while it is always a dream to have a home that matches your "dreams and desires" sometimes budgets must come first. Do you really want to splash out a lot of money on a look that you may not be able to afford. With mortgages so expensive and eating into our everyday lifestyle costs and jobs no longer guaranteed, I think your priority should be to put as much money into your mortgage while you can and just have a comfortable home where you can afford to be happy, healthy and free.......... don't burden yourself with additional costs just because it is "trending" at the moment. Trends change and so do your wish lists as time goes on. Think Comfort and Affordability.

Just like birth, death and taxes, renovation surprises are guaranteed. I think Micheal Bell's suggestion to add a contingency is a good one. Also finalising your design before looking for your builder will save on mid project variations. For those interested in estimating the cost of their renovation before going too far into their plans, try this renovation and extension cost calculator. Good luck. richard@makeovergroup (Melbourne)

You could always ask the architect the fees, rather than rely on what your friend says about somebody elses's sevices. I would be very surprised if it was 40% extra. I was recently involved with an interstate project where I could not be on-site. A local architect was engaged for the contract administration. The builder had not had an architect involved with the contract administration before. The architect saved the client tens of thousands of dollars as a lot of work was not up to standard, with the builder cutting corners, and substituting materials, which had to be rectified. This included pouring a concrete slab over a neighbours boundary! This appeared to be their standard practice as they were not used to having their work carefully scutinised, and payments withheld, as part of a contract administration process. At the end of the day I don't know if the builder made any profit, but the client did get the building work that they paid for, so received excellent value from the architect's contract administration services. I am sure that lots of people in Houzz who have horror stories of renovations that have developed problems, sometimes due unforeseen circumstances, and have ended up in a confrontational manner with a builder. There are also clients who have unrealistic expectations about the level of finishes that are physically achievable when working with an existing building (which is never square and perfect). If building work goes wrong it can be very expensive, and confrontational. Engaging an architect for contract administration is like an insurance policy and puts a buffer between a builder and client so things stay civil. The architect can work as a third party to administer any changes and variations that invariably creep into the building process in a fair and equal manner to both builder and client. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls

I would like to add a roughly 2.9m x 3.3m bedroom ( these are preferred internal measurements) into an existing rumpus area which is approx 4.2wx 8.0l located on the second story. I will need to allow for a small hallway to allow access to 2 bedrooms already located upstairs. The space I am considering already has a window at approx 1.8 x 2m. It also has built-in storage cupboards across the width of the rumpus room that I will need to remove. Wondering if anyone is able to provide an approx cost and if there are any structural things that may need to be considered. Thanks in advance M