Newbie Renovation

Hi all,

We've got a house in Sydney, that is currently rented out, that we would like to renovate and live in it. The current floor plan is shown below:

What we hope to do are:

1) Convert to open living, so that the living room, dining and kitchen could hopefully open out to the garden

2) Consider adding a second floor extension, if budget permits, with 2-3 bedrooms + 2 bathrooms (one ensuite) and maybe a kitchen & living room. If this is done, we would need to consider where to put the stairs.

3) Add a cover to the carspace, without sacrificing natural lights into the front of the house. Currently, there's no cover above the carspace.

We would really appreciate some advice on how to get started. If possible, we hope to do as much scoping or work possible before we take the property back, so as to save time. We will need to give the tenants 3 months notice and we don't plan to live in the property while renovation is done.

The other issue that we have is that the previous owner did some renovation, so the larger bathroom and the kitchen are fairly new. There's also a new built-in-wardrobe in bedroom 3. The floorboards have also been polished and the roof tile looks like it's been repainted. The house has also been repainted inside & out. So, we're hoping to keep or recycle as much of the new parts as possible, although we're not sure it's possible.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hey mate,

for a quick, easy and cheap (sort of!) rework,convert the study/sun room and existing living to a main bedroom with basic en suite and robe. Reconfigure/remove the side windows.

Knock out the internal walls of bed 3 to open up the area giving you a dining/living with garden views through the bi-fold doors or 'french' doors etc. Keep bed 1, 2, kitchen, bathrooms and guest as is. Use the guest as a home office. If you ever work from home you will appreciate the garden outlook while working!

I'm presuming the back of the house faces north?

Losing light to the bed 1 with the addition of a 'character' gabled carport isn't really an issue; the ridge line of the carport would be below the window height anyway, once again presuming that the car parking space is under bed 1 as described on drawing.

Not sure on your budget but a wild guess would be $80,000+?

To go up......probably pushing $200,000.

Just my two cents worth....
Hope this helps.....cheers

Thanks, mattban1968 for your feedback. We like the idea of keeping bedroom 4 as a study, that would be less messy and we don't have to worry about losing a bathroom. Will definitely consider that.

No, the diagram for the carport is a bit misleading. There is a space under bedroom 1 but it's boarded up and not high enough to fit the whole car. The height between the bottom of the window to ground is less than 1.5m, so we would have to build the carport above the window.

North is to the right of the picture, so the back of the house gets the morning sun.

We did think of converting the living/sunroom to a master bedroom but can't think where we can add an ensuite.

How long would a DA application normally takes? I understand that it differs quite a bit from one council to another, but still keen to know the range.

Also, how long would renovation takes for 1) open plan living conversion and/or 2) adding another level.

We haven't really set a budget, perhaps $200k if we can add another level.

Hmm.... some stupid questions, if anyone can help answer:

1) Does DA approval takes longer for different type of work, e.g. second floor addition takes more time for approval compared to open plan conversion?

2) Is getting quotes from different architects the first step?

3) Do you get builders based on the architect's recommendation? If not, how to find a good builder?

Sorry, never done a renovation before. Thanks.

1) a small extension or renovation DA is much, much quicker and easier than say a second story addition.

More details required by council eg. engineering plans, over shadowing to neighbours, etc.

A DA in the blue mountains for a simple job will be done in say 4 weeks. they try and contact at about 2 weeks to resolve minor issues, then some paperwork to take you to 4 weeks. very good and quite easy to deal with. unlike some others around sydney apparently!

2) what quotes are you referring to? building works or on the drawings/plans themselves? they all vary depending on detail..as they say 'the devil is in the detail'.

3) how to find a good builder...or any tradesperson for that matter....the million dollar question! LOL

ps. depending on your council you might not need any drawings/plans drawn up to submit if you are doing some internal changes only....changing the outside structure or appearance is another matter. plans should be done for your builder though otherwise he doesn't know what you require.

call your council, ask a few questions and heed they're advise. the ones i have dealt with have been very good!

cheers

1) It really depends on your council, can I ask what council your with? Our council was a nightmare for our first home which was only basic renovation and slight extension, but our new home (in a new area) was a peice of cake !!!

2) If you KNOW what you want, then yes - I can recommend some architects we have used?? I will PM you? Once you have chosen your architect, then you go ahead with the design, the will submit to council for DA approval, and then you can go ahead with sourcing a builder for the job.

3) Never use a builder based purely on architecht recommendations - Architects usually get a commission for referral - that doesnt mean the builder they gave you was good !! I would highly recommend our builder, they are a smaller company but suited our needs to a tee. They where flexible with all our changes, offered there input, dealt with all the issues easily - and gave us an immaculate home !! Plus they where reasonably priced which makes all the difference !! We will definetly use them again for our next development - and trust me that means something !

Our builder was Louie from BuildCarp Constructions louie@buildcarpconstructions.com - let him know Karla and Rob referred you to him !!!

Thanks for the response. My council is Randwick, no idea how easy they are to deal with. I'm hoping to give them a call soon. Anyone with experience to share dealing with Randwick council?

Karla, thanks for the recommendations. Do PM me the architects. We are not sure when to start work yet, still have to sell our current PPOR, so might look at next half year depending on the property market. But we would like to do as much research as we can, so that we can save time.

Thanks again for all the responses.