Home Renovations

The honest test is structural. If the existing frame, roof and foundations are sound and the layout can be reworked without relocating everything, renovation usually wins on cost per square metre and on time.

If the plan requires moving the kitchen, the bathrooms, the stairs and the external walls, you are approaching rebuild cost for a compromised result — new work stitched into old geometry, with the old constraints still setting the limits.

There is a compliance dimension too. A rebuild delivers a house built to current standards throughout, while a renovation only brings the parts you touch up to current requirements. That is often the right trade, but it should be a decision rather than a surprise.

We give clients a straight comparison on both paths, including the cases where we recommend doing less work than they came in asking for.

In South East Queensland housing the recurring finds are termite damage in timber framing, previous unapproved work that does not comply, undersized electrical switchboards, failing galvanised plumbing, and no insulation at all.

Asbestos is likely in anything built before the late 1980s — commonly in eaves, wet area sheeting and sometimes vinyl flooring backing. It requires licensed removal with documentation, and it is not something to discover after the demolition crew has started.

Near the coast, add corrosion. Decades of salt air degrade fixings, structural connections and reinforcement in ways that are invisible until the building is opened, which is why a cosmetic renovation can turn into a structural repair.

Connecting new to old means matching floor levels, tying in roof structure, and dealing with an existing wall that may not be load-bearing where you assumed. Where it is, the answer is an engineered beam with supports carried down to adequate footings, which sometimes means new footings inside a finished house.

Where an extension increases the building footprint, setbacks, site cover and overlays apply as they would on a new build. On low-lying land the new work generally has to meet the current required floor level even where the existing house predates it, so a rear extension may sit noticeably higher than the floor it connects to.

Inside a character overlay, work to the front and sides is assessed against the streetscape provisions, which usually leaves the rear as the place to spend your creative budget.

We investigate before contract — opening up where we can, inspecting stumps, framing and services — then price on a fixed basis with a clearly stated and sensible contingency for what remains hidden.

A renovation contract that carries no contingency at all is either priced with a hidden margin or set up for variations. Neither is honest, and both cost you more than a stated allowance would. Anything we find gets reported and priced in writing before we act on it.

This is the work that most rewards an owner-run builder. Nothing is square, dimensions vary across a single room, and decisions have to be made on site by someone with the authority to make them.