Hi Deanne, When you say you are doing the kitchen, does that mean you have to do the planning (design) and specifying of it also? I would have thought Storybook supplied a home with the (kitchen) plans included? If not, your builder will be able to guide you, however here are a couple of tips... 1. Choose your appliances early AND STICK WITH THEM. Often individual appliances have specific needs outside of standard eg power requirement (over 10amps), rangehood ducting direction and type, clearances to overhead cupboards, water to fridge etc. 2. Using the appliances, work out the layout (design) of the kitchen and where you want the cooking, cleaning, fridge etc. From there you need to work out power point locations for all appliances (many people forget the microwave) plus the everyday items like phone chargers, toaster, kettle etc. 3. Go to kitchen display showrooms such as Laminex. They have completed kitchens on display where you can understand the difference between a waterfall end (benchtop style), a shaker profile door (Hampton's style cabinet front) and play around with colours and finishes. 4. Put it all together in detail and you have created a specification! Re finding a builder, I agree with the above. Get a couple of names from Storybook as you don't need beginner mistakes, and go with the builder you guys are COMFORTABLE with. Price is only part of the journey. Good luck with the build.

Many factors can influence demo cost, such as the mentioned asbestos, but also site access, scale, complexity (is it full or partial demo?) and also if there is any potential value/salvageable aspects. The quicker the job the cheaper it will be. If it's deemed and easy crunch and level then it will be cheaper, if it's more fiddly with asbestos or possibly needing to work around/retain a portion of existing or if its at the back and harder to get machines in then that can increase the cost. It's not a simple flagfall cost of demolition. It's also pays to select an appropriate contractor for the particular scale/nature of the job, i.e. if you go for a company geared up for a larger job and yours is small then you won;t get much love.....sometimes it's a quicker/easier job for the builder to integrate it in with the contract and they simply allocate labour +bins and it ends up more efficient/cheaper ....it ultimately depends, it's horses for courses....if it's smaller scale you may be able to save by stripping some of the cosmetic stuff yourself and getting eh builder to finish of the messier/larger stuff and bring in specialist asbestos removers as required (no getting around that one, it is what it is)...otherwise shop around for a contractor appropriately scaled/suited to handle your particular job effectively/efficiently....best of luck :)

i would expect to pay $30,000 - $40,000 with very basic fixtures, fittings and tiles for a modest bathroom laundry reno (are there any extra costs for asbestos removal?).. it would be interesting to know prices allowed for each item so that you can make sure that you get what you prefer.. keep in mind that labour is usually not much different for cheap or expensive tiles but what price per sqm has been allowed and how many metres of tiles?...does full height wall tiling in bathroom mean on all four walls.. or would you be happy with eg 2m? height tiles in the shower and a small splashbck around the bath and vanity..ie less tiles could save dozens of sqm of tiles plus tiling labour and you may like to see a few different baths and vanities to see what feels comfortable (ie twin sinks may not be suitable for the size of the space as shown) and a built in bath is more expensive to install than a cheap free standing bath but some free standing baths need more space to look good (see back to wall corner baths) and i doubt the builder has allowed for wall mirrors but you might find a build in wall cabinet provides better storage for toiletries and the vanity could then have more space for towels but the wall cabinet will cost more

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