classification report for 6 weeks their estimation team decided to pull a finger out and read the report. I tried to negotiate with the temp manager [Name Removed] but he pretty much refused to budge except for a few thousand. I will admit that the tender did say that the price did not allow for rock, however Rawson had the soil report for 6 weeks and we were told on MANY occasions that the $10K would cover it.. keep in mind they initially removed the other extra $5K as they thought it unnecessary. Due to this going beyond what we had financing for we had no choice but to look somewhere else. As it turned out it was a blessing in disguise, we are now building with a builder that actually cares. A builder that actually goes to the site themselves to survey it. (Unlike Rawson who don’t leave their comfy office). When we mentioned this issue with the new builder they were flabbergasted at the Rawson price and stated it should be no where near this price, they though an extra $5K total would be enough. Well finally our slab is down, by mid May we will have moved and, and guess what, we have been charged zero extra for site works. Nothing for a drop edge beam, nothing for extra soil removal and zip for rock. We now have a nicer home, at around the same price as we originally were quoted. And this includes all landscaping, double glazing and a driveway that Rawson were not supplying.. never in a million years would I go close to Rawson, corporate will screw you. As mentioned their local sales guy (now left) was awesome and the local staff ([Name Removed] and [Name Removed]) were great too. [Name Removed] and their estimating team are worthless.

The site Manager Ben and the Customer Care Consultant from the Sydney office were very corporative and assisted when the 90 days waranty issues were addressed. Thank you very much for you both. Show details

I have had a very positive experience with Rawson Homes - everything from Sean Williams in the sales team, Mary-Anne in customer care and site manager Ben Alexander has been exceptional. I can't fault the service. The communication has been excellent and follow up was prompt whenever I made an inquiry. Thanks for making our new home journey a success ! Show details

Pre Construction Review – Tamara was fantastic during the whole pre construction phase any questions we had was no trouble at all for Tamara to answer. Tamara kept us well informed and she went above and beyond when the our bank didn't give us the information needed for Rawsons, Tamara was able to successfully get what was needed done. Her lovely manner and positive attitude has made the whole pre construction process very easy. Show details ·  1

Absolute disaster of pre-construction experience. The sales team was good with quote. Signed the tender on October of 2024 with no end of pre-construction through no fault of my own. Rawson sent me with a wrong site cut plan and it took closer to a month to fix it, then hits the Christmas break which pushes back even more. Communicating process… Read more

with the pre-construction team is very slow almost nonexistent. I terminated my contract with McDonald Jones thinking Rawson would be much better which cost me around 10K. However, my experience is turning out to be a nightmare. I will be lucky if they get on the site in next couple of months. I have seen an entire double story house being built by them in that time frame.

Lost money based on unrealistic price estimate – Paid money for a tender, based on a price estimate received from their rep at Googong display, based on our custom design. Tender price was 34% more than the original price estimate. We parted with our money thinking this is a viable option for us, but turned out to be huge disappointment. Not happy. Show details

They show you an Unicorn but it’s a Goat, unless you pay to upgrade the Goat to an Unicorn – 1) Some of the inclusions and discussions with the sales agent has not correctly translated to pre-construction. We were asked by the pre-construction admin that we have to do the drive way and path ourselves if we want concrete aggregate. But I have email evidence from the sales agent in the company for over 20years saying he’s waiting for a… Read more

price. This is just the beginning of our frustrations.

2) Visuals in the home selection book are misleading. We were asked to pay an additional $7.5k for the standard majestic facade, to make it look like what’s on the image in the book (note: we selected a standard facade not a display home facade). The facade has a mix of render and brick in the photo but it’s all brick in real life. Very misleading!!

3) We were again misled by the promo booklet. We were asked to pay an additional $1000 to include the Door clearly showed on the promo booklet. I later found out the photo on the booklet was used in a previous promo where this Door was included.

So far, our attempts to discuss any issues with the management has been stopped by the gatekeeper.

I am very frustrated and nervous to trust them with such a large investment.

Update: I wrote this review three weeks ago. Someone from Rawson messaged me online and asked for my details to contat me. It's been two weeks but still no contact.

From the very beginning, Kennedy from the ACT office made the pre-construction phase of our new home an absolute breeze. She was always approachable, professional, and quick to respond to any questions we had no matter how small. Her clear communication kept us informed at every step, and she made what could have been a stressful process feel… Read more ·  1

straightforward and well-organised.

What really stood out was how Kennedy went out of her way to chase up a third party that was delaying our building approval. Without her persistence, things could have dragged on much longer, and we’re so grateful she kept everything moving forward.

