Renovating a House: Costs Estimator

How much does a full house renovation cost in Australia?

50% of all full house renovations in Australia cost between $40,000 and $350,000. The price varies depending on the size of the home and intensity of renovation.

However, this price is hugely dependent on a variety of factors – many of which will be beyond your control. One of the most absolute influences of home renovation costs is your geographical location. House renovation costs in Australia vary greatly between states and even cities.

Beyond your location, there are several other factors that will heavily influence the end cost of a renovation. The main decider will be the type of renovation that you plan to undertake – specifically, the intensity.

Renovation is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve your daily life and increase the value of your assets. Generally, renovation projects are categorized into two different types: ‘cosmetic’ or ‘structural.’

Cosmetic renovations are updates which improve on existing features of a home (rather than replacing or removing them). Examples of cosmetic renovations include simple, often DIY tasks such as painting, replacing furniture, updating fixtures or fittings, undertaking minor repairs, and installing new flooring material over the existing floor (such as a floating floor).

By contrast, a structural renovation is much more intensive. Structural renovations are drastic remoulding efforts which will almost always require contractors to undertake. Examples of a structural renovation are projects like adding extensions, conversions, re-wiring or re-plumbing.

Structural renovations are more commonly thought of as renovations in the modern sense because the result is often barely recognizable from the original house. Structural renovations are far more expensive than a cosmetic renovation – but they also add a substantial amount of value to your home.

Renovation Cost Estimator Guide by Room

1. Exterior ($15K-65K)

Building a fun, relaxing, versatile outdoor area at your home where you, your family and friends can enjoy yourselves can cost anywhere from $15,000 to as much as $65,000. It all depends on the elements you want to add and the ambience you want to create. If you simply add outdoor lighting, pavers, furniture, a shade sail or umbrella, as well as a barbecue, you can keep the cost of renovations down. Substantial roof lighting, the plumbing for an outdoor kitchen and a pool can increase your cost significantly.

2. Kitchens ($25K-$55K)

In Australia, kitchens are the part of homes that is most renovated. About 25% of renovations done in Australian homes focus on the kitchen. Kitchens are also the most expensive part of a home to renovate. Most people spend between $5,000 and $45,000 on kitchen renovations.

Infamously the most expensive room to renovate, kitchens have many of the same practical and fiscal demands of bathrooms with the added caveat that they are areas of high traffic which your guests are likely to spend a fair amount of time in or viewing.

Kitchen renovations typically include replacing the cabinetry and benchtop, updating all the fixtures and appliances, drastically changing the layout and thus moving plumbing/electricity points, as well as often changing the kitchen into an open plan.

3. Bathroom ($15K-$35K)

Bathrooms are the second most renovated room in Australian homes. The average bathroom renovation costs between $15,000 and $35,000.This is because there are several expensive amenities to be purchased, and there are added concerns of waterproofing for a bathroom due to the proximity to water.

In renovating a bathroom, common updates include: stripping the existing bathroom to replace floor and wall tile, adjusting the wall frames, updating the furniture and tapware, replacing showers and baths with built in models or recesses, and occasionally even dividing the bathroom into smaller sections.

4. Living Room / Dining Room ($10K-$20K)

Living rooms are the second cheapest rooms to renovate, averaging around $10,000 - $20,000 for a standard renovation. Common projects for a living room renovation include new furniture, wallpapering or painting, changing furnishings such as windows, changing doors, and often removing dividing walls to create an open plan space.

5. Bedroom ($2K-$10K, $60-$200/m2)

The least expensive room to renovate is usually the bedroom. This is because bedrooms have a fairly universal design and large structural renovations are not common unless the house has sizing issues. The most common renovation project for a bedroom is the installation of extra storage like an in-built wardrobe, or an ensuite. Beyond this, most bedroom renovations are cosmetic such as upgrading lights or power-points and repainting.

If you are looking for more drastic ideas to transform a bedroom, one extensive renovation project is to install a loft. This works particularly well for small rooms with high ceilings.

So, how do you cut costs in a renovation?

You can cut costs by being as involved as possible with the process. Have clear ideas of what you want and research how to achieve them. Work out a budget with a building designer or architect and factor in engineering and surveying services. Calculate a budget early on and stick to it. DIY where you can and when it is safe. The other key to saving money on a renovation is allowing more than enough time – nothing will be more stressful than a renovation which stretches out over more months than you have budgeted for.

