01Mount Lawley · 2025
Rear extension and open-plan kitchen
Double-storey rear addition to a 1930s brick-and-tile — new kitchen, family room and two bedrooms above.
- Added
- 78 m²
- On site
- 14 weeks
- Contract
- Fixed price, held
03Duncraig · 2025
Alfresco and outdoor kitchen
Gabled alfresco matched to the existing roof line, with a built-in kitchen, storage and limestone paving.
- Suburb
- Duncraig
- Type
- Gabled alfresco
- Covered
- 42 m²
- On site
- 5 weeks
- Contract
- Fixed price, held
- Wind region
- Engineered to site
Before — 1990s patioAfter — 2025 alfresco
01The brief
A 1990s brick-and-tile in Duncraig with a good north-facing back yard and a flat aluminium patio bolted to the fascia. It leaked at the join, it shaded nothing useful in summer, and it made the back of the house look like an afterthought.
The owners cook outside most of the year and wanted a proper kitchen out there — not a barbecue rolled up against a wall.
02The constraint
Coastal wind and a roof line that had to continue
Duncraig sits in a higher wind region than most of the eastern suburbs, and a 42 square metre roof is a large sail. The footings and posts here are sized to site-specific engineering rather than a standard patio detail — the difference is not visible, and it is the reason the structure will not move.
Matching the existing roof mattered more than the budget saved by not matching it. The gable continues the main roof pitch at 25 degrees in the same tile profile, so from the back garden the house reads as one building.
The paving had to fall away from the house without a visible step at the threshold, which meant lifting the whole slab level and running a grated drain along the rear wall.
03Scope of works
What was actually built.
- 0142 m² gabled alfresco, roof pitch and tile matched to the existing house
- 02Site-specific engineering and pad footings for the coastal wind region
- 03Outdoor kitchen in marine-grade carcasses with a 40mm stone benchtop
- 04Externally vented rangehood, gas and water rough-in, bar fridge cavity
- 05Limestone paving laid to fall, with a grated drain at the rear wall
- 06Weatherproof power, two ceiling fans and dimmable downlights
- 07Storage joinery and a firewood store built into the return wall
04Outcome
Five weeks on site, approved by the local government before a post went in, at a price that did not change.
It is the room the family uses most, and from the back fence you cannot tell which part of the roof came later.
“Six months after handover they came back, went through everything and fixed two small things without being asked. We have not had that from a builder before.”
Service on this build
This was a alfresco and outdoor job. Outdoor rooms built for a Perth summer and the wind that comes with it.
Also on fileAll projects
The next step
Come and have a look at the house.
Free to have us out, about an hour on site, and you leave with a written summary of what is feasible and a realistic budget band.