Preparing to knock down and rebuild your home

• Mentally prepare
  The best place to start is to check in with yourself and ensure that you’re ready personally. You may have an emotional attachment to your old home, or might be intimidated by the unknown as it is all very new. So even though you feel that knocking down your existing home will give you the ideal home you want, you also want to feel comfortable with the process. This is your opportunity to make a pros and cons list and decide how involved you wish to be in the whole process. Once you’re ready and fully committed, you will find the journey much easier.

• Prepare your family
  If you live with a partner and family, then you need to ensure that they’re on board with the process too, as they will be directly affected. Take the time to sit down together and explain why you are considering a knockdown and rebuild, what’s involved and how the process will unfold. This will help them accept the disruption by understanding what you’re trying to achieve and how much better their home will be after the project is complete.

• Determine what you’re aiming for
  Next is to solidify what you want to achieve with the knockdown and rebuild project. What are the ‘nice to haves’ and what are non-negotiable? Are you flexible on how many rooms and bathrooms you want, or are you adamant that you want a pool and a paved outdoor area? While you don’t need to have anything that’s set in stone at this point, it’s important to do your research now and decide what your overall goals are with your project.

• Prepare your finances
  Budgets are always important when it comes to construction. Depending on how extensive your knockdown and rebuild is, you need to check if you have the financial capability to fund your project. Consider checking with your accountant and bank to see how much you can borrow to finance your knock and rebuild, so you’re financially ready to go ahead and know what your budget is. Even if you’re not considering a loan, it’s still important to consider how you will allocate money to your project, and where your limitations lie.

• Consider time frames
  Construction projects take time from start to completion, which means that you need to determine which span of months and years that will best fit in with your schedule. For example, you may want to plan the bulk of the construction while you and your family are away overseas or during school hours, to minimise the disruption.
• Investigate builder options
  Do your research, as there are many building companies and display centres to visit. This is your opportunity to find out more about who they are, what they do and their previous experience, to find the best builder that matches your needs. See our next section, which explains the 21 questions you should ask your builder. At Vista Homez, we specialise in knockdown and rebuild projects like yours, and would be happy to discuss your options.
• Research floor plans
  Ultimately your new home needs to reflect your lifestyle - which is probably why you're looking into knocking down the existing home in the first place. Finding the ideal plan can be difficult, frustrating and time consuming. However speaking with a builder like Vista Homez can make that process easier as we can find your ideal plan for you and customise it to suit your needs. A great starting point is to view our current home design range or visit our display home .
• Investigate regulations and legalities
  You need to investigate regulations and legalities relating to demolishing and rebuilding, including local council regulations or planning restrictions because they may influence what you can and can’t do. Your local council regulates laws in relation to asset protection and planning if the building is subject to planning approval. A planning approval can be required when planning overlays, size of allotment or heritage overlays are involved. Factors such as a heritage overlay are an important consideration early in the project as they can influence your final design plans significantly.
  
  You will also need to get building approval for your intended project, which can be issued either by your municipal building surveyor or a private building surveyor. You may also need to consider traffic management plans for the duration of your build, if it will interrupt the roads around your site. Your local council can help you with this.

• Remember, it’s all worth it
  Just remember, there’s nothing like the feeling of entering your brand-new home for the first time and feeling the sense of pride knowing that you designed it perfectly for your lifestyle and future. While a knockdown and rebuild may seem like a big project at first, you will get a lot of joy and satisfaction for many years to come, and all the planning and construction phase will be quickly be forgotten.

Costs to Knockdown and Rebuild

The best way to get a realistic assessment on how much your knockdown and rebuild will cost is, when the time is right, come and speak to us and our architects who will provide you with a FREE no obligation estimate. Using advanced technology, they will site your preferred design on your block of land and give you the true estimate to build your dream home. You will often find that our final tender price is within 3% of what we originally quoted you in your free estimate. Here are some common questions we get often get asked.

1. What is the approximate cost/sqm for a knockdown rebuild?
   Cost will be dependent on your site conditions, materials used in your build and internal fixtures and fittings. Generally, on a standard level block the average cost/sqm can range from $1,600 - $1,800.
2. What are site costs?
   Site costs include leveling out your land if it’s a sloping block, changing the location of services and connections for gas, water, NBN, Foxtel, traffic management, zoning requirements and rock removal. Beware not all Tenders include your site costs – we highly recommend that you allow at least an additional 30% for unknown site costs.
3. Do you include site costs in your Tender?
   Yes – if you wish to proceed after your FREE NO OBLIGATION ESTIMATE, we require a payment of $1,500. We will provide you with a detailed costing within 4 – 6 weeks. We include ALL costs, this is inclusions, upgrades, site costs PLUS a provisional allowance for rock removal and traffic control to ensure you don’t get any nasty surprise costs down the track.
4. Do I need to organise the demolition of my existing property?
   Yes. This is organised by the owner. You will need to engage the services of a licensed and insured Demolition Contractor as once demolition is complete, we will require a Clearance Certificate. Alternatively, we can put you in contact with a preferred demolition company that can explain the full process to you.
5. How much does demolition cost?
   Demolition costs vary with the size of the house, access to site, hazardous/asbestos removal, neighbouring structures, established trees and temporary fencing – all of which can contribute to additional demolition costs. If there is established fencing between you and your neighbours you will need to review whether it needs to be removed, which could become a shared cost. As a rough guide a standard demolition can cost you around $20,000
6. Does your Tender price include tree removal?
   No. If you have established trees on your property which need to be removed, you may need to apply for a permit from your local council. This needs to be done before we can access your site to being construction
7. Are their additional costs if we are building our home in a flood or bushfire zone or on a heritage listed site?
   Yes. This would be dependent on your council. If you proceed to request a Tender, we can provide what these costs are after we complete a thorough site inspection of your block and apply for the 149 Certificate???
8. When do I sign the building contract?
   At Vista Homez Homes we want to ensure we are giving you the true cost of building your dream home which is why you will sign your contract AFTER you have signed off on your internal and external selections, AFTER your plans have been approved by the authority (Council or CDC) and AFTER we issue your Home Owners Warranty and Construction Certificate. It is then we require a 5% Contract Signing Fee. We give you every opportunity to design the home you want before you are required to sign your contract, ensuring there are no hidden costs along the way. Once we commence Construction after the contract signing there are 6 progress payments to follow. You only pay after each construction stage is complete, you never have to pay upfront during this period.
9. How long will it take before I can move into my new home?
   We allow 6 – 9 months for Pre-Construction and 7 months to build your home. We would recommend you factor these timings into your budget for living away from your home.
10. Do you provide landscaping and driveways?
    Yes .It is included in our full turnkey projects . Otherwise landscaping and driveway can be contracted separately by the owner.

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