Hi fb57, Great charming federation house, retain the front and fix the back, then maybe later you can put in a granny flat - depending on cost and local council bylaws. I would not put in an attic - stairs are a good place for mishaps and as we age it might have limited functionality - but if its something you have your heart set on it might prove worth while. It appears that you are competent enough to do a decent measure up plan, going from what you have posted - you might need to take a few photo and a few other dimension to get a good design from someone working online. The idea is to get a design that you are happy with and then get a local competent Drafts-person to do your working drawings for a Building Permit and then get it built with a Builder of your choice. This would result in my opinion in a significant saving and a design of your choice, especially if you are willing to do some of the legwork with council and other authorities. To get a good design that you feel is a solution to your requirements, you need to produce a variety of design schemes (plans elevations perspectives etc.) and this can be done online with any competent Building Designer that you can get along with. It will not take one go at it - and it will not be quick, as you need time to digest every scheme but generally it works out in the long run. These are some of the things I would look at: 1. The possibility of breaking up the build into stages - maybe stage one do the renovations at the back and the stage 2 place in a granny flat. 2. As you have good access on both sides of the property I would place a new garage on the largest width and possible gate and walkway on the other side to give individual access to the granny flat. The new garage would be as closely to the front as possible, with the new fence an gate on the other side it would greatly improve security. 3. Depending on budget I would provide a bathroom shower and toilet with a walk in robe to the main bedroom and redo the kitchen and laundry if required. 4.The area next to the lounge area I would develop into an external entertainment area. 5 Since you mentioned that you have a "Fibro Extension" it implies to me that you may have asbestos on the property - get an expert in and determine if you need to remove asbestos when you renovate - this is a dangerous material and you should take all precautions possible to avoid long term damage. 6. An indication of the position of your neighbors windows and setback might also help in providing a design that complies with your planning laws and respects your adjoining neighbors. Like all things it will take a few revisions to get it right , but if you are willing to work at it, it will payoff in the end. The first thing is to draw up the existing conditions to scale so that an initial proposal showing possibilities can be worked on. I would be willing to work on this project with you online, I hope this is of some help. Regards Michael Manias mm407p@gmail.com

It depends on many factors, some interrelated, some not. Unless you are dealing with more off the shelf/volume/standardised design solutions I'd be somewhat wary of utilising any fixed overall /m2 calculations to base your decisions on what you can or can't achieve or should/shouldn't do for your project :) We prefer to present/offer our professional opinions of likely construction cost by collating the projected likely trade breakdowns carefully considered for each particular scenario proposed, factoring in various aspects such as quality, site, scale etc that will ultimately contribute to influencing the number involved. Have found this to be a more accurate/realistic approach than simply applying $$/m2

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start with checking all your ceiling bats and adding double glazed windows in the main living areas and add insulated curtains (double layered not rubber backed) to all windows and zone inside heating areas with solid doors (that are kept closed) across hallways so that you only heat the rooms that you're using....we replaced a 60 year old damaged tile roof with steel as it was impossible to match old tiles for an extension and steel was cheaper than new tiles and painting and repairing the tiles was not much more cost effective but, unless you have leaks or broken tiles, there should be no need to swap tiles for steel and adding best rated bats over the ceiling should make a huge difference and is a simple job for an insulation company (or a tedious job for a homeowner) but i would first have all ceiling wiring checked and any rubbish cleaned out of the ceiling cavity and as already suggested check yourhome.gov.au for advice for retrofitting insulation and other ideas to improve your existing home with passive solar design