Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Dec 21, 2010 8:15 pm I bought a tiny block in a nice suburb with a small old 2 bed 1 bathroom townhouse (brick downstairs, timber upstairs), bought at the peak of market few months back & paid too much. I bought it to renovate and live in. The townhouse will look great if fixed up, but needs heaps of structural work quotes have been ranging 100-150k Problems with building for me are the restrictions being placed on this small site, which will need permits for being well under 300sqm, heritage & flood overlay. Need a H slab, soil type is P. Maybe if were lucky with family tradesman helping us with plumping, plastering & painting we have estimated 220k (is that possible?) for a tiny hopefully 3 bedroom townhouse including demolishing, permits etc. The current house makes the most of boundaries, it sits 2 story high on one boundary and only 1m from the rear. If i knock it down I wont be able to build on the same footprint as the heritage law has large setbacks. But I might be able to extend out the front on the current house as its sits further back than all other properties and create another bedroom downstairs. Re: BUILD OR RENOVATE - HELP! 2Dec 21, 2010 9:00 pm We had the same question - renovate or build. Our current house doesn't have any nice features that make the reno worth it. Like high celings, big rooms, ornate cornices, old floorboards, so it wasn't worth to renovate, but we had done the kitchen and bathroom. So we are renting it and building elsewhere. When we looked at renovating it was def expensive, $2k a sqmt. Building new is closer to $1.5k for 2 storey. So you get 'better value' for money. But you said it would look great if it was fixed up. When people renovate those old workers cottages IMP you can't get that in a new house. That beautiful character feeling. You would be able to do more 'cash' style jobs with a reno too, builders have so many rules. We chose not to renovate - for the simple reason that we need a 4x2 and to make a 3x1 a 4x2 with double garage was going to cost $350k... (that was without a study, 2nd living, activity etc) Our whole building including siteworks and pool is costing less than that. I have no idea if this helps. I love renovated houses. Does that help?? Building with Life$tyle Homes in Perth SOR Key Dates on First Page of my Thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38761 Re: BUILD OR RENOVATE - HELP! 3Dec 22, 2010 10:51 am Thanks is does help a bit. Only reason we want to renovate is because it has high ceilings and huge glass windows front and back. If we knocked down we wouldn't be allowed to have large windows so close to the back fence. Also has a huge industrial look iron stair case which is cool, but thats it. The rest of the house is poo. Problem is I bought the house cause I loved it....so that was my first mistake. I dont want to make another mistake. If we build im worried we are spending to much on an already overpriced piece of land. But long term im sure building is better 5-10yrs when prices catch up? Re: BUILD OR RENOVATE - HELP! 4Dec 23, 2010 11:35 am If you love it and you are going to live in it for longer than 5 yrs, don't worry about your return etc. Life's too short I think. The staircase and windows sound amazing. Well worth considering the reno's over demolition. Our friends bough an over priced shell of a house with a FLAT roof. Simply because it was next to a park and at the end of the street. Everyone tells them they overpaid and they still have to do it up. They don't care, because they look accross the park every day from their windows. If you arn't in it to make a profit I would do what feels right. Building with Life$tyle Homes in Perth SOR Key Dates on First Page of my Thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=38761 Re: BUILD OR RENOVATE - HELP! 5Dec 23, 2010 7:49 pm What is the area like? Are there a lot of houses that are from the same period that are also heritage listed? If so I would recommend to keep the style of the house and reno. I think when you want to sell on, you would find i easier to sell on a house that is in keeping to the market area. From the sounds of it - I think if you demo & rebuild - you will be very restricted with what you can build - esp size wise due to the setback restrictions and may have to settle for something that you don't really want. When you say the rest of it is poo (lol i had to laugh!) is that cosmetically/structurally? These things can be fixed. I guess the best thing to do is sit down with a piece of paper, draw a line down the middle and write down the pros and cons for both a reno and then a knock down/re build... and see which "deal breakers" you lose with each option... sometimes, as corny as that practice is, it can take the emotion out of your decisions and can make the answer seem a bit clearer!! Hope I have helped... good luck with your decision - make sure you let us know! Sleven Moved into our Atlantique MkII 36 by Carlisle Homes Re: BUILD OR RENOVATE - HELP! 6Dec 23, 2010 9:16 pm you bought the townhouse because you loved it, and from your figures it will be cheaper to reno so why would you want to tear it down and build from scratch? Let me just say that new houses are everywhere, what is less available these days is historic/period houses and there is a market that will pay for the added features of a period home, but the problem is you don't say how old the townhouse is so it is hard to judge. Older does not make it less attractive to buyers in fact it can add to the price in a good market where a certain type of buyer is looking for those unique features of a period home which they won't get with a new construction Re: BUILD OR RENOVATE - HELP! 7Jan 10, 2011 6:05 pm If you loved the house- then the only answer is renovate. Old houses have character. There are so many builds these days and it upsets me. We;re renovating/building on an old house. Also have a heritage overlay. Love it and love the area. No new houses going up. Ol' charm. REN-O-VATE! Nonna's Nest House set for completion November 2013 the step up is 30mm and wanting it to be flat . how much does the concrete have to be lowered .we plan on removing bath and lenghten shower and adding seat. the old bath… 0 11835 if the original house is in good condition most of what you listed could be added in stages without the need for KDR and costs and disruption of having to live elsewhere… 1 13678 Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17591 |