Kennedy is exactly the consultant you want in your corner during pre-construction. Thanks to her support, we’re heading into the construction phase feeling excited, confident, and well-prepared.

Customer Service – We have been working with Joanne Flannery from Rawson Homes. She was very informative. We are going through our first time build and Joanne made us feel very comfortable, answered all our questions very calmly. We also met with Fran during our color selections. Fran was absolutely wonderful as well, everything was well organised and quickly organised. Show details ·  1

Excellent – John and team did a great job addressing our defect list post-construction. Very happy. In addressing our post-construction defect list, John was very responsive, clear in his advice and did a great job of making sure everything was fixed to our satisfaction. Everything was addressed very quickly and we were really happy with the service he… Read more

provided. Although we did have a few things that needed fixing post-construction, we are really happy with how everything turned out.

Fantastic Experience – We had an amazing experience with Rawson Homes. Our build was seamless from the beginning to end. Everyone who was involved in our build were extremely helpful and responsive from beginning to end from our sales agent Peter, Fran in the office and Project Manager Robert, couldn’t commend these guys enough. If you are looking for a quality build… Read more

with professionals who know their stuff and are reliable, honest and responsive, Rawson Homes is your best bet. Brittany and Duncan

An all round superior builder! – The professionalism, quality and communication displayed by Rawson Homes throughout the building process was excellent. I'm the type of person who does copious amounts of research before committing to a big project and from day one Rawson Homes impressed me. I already had a general idea of what I wanted and a budget in mind; however, when I… Read more ·  1

visited their display home they clearly stood out from the competition. They didn't just try to sell me a standard design, but listened to my ideas, considered them and followed up with a great proposal. Even before I got into contract with them I found they always delivered on their commitments, kept me well informed and this solidified in my mind that they were a builder I could trust. The selections process can seem daunting but Rawson Homes were right there to guide us through it and offer useful suggestions. Once building started it went like clockwork and they delivered a home that honestly exceeded my expectations. Nothing was too hard and our builder was fantastic. I could not be happier and would highly recommend Rawson Homes if you are thinking about building.

P.S. I'd like to pass on my genuine thanks to Rad, Fran and Rob. You all did an amazing job at each step of the building process and make a superior team!

Quality build – We received the keys to our new home last week and are extremely happy with the house. Mr Robert has managed the build of our house to the highest standards. From the time that we were handed over to construction, Robert has kept up informed of progress continually throughout the build. There were a few deviations required as the build, and Robert… Read more ·  1

has always explained the issue and provided appropriate options to proceed. Robert has a select group of tradesmen that work to the high standards that Robert requires and any issues have been addressed professionally and without delay. The proof of the build quality was demonstrated when we engaged an external consultant to assist with the handover inspection. The consultant was thoroughly impressed by the build quality and apologised that he only had very minor issues such as minor paint defects to include in his report. Furthermore, Robert has been fantastic in assisting with some minor issues since handover. So, Robert is genuinely interested in having happy home owners, and not just getting your final payment. We have also been extremely impressed the electrical support from Mr Abdul, he provided excellent advice on our initial walkthrough with some great suggested improvements. Abdul also went well out of his way to accommodate some of my geeky computer network requirements. Apart from having all of the usual electrical items completed to an excellent standard, we also have an awesome computer network thanks to Abdul. Ms Claire has been of great support throughout the entire process and has been entirely professional in everything that she has done. Claire has also been a great advocate for us in dealing with the other areas within Rawson Homes. Claire is the second Pre-construction coordinator that we had during our build. The first coordinator was less than optimal, and when we advised Rawson that we were leaving because of issues with the original coordinator, we were moved over to Claire. Since move over with Claire we could not have been happier. The original coordinator is no longer with Rawson. One of the most significant benefits of dealing with Rawson Homes as someone building their first home, is Ms Frances. Going through the selection process is a daunting process for a first timer, and there are a lot of mistakes that can be made that you have to live with forever. Fran has an extensive knowledge of the all the available options, and how to combine these to the best effect. Fran also really won't let you make a mistake in the selections and without Fran, I am sure that we would have made a mess of things. Fran is the main reason that we ended up staying with Rawson Homes despite our initial issues. Fran is also the trouble-shooter behind the scenes and keeps things together and running well. Having gone through the process, my wife and I are very happy to consider our Rawson team as good friends.

