To Knockdown and Rebuild or Renovate?

Hi all…looking for some insights/inspiration/general advice…we are looking at either an extensive renovation to the existing house or clean knockdown rebuild.

Our goal is to build a family home for the next 10-15 years…we have 2 young kids and want to utilise the space as efficiently as possible.

The property is 710m2 and has front and rear access, with the rear back yard north facing. We are very happy with the orientation of the block and want to maintain as much rear garden as possible + capture the light into the house.

The existing house is a ~1950 built brick veneer house of approx. 150m2. Structurally in good condition and we love the red brick (which we want to either retain or recycle)…However, if we are to retain the property the internal configuration needs redesigning and fully updating + plus an extension (upstairs) for additional space.

If we are to knock-down and rebuild we would look to achieve the following outcomes:

We are, thinking 4 bedrooms, 2 down and 2 up. The idea of 2 levels is to have the house on minimal footprint to give us max outdoor space, mostly to the rear.

Downstairs:
- Master bedroom (WIR) and spare room / 2nd living. Both located at the front (south end of the block).
- Study; a small study…half room size
- Bathroom x 1. We don’t need an ensuite, perhaps a door way from the MB but just a master bathroom is fine.
- Laundry + mudroom. Mudroom as an alternate entry point to main doorway.
- Living to the north facing out to the rear garden. Large windows/high ceilings etc. Semi open plan living; dining+sitting adjacent, but thinking kitchen located perhaps off to the side. We don’t want a super large room with all in, want some sort of segregation between these spaces (retain the current L shape design of the house).
- 1.5x car carport to the south / east of the block, access via existing driveway. There is a garage at the rear which we will keep.

Upstairs: kids domain
- 2 x bedrooms
- Bathroom
- Living area
- If we can, we want to capture views to the south as we are elevated.

Outdoors:
- Rear garden to the north we would like to have level from a deck off the living area. I note the slope of the block will make this tricky, so keen to look at solutions.
- Retain space along the north/eastern boundary for a pool (in the future/pipedream!). But have this area accessible and as a feature.

Overall, we do not want a super large home…we want a well-designed house where we actively utilise all space across our daily lives. So, thinking in total 250-300m2.
The questions I am looking to answer are:
- Is the house worth keeping and renovating. Is the structure sufficient to be the foundation of an extensive renovation.
- What are the likely costs of a full renovation to achieve our goals Vs a knockdown rebuild.
- Looking for anyone who has an eye for design to give us some guidance of how they would renovate this property. Design + layout ideas etc.
- Anything else that would be useful for us in the decision making process…we are green!

Thank you all

Richard



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