Renovating Post War Home

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

Hi, I'm looking at buying a post war home, would anyone be able to give me an idea of cost cost for a full renovation? The ones I'm looking at are 2-3 bedrooms. I'm just looking for a ballpark figure if possible to see if it's even possible for my budget. I'll be engaging an interior designer once I'm closer to buying and get them to take a look and provide a quote before making an offer. Interested in other people's experiences and referrals for Brisbane. Thanks!

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butterflyroof

6 years ago

A full renovation can mean different things.

Having renovated 2 post war homes in Brisbane , these are the things I have had to deal with: professional asbestos removal, Replacing a leaking asbestos roof, new insulation, gutters, down pipes. Rewiring, new kitchen, new bathroom, both with new plumbing, adding a second toilet somewhere if possible, restumping, window and door adjustments. Then you can move onto the cosmetic work: repairing and paint inside and out, rip up old carpets, polish the original floor boards, repair skirting, installing wardrobes. New light fixtures. Garden and fences can be falling apart, renew the driveway and carport or garage.

As far as costs go, nothing is as cheap as you plan. It really depends on so many of the above factors. If several of the above items was needed you would start at a minimum of $100,000, maybe going to $300,000 for most things. After that, the sky is the limit. It really depends on what you mean by a full renovation. Some people raise the home and build in under, move walls, build extensions, some people's kitchen costs $100,00 alone , some people do a diy kitchen for $10,000.

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Comments (6)

scottevie
6 years ago
If you have a rough idea of what needs to be done, then this cost guide might be useful to give you an estimate of costs https://www.archicentreaustralia.com.au/resources/cost-guide/
Leena B thanked scottevie
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Leena B
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks for that info it's very valuable! I'm trying to upgrade from a townhouse to a house a little closer to the city and the houses that are somewhat reasonable priced look horrible on the inside, I thought I might only need a cosmetic renovation including new kitchen and bathrooms. You've listed a few things I haven't thought of, I would've relied on building and pest to point out any of those issues however they did miss a broken roof of a house friends bought...
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Amerex Renovations
6 years ago
HI Leena - we have written an article about House Extension and Home Renovation costs. This is not just a fluff article. It contains figures and also a link to a Renovation Calculator tool. Have a look, it might be useful.

The Hamptons meets Art Deco in Nedlands Home Renovation and Addition · More Info

Link: House Extension Costs, Home Renovation Costs
Bonny H
5 years ago
Leena B did you go ahead with your post-war? The first reply you got is accurate. We bought a Post-war and did all the items which were mentioned. Including the fact that the home has been uninhabitable for 6 months, and we have to keep going and gardening etc, we have filled 3 skips. We also renovated all the old hopscotch windows. I’d say costs are running at about $140k now, and we have been as frugal as possible. I bought a lot of stuff on gumtree and we’ve put in hundreds of hours of our own labour. I had no idea!
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Paul Di Stefano Design
5 years ago
Depends on scope, level of finish and of course existing conditions but i would anticipate if it was done as a formal building contract with GST, margins etc (as opposed to doing owner builder, doing a lot of the labour yourself etc) I'd be guessing $300K as a realistic starting point give or take, and will creep likely higher from there factoring in external elements. $150K is a barebones figure that involves literally years of DIY labour, construction management and sourcing - when considering costs I always say as a starting point for people (almost on any type of project) take the figure you think it likely to be off the bat, add about 20% and then double it - then you're talking more realistic ballpark ;)

Renovating Post War Home

butterflyroof

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scottevie

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