Home Improvements (Additions or Alterations) are the most common design solutions that our clients adopt for their project. Before you decide to take on this approach, consider the alternative of a new Custom-built Home as well.
Recent Projects
Building Considerations
Demolition of Existing Materials
Make sure you are aware of the materials that your existing house is constructed from. There are stringent Occupational Health and Safety (OH+S) requirements that must be met before you can remove materials such as asbestos or lead-based products. Ignoring the risks may have long-term consequences to your health.
NSW Workcover Authority has a range of information resources you can access. Their safety guides can be found here. Licensed builders and specialist contractors can be engaged to deal with complex demolition issues that may arise.
Advantages
The most obvious advantage to altering or adding onto your existing home is that you are utilising part of the existing building, which can reduce the necessary budget although this may not always be the case. If there is a clear distinction between the sections of new works and the portion of the existing building worth salvaging and restoring, the results can be economical.
If the alterations or additions involve a complex graft in to the existing fabric, it may be more cost effective to demolish completely and start from scratch. The state of the existing building will affect the contingency for variations that should be anticipated during construction. Cheap quotes can quickly turn into a financial burden or an unfinished building if your builder has excluded essential remedial work to the existing building and deflated or ‘undercooked’ their price to get the job.
Pre-existing conditions may encourage you to go with the existing shell of the house. Your local council may have tightened up on setbacks for new buildings. Using the existing shell may allow you to keep the advantage of a setback to the boundary that may no longer be allowable under current planning controls.
Approvals
All local Councils will require that some kind of approval be granted before building work can begin. For more details on what these approvals may involve, visit our page on The Design Process and The Build Process.
While a DA approval may not be necessary for the scope of work you have in mind, you may still need to obtain approval for construction, or a Construction Certificate (CC) before work can commence. Details on a CC can be found on the following page which lists articles about the building process.