Renovate or rebuild?
We purchased an approx 100 yr old Californian bungalow in as a family home in a Southern Australia. We acquired the property with the knowledge that whilst currently livable, it would require substantial rennovations to make the property meet modern convinences for a family.
Upon further inspection by a third party the cost of the rennovations may be quite significant. Although we wish to "just" extend the rear of the property (addition of a living, lounge and a replacement kitchen) we'll be hit with additional costs to perform work on the existing structure to meet current regulatory requirements (eg electrical, insulation etc).
Our dilemma is the figuring out a way forward - whilst we'd love to retain the facade and character of the property, based on the rough cost estimate and unknowns we have been considering that it might be cheaper (and less risky) to rebuild. We've looked at a range of rebuild options, display homes from volume builders to semi-custom builds whilst working with a limited budget.
Any advice or lessons learnt would be very welcome and appreciated.
(12) kommentarer
oklouise
5 år sidenmuch as i love a good renovation, unless you have the time and energy to do lots of work yourself and are prepared to live in a demolition site for many months it can be more cost effective to demolish and rebuild but make careful comparisons of both options...eg by renovating our current home we were able to retain favourable features that could not have been included in a new home due to variations in set backs and different building regs ...replacing wiring, plumbing, heating, insulation, roof, floors, kitchen, bathrooms and windows and repairing old wall finishes and flooring added up to about 20% more than a knock down rebuild and we had to compromise on floor plans because of the load bearing internal brick walls but we were able to keep some of the vintage features of the house and recycled as much as possible but a new build would have allowed for better Passive Solar orientation with a slab on ground, no steps and a much quicker and easier result
ddarroch
5 år sidenHow long is a piece of string? So many variables here.
What is the block size. What is access like? If you retain much of the current structure this could significantly affect access for any work out back.
Prefab may be an option of access is poor. As long as a crane can get prefab units where they to their desired location. Prefab could greatly reduce time on site too. Limiting the length of time you have to move out, deal with renovations. Costs & quality of prefabs/modular homes varies GREATLY.
How is the home laid out, what would be retained? How is it orientated?
If you wanted to retain the facade & front rooms, it would be ideal if they were bedrooms & south facing. That way you could have a new kitchen & north facing living areas out back. But yeah, too many variables to really get an idea of cost & headaches, though they are likely to be substantial.
Would be a pity to see an attractive older house lost though, replaced by just another average contemporary home.
PROPaul Di Stefano Design
5 år sidenIt's a numbers exercise - like always, comes down to the budget available with consideration to the goals for the property long term......the answers on these situations, that we deal with regularly, will be yours alone to make based on your financial circumstances/capacities and your particular priorities.....but you have to have the right assistance and information, framed and consolidated to be relevant for you and your home and options available....then you can sit back and rationally weigh it all up and move forward with logical & confident decisions, as opposed to going round in circles/caught in limbo playing the "guess what this option will possibly cost" game..... Please feel free to get in touch to learn more about how we professionally manage & assist with this sort of dilemma - it involves analysis and crunching numbers on various options with intimate understanding of your needs within your particular context......there's bit to look at and consider to do it correctly
Cheers PD :)
siriuskey
5 år sidenwe would love to see the floor plan of your new house and a few considered details, these period houses are usually very worth working with,
AussieDream
Forfatter5 år sidenThanks all for the valuable feedback. Understand that it's a vague query but was looking for (and recieved) ideas on how to move forward and considerations to account for.
@bigreader: what did you end up doing for your property?
@oklouise: that's exactly the issue we face, we love the decor and the little features (such as the intricate panelling on the ceilings of some rooms) that would be lost (and v costly to recreate) if we decide for a rebuild. When you performed your renovation, how did you approach it? Building inspection? DIY? Builders?
@ddarroch: Appreciate that I didn't provide any specifics. Will look to post a sketch of the floor plan. The house is situated closer to the road, with approximately 1.5 metres clearance to the fence on one side and appropriately 3 metres clearance on the other. The front of the house is east facing, with two bedrooms south facing and the master north facing. Your suggestion re the kitchen and living were exactly what we were thinking - easy to visualise on paper but just not sure how feasible and costly it'll be.