The history of the Queenslander Houses

On the year of 1850, what we can call "the most distinct regional architecture type in Australia" was built for the first time. The Queenslander Style is indeed the strongest regional identity in creation of a native indigenous style.

Its design was developed as a response to the humid, sub-tropical Queensland climate and the availability of affordable, easy to use building materials. Timber and iron are the characteristic materials used to construct Queensland houses.

Sawmilling was established in Queensland in the 1850s, and timber became readily available for construction. Iron could be transported long distances throughout the Queensland colony, and was more durable in tropical storms than tiles.

The materials also directly affected their form. Timber was a light, inexpensive material, but it was vulnerable to attack from termites. Houses were constructed on stumps to raise them off the ground, and the stumps were capped with plates to prevent white ants from getting to the wooden superstructures. The greater height also allowed easier surveillance of termite activity.

The warm Queensland climate further contributed to the form and popularity of Queenslanders. The high heat conductivity of tin iron roofing and the poor insulation offered by timber meant that ventilation was critical.

Queensland houses were usually constructed to face the street, irrespective of the direction of sun and wind. Houses belonging to affluent members of society were more likely to be situated in higher locations and constructed with more windows to take greater advantage of prevailing breezes.

Nevertheless the raised structures provided natural ventilation beneath and around the house, and airflow was enhanced by numerous windows, louvers and fretwork fanlights. Verandahs proved popular in providing additional living space that was outdoors yet protected.

The most typical early twentieth century Queensland house is characterised by:

• timber construction with corrugated-iron roof;

• highset on timber stumps;

• single-skin cladding for partitions and sometimes external walls;

• verandahs front and/or back, and sometimes the sides;

• decorative features to screen the sun or ventilate the interior; and

• a garden setting with a picket fence, palm trees and tropical fruit trees.

There are different types of Queenslanders that can be divided into five rough categories the represent an overlapping chronological sequence from the first free settlement of the mid-1800s through to the post-war era:

1. Early Colonial.

As the penal colony was disbanded and free settlement progressed in the 1850s, the first residential buildings were generally constructed from locally sourced timber, stone and brick. The architecture was diverse and reflected building practices of the southern states as well as other colonial outposts around the world. Many dwellings had the fatal flaw of being built on the gound, or close to the ground, with insufficient termite barriers. Apart from a few elite residences, few houses from this era remain today, and those that do are well known and documented.

2. Late Colonial.

This category includes designs used extensively from the 1880s through to the turn of the century. Perhaps the most recognisable is the humble gabled cottage which can be found in European outposts across the world. Gabled cottages typically have steeply pitched roofs and are one room deep and two rooms wide with a skillion-roofed kitchen extension to the back. The style went out of fashion in the 1890s although "kit homes" of a more modern interpretation were available well into the 20th century.

Perched on timber stumps, these houses were generally of a square configuration with an internal layout comprising two bedrooms, a sitting room and kitchen. The street frontage had a veranda which sometimes extended around the sides of the house. The steeply pitched corrugated iron roofs, stepped veranda roofs and often brick chimneys set these houses apart from later bungalow styles. The late colonial era also saw a range of more substantial middle and upper-middle class designs; including two-story villas with internal fireplaces, attic rooms and other remnants of European design that ultimately proved unsuitable for the Queensland climate.

3. Federation and Pre-War.

The turn of the century saw the adoption of the Bungalow as the new standard for residential housing. The style is characterized by low-pitched roofs that are continuous across the verandas. Derivatives of the style include various configurations of front-facing or surrounding verandas, porches, projecting gables and sleepouts. The permutations of style elements are endless. By the time of the federation most houses no longer had brick chimneys but were fitted with stove alcoves - corrugated iron boxes with small tin chimneys attached to the external kitchen wall, designed to transfer heat away from the living areas.

4. Inter-War.

The 1920s to the late 1930s saw a continued evolution of the bungalow style, with more complex street-facing facades incorporating two or three gables with or without flanking verandas and sleepouts. The economic downturn of 1929 and depleting local timber stocks gave rise to a more compact footprint with smaller verandas but the houses were nevertheless often decorated with ornate gable infills, bay windows, brackets etc. By the late 1930s, the Queensland vernacular was increasingly displaced by new design trends such as the "conventional" timber and brick houses that showed no particular regional variation. The new era also embraced influences from the US such as the Mediterranean, Spanish Mission and Californian Bungalow styles, and the revival of Tudor and other traditional British styles. Functionalist and Art Deco-inspired buildings also made their mark in this period of unprecedented architectural diversity.

