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
04Scarborough · 2024
Knock-down rebuild, two storeys
A 1972 single-storey replaced with a two-storey home turned to the afternoon light and detailed for coastal wind.
- Suburb
- Scarborough
- Type
- Demolition and rebuild
- Floor area
- 268 m²
- On site
- 11 months
- Contract
- Fixed price, held
- Occupied
- Owners rented nearby
Before — 1972 originalAfter — 2024 rebuild
01The brief
A 1972 single-storey on a 520 square metre block four streets back from the beach. Asbestos eaves, a bathroom that had to be gutted regardless, and a floor plan that put the living room on the south side of the house.
The owners had spent two years collecting renovation quotes. Every one came back close to the cost of a rebuild, because the house had to be opened up structurally to get the plan they wanted. We said so on the first visit, then priced the feasibility both ways so they could see it themselves.
02The constraint
Asbestos, a wind region, and an orientation to correct
The eaves, the fence sheeting and the old bathroom lining were all asbestos. That is a licensed removal with air monitoring and a clearance certificate before demolition can start, and it sits in the contract rather than turning up as a variation.
Scarborough is in a higher wind region and much closer to the salt than the eastern suburbs. Every external fixing is stainless, the roof is Colorbond over a fully braced frame, and the western glazing is rated for this site rather than for a display home in the hills.
The old house faced its living space south. The new plan turns the main living to the north-west under a deep first-floor overhang, so winter light comes in and summer glass stays shaded. That one move did more for the house than any material in the specification.
03Scope of works
What was actually built.
- 01Licensed asbestos removal with clearance certificate, then demolition
- 02Site works, retaining and a new waffle-pod slab
- 03Two-storey frame with a skillion roof falling to the weather side
- 04268 m²: four bedrooms, study, two living areas and a covered terrace
- 05Rendered ground floor with vertical timber cladding to the upper form
- 06Colorbond roof, stainless fixings and site-rated glazing throughout
- 07Limestone terrace laid to fall, drainage designed before the slab went down
04Outcome
Eleven months from demolition to handover, on the fixed price signed before a machine came on site. The owners rented four streets away and had the Friday photographs every week of it.
The house that came down was not worth saving, and we would have said so if it had been. The one that replaced it faces the right way.
“Eleven months is a long time to trust somebody with that much money. We got a photo update every Friday for every one of those weeks, including the ones where it rained and nothing happened.”
Service on this build
This was a knock-down rebuilds job. When the block is right and the house is not. Demolition through to handover, one contract.
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.