Keeping the street, replacing the house
A knock down rebuild usually starts with liking where you live and disliking the house. The block is in the right suburb, close to the beach, the school or the station, and the house on it is tired, cramped or built for a different family. Selling and buying again costs stamp duty and agent fees and still means compromising on the house. Building new on the same land avoids both.
The test is whether the existing structure is worth keeping. If it needs new footings, a new roof and rewiring before any of the layout problems are fixed, a new house usually gives you more for the money. Our Wollongong renovation page covers the case where it is worth keeping.
Getting the old house off the block
Demolition in Wollongong starts with paperwork and testing rather than machines:
- an asbestos survey, then licensed removal of anything found
- disconnection of power, water, sewer and gas through the network operators
- a demolition plan that covers dust, noise and protection of the neighbours' fences
The demolition sits in the same approval as the new home, so it is one application. Once the block is clear, the site is surveyed again for the new slab and the services are set out for the new layout.
Designing for the block you already know
You have lived on the land, so you know where the afternoon sun hits, where the water runs in heavy rain and which neighbour overlooks which window. That knowledge goes straight into the design. The new home needs a BASIX certificate for energy and water, and the planning certificate for the lot tells us early about any flood or bushfire control that shapes the design.
One price for all of it
We put the demolition, design, engineering, approval and construction into one fixed-price proposal. You deal with one builder from the first site visit to the day you move back in.
Questions from Wollongong
Can the demolition and the new house be approved together?
Yes. The demolition can be part of the same complying development certificate or development application as the new home, so there is one approval to wait on. Whether it goes as a CDC or a DA to Wollongong City Council depends on the lot and the design.
Is a knock down rebuild cheaper than renovating?
Sometimes. When an older house needs new footings, a new roof, rewiring and a different layout, the renovation cost can get close to a new build, and the new build gives you a home designed for the block. When the structure is sound and the layout mostly works, renovating usually costs less. We price both if you are unsure.
What happens with asbestos in the old house?
Houses built before the late 1980s often contain it. An asbestos survey comes first, and a licensed removalist takes it out before the rest of the house is demolished.
Do we have to choose from a set of standard plans?
No. The new home is designed for your block, its orientation and the way you live, then engineered and approved before construction starts.