Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jul 25, 2011 1:32 pm Hello all. If there is a better place to place this question on the forum, please let me know. We are in the process of deciding to re-build or renovate. We currently have a 3 bedroom one bathroom home on a sloping block. House is structurally sound, although very out of date and hasn't had a face lift in about 30 years. We want to add another bathroom, make kitchen bigger, a bedroom, a study and a family room. Land space not an issue as we are on a very large block with a lot of room to extend. The real issues are... -with that many changes are you better of "starting again" -is the cost to renovate to that extent close to the cost of a rebuild? We are at the very beginning stages of thinking and planning so we don't have any plans drawn up yet. Also need to keep in mind that we have 3 young children living in the house too, so that has to get factored in. Any advice, suggestions, words of wisdom?? Cheers. Re: Knock down and rebuild v's renovate 2Jul 25, 2011 2:00 pm Hi, we just went through this decision and ended up renovating. We went back and forth for ages trying to decide what to do, we're rapt with the end result. The best thing you could do is speak to an architect or builder about renovation costs, our estimate from our architects first meeting was within 10% of the end result. We spent under 200K, to knock-down and rebuild a house we would have been happy with we worked out would have been 350-400, not including landscaping/re-establishing the garden etc. Cheers, Chris. Re: Knock down and rebuild v's renovate 3Jul 25, 2011 4:14 pm It depends on how much room you are starting with. My scenario: From another thread chrisandkate After getting quotes for extensions in Melbourne about a year ago, I have to say that $1500per m2 is too low. Try $2500m2 as a basic fitted out extension. This DOES NOT include any renovation of your existing house. This was our rough idea with costs. Add 100m2 to an existing 101m2 house (16yr old at the time) for a single storey or part ground floor part upper addon, including re locate laundry to rear of new building. Add master Bed room with en-suite Add study Add living room. Strip existing Laundry and re model into walk in Pantry(shelving, cupboards, electrical included for pantry, not rest of kitchen) Includes electrical fitting to new rooms. Includes light, bathroom, kitchen cupboard fitting to match existing (old/tired) Does not include Floor coverings to non wet areas renovation of existing house (kitchen, bathroom, walls to be moved/removed not required for extension) excavation of land to allow extension (extra $25k with retaining walls) Any provision for a garage.(brick garage to match house was quoted as $48-65k) removal and re install of central heating if adding second storey. One kicker was that they wouldn't match any new fittings if we decided to replace them with the extension. So if we wanted to update the tap ware, cupboard handles or light fitting they would fit the ones to match the old stuff, then we would have to replace them ALL. Also we would have needed to move out for at least 3 months of a proposed 9 month build. Kitchen renovation was priced at an additional $17k plus appliances to change from a "U" shaped to a "L" shape with island bench. No stone included. Total costs. $238,000 for extension $25,000 excavation and retain $5,000 floor coverings $17,000 kitchen upgrade $6,000 appliances $3,000 remove and re fit heating $x,xxx Rent $2,000 new fitting for bathroom, new door handles through out. = $296k (no garage remember) We are about to start our knock down re build this month (house is about to be pulled down in Jan)and the total cost of our new 31sq house including garage for 3 cars is less than the extension price if we got evap cooling instead of refrigerated and opted for a lower grade of appliances (the ones we ot offered were OK but I wanted Bosch ones) If you can Owner build you'll save money, but you really need to have the spare time to start with. All in all to knock down a 2 1/2 BR brick veneer on a slab and re build a 288m2 4 BR 2 bath house with 3 car garage is costing $310k on top will be landscaping, but the numbers work out about the same by the time you factor in there was no garage with the extension (or room to put one based on the house position and proposed build works.) or kitchen upgrades from existing. debplus3 -with that many changes are you better of "starting again" Perhaps. Think about how much of the house you won't be renovating (for us 1 bath, 3 beds and 1 living) and think about what you might want to replace later on and how much it will cost you. You might get nicer fittings in the new bathroom and want others to match. You'll have to buy s those later. debplus3 is the cost to renovate to that extent close to the cost of a rebuild? In my case it was very close, perhaps cheaper. If I add up all of the things we didn't get included in the extension and add things like refrigerated air co and new heating, it would be way cheaper to knock down and re build. I think the new build comes in at $310k and the proposed extension with all extras was $360k with garage, appliances, etc Re: Knock down and rebuild v's renovate 4Jul 26, 2011 1:41 pm In my humble opinion, it all comes down to finance, real estate value and research. Get the opinion of a few well known real estate agents in your area and make sure that what you plan will not be an over capitalization for your area. Your lender (if you have one) may insist on this anyway. Do your research, sums and keep emotions out of it. You may think that this may be irrelevant to you as you do not intend to ever move from your current location, but no one can predict the future. Keep in the back of your mind regarding a renovation that many states have building regs which may (depending on the size of the Reno) require parts or all of your exisiting house to be 5 or 6 star compliant anyway, not just the renovation. Whichever way you go, it's a great experience, take your time and good luck Re: Knock down and rebuild v's renovate 5Jul 26, 2011 2:02 pm Thanks for the prompt replies. Very helpful info. One thing we are concerned about is that due to the age of the house, the "old" section and the "new section" will look very different if we renovate, unless we comletely over haul the exiting part of the house too. As to over-capitalisation. looking at recent sales in the area, that won't be an issue. How about savings on labor costs if we have a team of people to do lots of the "leg work" ourselves? What percentage aof a builders quote is generally labor costs?? Cheers. Re: Knock down and rebuild v's renovate 6Jul 26, 2011 4:54 pm Its hard to calculate labor as all trades will have a labor fee. Most builders work on a % margin. Usually the margin is around 20% for the average. Some will be lower some will be higher. My builder claims he is charging less than 20% but I doubt it. They also like to charge more mark up for variations post finalization of contracts. The difference in the look of the new part and old part is part of the equation you need to work out. It was a factor that led us to knock down and re build. Are you worried about the outside, inside or both? And what do you mean by leg work? There aren't really a lot of things you can do if you aren't very handy to start with and certain things that you want to get done by an expert no matter how handy you are. IMO you could probably install the kitchen (not appliances) and bathroom cupboards, paint, set up your own heating and cooling (only parts of it like ducting) fix plaster (get a finisher in to do joins) but for the most part unless you are able to take a lot of time off work and learn each part before hand you won't be able to do most jobs required. How big is the house currently? We've had the offer of a short term tenant whilst waiting for CDC/DA home approval and demolition for our knock down rebuild. It would achieve a pretty low rent as it's… 0 13896 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 13843 Hi I live in a 100yr old semi and my neighbour added an additional floor last yr and our architect has advised that we can knock down our semi and build a free-standing… 0 37865 |