Demolish and Rebuild - First Steps - please help

Hello Everyone...

Just joined the forum having been a long term spectator.

Last year we moved into a big old house on a 750sq/m block with the intent of doing a pretty serious reno... Having gone down that path for a while the reno looks pretty pricey and we are now looking at demolishing and starting again (which i am actually in favour of since i am pretty picky and could already forsee lots of small issues in a large scale reno particularly with integrating cooling / heating, floor levels etc etc...)

We are now trying to work out the best approach for next steps...

Vital Stats
Our budget is $300-$350k.
We want a Single Storey house approx 270sq/m (29 squares) including garage/porch
House is pretty standard (4 bedroom, 2 living areas, double car garage)
Location is Moorabbin Melbourne

Options we are looking at are as follows:

Volume Builder
We haven't found the exact floorplan we want but could most likely get one modified to suit then option up

Draftsman / Private Builder
We have a very good idea of what we want. We have been researching a lot and have a specific floorplan we could provide to a draftsman to do our drawings then engage a private builder.

Architect / Private Builder
We are certainly open to a customised architect solution and are keen to explore as many green initiatives as we can .. But we are concerned we may pay for extravagant plans that cannot be build for our budget and given what we want isnt massively complicated should we spend the architects fees on optioning up the house we do build to a higher standard?

Just to confuse things we are on a flood overlay and have been advised that we need to get a contour survey done to AHD standards to determine how high we need to build. Of course this will impact the $$$ but we are not sure by how much until we have the survey. But the Catch 22 is that after we give the survey to whoever will build the house they will most likely charge us again to get another one done..... AARRRRGH.

Any thoughts on the above in terms of your experiences or quality of fittings we could expect per square or per sq/m for the above solutions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Hi cheezo,

Welcome to the forum. We had a similar budget, similar land size and similar house size requirements. We ended up going with a volume (not big but reasonable sized) builder, however this may have been due to the fact that we loved the plans and we settled on the plans before we even found the house to knock down.

We also found that we were on a flood overlay, at least you are going into this with your eyes open on this one. We found out very late in the piece (long story that I won't bore you with) about our flood issue. Do you know if it is an overland flow issue or a raised stream? If it is the latter it is much better. The issue we had is that before the council would even tell us the flood level they needed final plans to see what impact they would have on the overland flow.

If it is just a raised stream or river, council can almost immediately tell you what the flood level is (unless you are significantly changing the fences or anything that could impede overland flow.).

Our builder got the AHD level for us, however if you get a licenced surveyor to sign off on the AHD's I am sure that your builder can rely on this. Just ensure that you get everything in writing.

Our final budget, following having to raise the house 600mm for the flood issue was at the top end of your scale, however we're not going light on extras, ie ceasarstone kitchen benchtops, timber floorboards, 2700 ceilings etc. etc.

Thanks room4acubby.

The overlay applies where if the drainage system's design capacity is exceeded, the property will be affected by Overland Flows.

My water documentation says that

"The estimated flood level for this property that has a probability of 1% in any one year is RL 33.42m to AHD".

I must admit I'm not exactly sure what all that means.

Hi Cheezo,

We are in the process of rebuilding after a demo in Edithvale (so not too far from you!). Our block is slightly smaller than yours but we wanted a similar type house. Luckily we didn't have the flood overlay issues to worry about.

As far as budget goes, we've spent about $20k for the demo, council permits, utility removals and re-connections etc. We've also gone with a major builder as it just seemed like a much easier and quicker option than going the private builder path. The house cost is in the low $200's for what I think is a standard level of finish (not too over the top but still some nice touches). Then of course on top of that has been renting during the process, mortgage repayments as well plus we've got a lot of costs to finish off the house after handover (so far we're budgeting $30k but think it'll probably be more depending on what we do with the garden). All up I think we're looking at around $300k.

Re the survey, our builder did one to draw up our initial contract then once the demo was completed they had to do another one. So you'll probably find you'll have to pay for 2 no matter what!

A friend of mine in Highett went for the reno option & they're in a flood overlay and ended up having a split level house cos the original part of the house didn't meet the height requirements but the new part of the house had to!! So I do think you're right that reno's can cause lots of unforseen issues to crop up.

Z

Anyone with any other advice?

Hi cheezo, it would be wrong of me not to chip in!

zb73 is spot on with a lot of the numbers.

While we are still waiting on final numbers as we are part of the way through the process, it will be around $13k-ish for the demo. Site costs can't yet be finalised as we need a second soil test done after the demo (which will hopefully be soon, see our thread for coverage of council delays ~ tree removal permit application... *sigh*).

I can say that even though we're on a flat block, site costs won't be low ~ due to the number of trees on the block and the difference they make to the soil rating.

Best of luck... also look up slknv's thread and his blog ~ he's done a knockdown-rebuild (Melbourne) and also the famous Stormy ~ http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=7166&p=463247#p463247.

I'd also say that there *are* builders out there that are not exactly "volume" builders but not quite "private" builders either ~ somewhere in the middle path ~ who are very flexible about changing their plans. Our builder has been fantastic in this regard, where I have seen friends building with the larger builders who have been disappointed that they couldn't make the changes they would have loved.

All the best, there's *lots* of info here (I have learnt much ~ still a lot to learn!!).

~ cheers, J

Hi cheezo looks like you have a few options to consider.

Another options is with your own design is have a concept floor plan done with full dimensions without the working drawings initally that way you can have it quoted by your builders so you know what it will cost you and make any changes to the plan if need be if you go over budget. Then from there take it to a drafty or the builder you use could arrange that aswell.