Quality, Well Built, Ahead of Schedule – We are very impressed with the quality of our home that was professionally managed by Chris (Building Supervisor). Chris provided great deal of insight, time, and was supportive in our numerous questions during the build phase. Chris kept the build going at a quick pace and managed to complete it many weeks ahead of schedule. The final product being a house of exception quality. A 5 star performance.  Show details ·  1

We love the end result! – Mal was great, insightful, and a pleasure to work with him. He provided great and very helpful advice at the very early stages. The selection process with Fran was a pleasure. She was attentive and patient and provided good advice too. Working with Robert during construction was enjoyable. He was easy to communicate with and very accommodative. Thank you Show details ·  1

Great house, great construction manager – We moved into our new Canberra home a few weeks ago. We love it and it’s exactly what we wanted. Our final construction manager, Chris, was exceptional. He went over and above to get us into the house and fielded our random phone calls on Sunday afternoons. He cared that we got the home we wanted and went out of his way to make sure we were happy.… Read more ·  1

We are so grateful to Chris. The other exceptional person we dealt with was based in Sydney, Rebecca, at pre-construction phase. These two stand-out people bookended a process that was at times frustrating due to communication issues, turnovers in staff, and delays with the build. To Chris’s great credit, he acknowledged the issues and went out of his way to resolve them to our satisfaction and make sure we were happy with the end product. We are – the quality of our new home is outstanding. While the build process wasn’t always smooth, we can highly recommend Rawson to anyone looking for the home of their dreams at a very reasonable price.

Our Beautiful New Home – The Rawson team in Canberra have delivered us a beautiful new home which we love living in! From the signing of our tender and throughout the Pre-construction process, we were very well looked after by the whole Rawson team including our Pre-Construction Administrator, Claire. Claire was responsive and communicated the progress of our project… Read more ·  1

well. She took many phone calls and investigated all of our requests in a timely manner as well as documenting our (many!) variations. Chris was our Site Manager and has delivered an absolutely stunning home. The quality of the home is on par with the Rawson display homes in the region. Any issues onsite were communicated to us promptly with suggested solutions for us to choose from. Chris was always available on the phone and eased any concerns we had quickly. Both Claire and Chris have done a wonderful job and the result is our beautiful new home which we are proud to show off to our friends and family. Thank you Rawson Homes ACT.

Excellent Construction works – Chris and his team at Rawson were amazing. Great customer service, patiently listened all our needs and took actions appropriately in timely manner. They went above and beyond to help us out with our first home. Even after handover Chris has been in contact and helped to follow up a couple of outstanding items. Highly recommend Chris and Rawson Homes to be your builders. Show details ·  1

on time and to budget – The actual build of my new house went very well: - it was completed well before the contract date - I was kept informed of progress and invited to inspect at each stage - if I found a discrepancy between the plans and the build, it was discussed and resolved - the fixed price contract was essential for my budget Show details ·  1

Very happy Rawson Homes build experience! – We've been in our Rawson built-home for a year now. Being our first build (and living interstate at the time), we were nervous about the process, but are very happy we chose Rawson Homes (ACT) and would recommend them to anyone considering a new house build. The sales process went smoothly, with Mal making valuable suggestions and advice on… Read more ·  1

tweaking the floorplan to meet our needs. He was knowledgeable, realistic, honest and transparent; and we never felt under any sales pressure.

The selection process was overwhelming and tiring despite us being quite well prepared, but Fran's advice was excellent and she made it an enjoyable experience.

We encountered a few frustrations during the pre-construction phase; and felt the process could have been streamlined to allow the build to have started sooner. There were a few misunderstandings that led to delays in booking us in for key appointments, the process wasn't made clear enough, and there was unnecessary back and forth via email. In the end, it was nothing major - but there was room for improvement. E.g. I'd much prefer a quick phone conversation that is followed up with confirmation in email.. but it was hard to get hold of our Pre-construction administrator on the phone.

After about 6 months of pre-construction, our build finally started. We were very fortunate to be assigned Chris as our site supervisor; a young ambitious guy who has a wealth of building knowledge, a "can do" attitude that delivered on almost all of his promises. He communicated well, was always available when needed, and he worked damn hard. Construction wasn't without a few issues (I've never heard of a perfect build!), but Chris was able to rectify any issues promptly. We asked him to get us in by Easter, and he delivered; building the house in 6-7 months. He is absolutely a very valuable asset to Rawson Homes.

Warranty rectification has been a little slow (and now further delayed by Covid-19), but we only have a few minor issues and are happy to wait.

Overall - a very good experience. We'd definitely consider building with Rawson Homes again: excellent pricing with quality inclusions, a relatively smooth process, on budget, a quality build, and got us into our beautiful new home in just over a year from contract signing.