The presence of fibro sheeting, often made from asbestos, is a good indicator of buildings dating from the late 1910s. This cheap and versatile material was often used for gable infills as shown in pictures 1 and 2 below, in combination with decorative timber to imitate classical half-timbered construction. Fibro sheeting changed the trajectory of domestic architecture and enabled a range of new construction techniques and designs.

5. Post War.

Covering a period extending into the 1960's and beyond where minimalist aesthetics, widespread car ownership and artificial building materials converged to create new ideas of municipal planning and residential housing design. Thus began the era of remote automobile commuter suburbs, severed from the constraints of architectural tradition and public transport. Perhaps a handful of these buildings will survive to celebrate their centenary birthdays, and at that point they may even be considered pretty, or at least quaint.

Conclusion:

Today Queenslander homes stand out against subdivisions of suburban blandness and are seen as a classic old style. According to the Queensland Museum, “They are now valued as a key element of Queensland heritage and conservation and renovation of Queenslanders is widespread.”

In addition to historic renovations, today you can find Queenslander-style reproductions and modern iterations that may include contemporary additions in Queensland and elsewhere in Australia.

8 Tips For Finding A Suitable Block of Land For Your New House

1. Know your budget

Make sure to know the limit of your budget before you start looking for the perfect land. To find land that suits your best interests but does not suit your pocket can be extremally disapointing and discouraging. So how about keeping your excitation alive for the following steps?

2. Find the right location

Once you know how much you are willing to spend, you can start your research adventure throught the real estate websites. Make sure to filter the prices and locations to your favour.

What lifestyle are you looking for?

• Mountains, beach or city?

• Hot, cold or fresh weather?

• Closer or away from other family members?

• Quiet or busy area?

Ask yourself what your preferences are, be fair and honest. It is your investment, your life, your future and your happiness.

3. Pick the ideal shape for the block and think of the soil quality

From a buiders point of view, the ideal block is flat, rectangular and free from abstacles such as rocks and trees. This type of land can have less costs and give you a infinite possibilities for designs.

The type of existing soil in the land is also a important factor. Different types of soil needs different types of preparation when building a foundation. This can directly affect the cost of you construction.

Make sure you understand the different characteristics of each soil type and prevent possible further costs. There are several factors beyond water retention that builders should be aware of, so it’s crucial that you get an expert opinion.

Testing the soil will ensure that you’re not buying a lemon with unknown issues lurking out of sight. A soil test will look at the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil to determine if it’s safe and will help you estimate the stability and land retention of the block.

4. Consider the street profile

Investigate the street, and make sure the following items won’t impact your block, or where you’d like to position your house on the land:

• Trees

• Power poles

• Connections

• Hydrants

• Footpaths; and

• Access ramps.

At some suburbs, all general services like power lines and fire hydrants are located underground, providing you with greater flexibility when it comes to building your home. It’s also important to consider things like the width of the road, car parking for visitors, how busy the street is (and will become), landscaping verges and the general ‘street appeal’.

5. Investigate the conveniences nearby

When you’re choosing a block of land, think about the amenities you would like to have nearby now, and into the future.

How close is it to public transport, your work, local schools, shops, cafes and medical facilities? Having amenities like these near you will not only make life more convenient for you but will also impact the future potential value of your home. Living close to parks, playgrounds and cycling paths also come with many healthy lifestyle benefits.

6. Utility Services

Make sure you are aware of the availability of utility services like power, gas, internet, water and sewage to your plot. Determine whether these provisions are already in place. If they aren’t, find out the costs of having them installed and factor these into your budget.

7. Legal Considerations

It’s vital you consider all the legal obligations that come with buying a block of land. When your intention is to build on the land, the first thing you will have to do is get approval from the local council. Many blocks have covenants that place certain building materials under restrictions. Being aware of these limitations, before you purchase, will enable you to adapt your plans to suit your budget.

8. Look at re-sale values of houses in the area

Make sure to consider the potential value of your home. Check property prices in the area and future planned construction of things like schools and shopping centres, they are a sign that property values will increase.

Conclusion

Finally, get the right builder to guide you through the next steps to your dream house.

Finding a plot of land that you like will require some elbow grease as well as a lot of patience and determination unless you're lucky.