@Paul: Thanks Paul appreciate your help pointing out areas to think about. That was one of the aims of the post - to get some understanding of what considerations we should make (the other is to hear about other people's journeys). It's still a bit new to us at the moment so we'll are still putting together a list of high level considerations and weighing them up.
@siriuskey: Will post a floor plan soon.
@Andy: Thanks will check it out.oklouise
5 år sidenSidst ændret: {last_modified_time}5 år sidenwith previous experience of building and renovating DIY, owner builder, subcontracting and full builder service (and somewhere else to live and no full time jobs or young children to worry about) we decided to use a combination for renovating our 50s double brick with redundant extension over several years...stage 1 consulting council and our builder to determine possibilities, preparation and approval of plans and negotiating finance stage 2 diy internal demolition of bathrooms and kitchen, including professional removal of asbestos, stripping out old wiring, roof insulation, timber trims, doors, wall and ceilings linings, brick chimney, opening new doorways and carefully salvaging floor tiles and sections of old plaster cornice for later patching, stage 3 subcontract carpenter, electrician and plumber to replace some windows, open up new doorways and build internal walls, first fix plumbing and new wiring, selection and purchase of all taps, PC items, doors, handles, windows, cornice, architraves etc and plan and order the new kitchen and all cabinetry stage 4 employed the builder and his team of trades to remove old roof tiles, rebuild the whole roof, add new structural supports, extending a new hip roof over an old extension, new wall cladding, new bathrooms and laundry, patch damaged plaster work, replace the rest of the windows, add new doors and timber trims and stage 5 we organised installation of the new cabinets, painter, tiler, plumber and electrician to install lighting taps etc ...i'm exhausted just thinking about it but we saved money by doing lots of work and subcontracting ourselves but the services of an excellent builder was worth every cent because they have the trades coordinated to arrive in the correct sequence and results happen so much more quickly but taking our time allowed us to pay more attention to details and we were able to salvage and recycle and sell items that a builder doesn't have time to save eg tiles removed from our roof were used on our neighbours' extension and we sold all the old copper wire and windows...look forward to learning what you decide
siriuskey
5 år sidenThis beautiful Bungalow retains it's character with modern additions
https://www.lunchboxarchitect.com/featured/glass-link-house-robbie-walker/
- PRO
MB Design & Drafting
5 år sidenOver the years I've found that the existing dwelling and site will decide if its worthwhile saving or demolishing.
If its a character home in fairly reasonable condition then renovating and extending can be the best value for money.
If its in a pretty poor state and needs significant amount s of money to be spent everywhere then demolishing it may be the best value for money.
Many dwellings (Pre 1970's usually) I come across even when looked after quite well still need stormwater, electrical and plumbing upgrading. This is before the 'exciting and new' works can be considered. Good design can give you effectively a 'new home' for less comparatively even once these upgrades are considered.
Project type homes are good value if you can find one that is suitable. Some are, some aren't and again depends on your site. Independent professional help can assist here rather than the sales spiel from salespeople convincing you that their design is the 'best'...... Sometimes a custom designed home is the only choice.
The site and the existing dwelling decides on the course of action, even a vacant site decides what should be done. A good designer familiar with the local area will usually know whats required and what will work within a few minutes. Getting it to suit a clients aspirations takes quite a bit longer.... 
PROPlatinum Fine Homes
5 år sidenHi AD - some good advise amongst all of this - Your best port of call would be to get a few people out to have a chat and run over options. Don't stop at one or two - get as much info as you can...
From our experiences with similar types of projects that we have done around Adelaide there a few factors to weigh up
Normally (not always) budget is one of the critical factors - (doesn't matter how big or small, everyone has one) - that said there may be some options to consider - ie Does the floor plan allow a builder to carry out addition side of things and the "renovation" can be done by trades/contactors dealing with you direct as a 2nd stage down the track??
Our back ground is both new homes and additions - In most cases, it does not work out cheaper to renovate the existing aspect of character homes AND undergo substantial additions - that said, you end up with a finished home that can be simply stunning - old with the new
Depending where you are located, there may be some planning advantages in maintaining the project as an addition as opposed to new home construction -- some council policy areas have different rules in play for each....
Let me know if you need anything else, happy to assist if your in and around Adelaide
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bigreader