Thank you Rawson Homes!

Amazing supervisor – I'd like to give a big shout out to Carl Trevenar,our supervisor for the excellent work he did.He has been always been approachable,well organised ,professional and understandable .He used to give us updates during each stage.I would definitely recommend Rawson homes to my friends. Please don't change supervisors in between as its really frustrating. Show details ·  1

Our Terrific Home – Hats off to Chris for his great work as our Construction Manager during the building of our new home. His responsiveness, promptness, and efforts in progressing a smooth construction were a credit to him. We were kept well informed with regular and clear communications leading to an overall positive experience. Upon completion, the quality of build was to the high level expected with all costs keeping to the original amount. Show details ·  1

Perfect pre- construction – From the beginning it has been pleasure working with Rawson Homes team in building my home. Pre- construction phase has completed with lots of changes here and there and the team has helped me a lot during this. In final stage, Rebecca has done a great job for me as I found she carries lots of knowledge and expertise in her field. Now, its time… Read more ·  1

to start building the house and I am so much confident the Rawson Home team will build right and hand over right and on time to us.

Amazing home build – My husband and I just wanted to let you know what an amazing experience it has been building with Rawson and having Chris Gozzard as our site manager. While many people say building a house is one of the most stressful things anyone can do, we found it to be absolutely wonderful and far from stressful. From the very beginning Chris was always… Read more ·  1

available to answer our questions, called back straight away if we left a message and was very flexible with meeting us on site whenever we requested. If there were any issues with our selections (carpet we chose was discontinued, shower screen smaller than stated on plans, etc.) he immediately contacted us so we could make our decisions and move forward quickly.

Chris followed up all of our requests promptly and provided options and advice when we werent sure how to proceed. Any surprises that popped up Chris managed quickly and professionally and the whole process went so smoothly that we have thoroughly enjoyed watching our house grow from start to finish.

We wouldnt hesitate to recommend Rawson homes because of the amazing experience we have had with Chris. He was approachable, flexible, attentive, professional and honest. Its been an absolutely wonderful experience. Thank you Chris.

Kind regards, Emily and Ben

Fran is a DREAM to design your dream home with! Carl is your site manager to bring it to life! – We have had a wonderful experience working with Fran and Rawson to design our dream home. She is a talented and highly efficient expert. We can’t fault the experience we have had. The home we built was a significant modification and upgrade of a design of theirs and Fran’s knowledge and expertise ultimately resulted in our final design exceeding… Read more ·  1

our expectations and coming in within budget! Carl, our site manager is efficient, responds to changes in schedule with agility and communicates clearly and regularly. He is really knowledgeable and super on the ball.

So Far So Good – It is the first time we are in process of building our own dream home. It is stressful and overly time consuming. It is in fact but working with Rawson Homess such a professional team, truly its so smooth, interesting, learning and enjoyable moments. Started with Mal chin to Frances-everyone is so helpful and with fully packed product… Read more ·  1

knowledge.. it was so exciting to work with Elyse as we found she is the precious gem of Rawson homes in Canberra. She made our life so easy in choosing Internal/external selections as there are many confusing stuffs to decide. . Rebecca had challenging time to adjust our alfresco as per the legal requirements but she handled it so smoothly that we are amazed. She is so polite, too. Everything seems so perfect for us so far. We wish we will feel similar experience in further stages.

November 11th 2019 Update: Perfect pre- construction

From the beginning it has been pleasure working with Rawson Homes team in building my home. Pre- construction phase has completed with lots of fixes here and there and the team has helped me a lot during this. In final stage Rebecca has done a great job for me as I found she carries lots of knowledge and expertise in her field. Now its time to start digging and building the house and I am pretty confident the Rawson Home team will build right and hand over right and on time.

Thank you, Rajesh

Can’t fault – I have been dealing with Ben at the googong display and can’t fault the service that has been offered. He is more interested in getting what is best for me rather than just looking to get the sale. Being a first home buyer I was concerned I would miss important parts but after going over the whole process I am confident that I am in good hands. Show details ·  1

Our Dream home – The pre-construction process of our knock down/rebuild was a smooth one. They say building a house is one of the most stressful things you can do in life but with the help of Rebecca and Fran from Rawsons ACT it was actually quite enjoyable. Rebecca (our pre-construction administrator) went above and beyond with all the extra questions we had… Read more ·  1

along they way. She was quick and efficient in responding to our questions and requests. Our house is now in the construction phase and it’s exciting to sit back and watch as everything is already chosen.