Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jun 10, 2013 7:58 pm Right. New here. Just signed up. The husband and I have plans drawn up to extend the house. (Currently 3bed/one bath/small kitchen/living: double brick). The plans have changed a couple times due to the desire to do it once only! (Ie we are happy in the area/street) Quotes are huge. (It is a big extension!) We are thinking we could be crazy not to do knock-down-rebuild if it is potentially an extra $50-70 more for all existing issues to be resolved (although the extra amount is still substantial enough to turn us off doing it!) QUESTION: In general, to knock down/rebuild, are we looking at an extra $100K on top of the new house 'ticket price'??? (Going with a big 'new home' company) *Sutherland Shire area. Thanks. Would love some answers from those that have been in the same position. Re: Extend or rebuild???? That is the question! 3Jun 10, 2013 8:11 pm So, $25K to $50K on top of the cost of the new house? (Ie, for things like demolition/removal of existing house, council fees, other(?) fees etc) I always thought it was more? Happy to be Mis informed! Re: Extend or rebuild???? That is the question! 4Jun 11, 2013 10:51 am Have been through the same situation. We went through the process of looking at doing a major extension, had it documented and put out for tender. We had four builders tender on it and the cost was ridiculous. We then went down the knock down rebuild route which ended up cheaper. The other benefit is that the value of the new house at the end of it is greater than for an old house with an extension. You end up getting exactly what you want, in the area that you love living rather than what is essentially a compromised design in order to work with an existing structure. We knocked down a 3 bedroom brick veneer on a sloping block with asbestos and loads of vegetation for $14.5K. That gave us a nice clean site for the builder to start on. You need to factor in having to live elsewhere for the duration of the build, plus moving costs, plus storage costs if you need to put some of your items into storage. Your demolition contractor should include in their fee the required demolition permit, insurance etc. You will need to organise abolishment of your services (electricity, gas) and may need to organise a new underground power pit if you don't already have underground power. That's the expensive one - approx $3.5k to get the power company to install. Depending on whether you go with a custom builder, a volume builder, or go down the owner builder route will determine what your other costs will be. Also the type of site, how much fall it has, any potential access issues to the site. And then there's the type of fittings you want etc. Most volume builders will include permit fees in their cost, some custom builders will. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Extend or rebuild???? That is the question! 6Jun 12, 2013 3:01 pm No idea about costs for knocking down but I guess you have to weigh up - if you extend / renovate, will you get your money back?? We were going to extend/renovate our current house however at the end of the day, we would have spent around $100K to get it to what we wanted however we just wouldn't have gotten it back in resale value ever. We decided to build on another block in the same suburb haha! Re: Extend or rebuild???? That is the question! 7Jun 19, 2013 12:22 pm We've thought about that question too. I can get pretty romantic when it comes to preserving something that's already there. But we're convinced now that there's a lot to be said for "reinventing" with a knock down rebuild, because building your own home you can really have what you want at the end. What really has changed my mind is that that the ongoing costs of a new home are going to be so much more economical. Especially if it's oriented well to North, and uses all the modern standards we reckon we'll save half of our heating and cooling costs. I have been in the situation of living in an old home (a renovated Victorian) and I know that repair jobs can turn into three-headed dragons because you never know what's under the surface. So doing the maths, we included the future costs as well as the actual building costs, and that's tipping the balance. Good luck. Re: Extend or rebuild???? That is the question! 8Jun 21, 2013 10:13 am Hi, We did exactly the same thing, renovate, move or rebuild. I lived in an old weatherboard house which was cute and all but once I looked at the figures for renovation I realised I was over capitalising and would never see the money again if we had to re-sell, plus we had issues with the existing house which would have remained even with a renovation. Moving wasn't helpful as the money we would have to spend to get the house we wanted plus stamp duty made it more expensive than knocking the house down and rebuilding. We went with a project builder (McDonald Jones) but we shopped around with lots of them, their customer service and professionalism did it for me plus they were very flexible with changes that I requested. I was initially told to estimate approximately $100k over the price of the house to cover the cost of site fees, upgrades, and everything else that rears its ugly head when you walk this path, in all honesty we are probably about $130k over the initial price of the house which includes everything (driveway, landscaping, demolition etc) however a lot of those costs could be slashed as we did do a fair bit of upgrading and it was a personal expense rather than a necessity. Oh please note the price above doens't include the costs of renting another property as we had no other choice but to rent. Good Luck - I had many sleepless nights getting to my decision, but I have no regrets, our house is being demolished today and I can't wait for the build to proceed. Re: Extend or rebuild???? That is the question! 9Jun 21, 2013 10:30 am Wow. Thanks so much for all of your feedback and opinions. It really is so good to hear different views on things from outsiders who have been through the decisions. I really appreciate the time put into the answers (busy lives and all- thr we all lead!) *****cjamum- how exciting! Glad you made the decision that you are happy with. Hope it all goes well - bring on the demo! Re: Extend or rebuild???? That is the question! 10Jul 17, 2013 11:02 am Hope the decision got easier, it's interesting looking at everyone's experiences. It's always good to discuss it with a builder too, especially one who knows your area, and the terrain, and has some good references out there. They'll be able to give you some sound figures and advice (not the volume builders, but the custom builders who work in conditions similar to yours, and once all the extra costs come in from the volume builders they are often not any cheaper) Ask lots of questions about site costs, and find someone who communicates really well. That can help a lot with making decisions. Re: Extend or rebuild???? That is the question! 11Jul 17, 2013 11:27 am Well, we have a bank loan approved and are going to go ahead with the extension! Reasons: -The costs of the knock down are substantially higher than the extension. -We have a double brick home and separate brick garage that really don't need to be knocked down (despite loving the idea of an entire new home, it really isn't a necessity for us, we just need more space to cater for our lifestyle) -We will end up with most things that we want in adding on and developing/altering what already exists --- whereas many of the houses lack something or another (whether it be room size- layout etc- and altering just adds to the cost again) *** A big thanks for the input. I'll keep you posted. Not sure whether we will start in the next couple of months OR next year when the last child is off to school! ok thanks - yes was wondering if that should have been listed as Option Three! 2 7712 You should pressure clean your roof first and make sure the paint you buy also is anti mould. 4 17647 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 13691 |