The plan looks a nightmare - bedrooms facing the street, a tiny internal bathroom with no window to the outside (is that legal?) and a "lounge" that looks like it was meant to be a third bedroom. If the internal walls are stud and don't support the roof you're in with a chance, but I'd say to do a proper job the cheap option is NOT going to work. I'd put two bedrooms where the current family room and lounge are and extend the bathroom into the boot room to give window access, or scrap the current bathroom altogether and use some of the space in what is now the kitchen for a new one. Keeping the WC separate is a good move. If you make the street side the social side of the house you can open it right out and create a big front porch that's a social spill-over from the kitchen/dining area, creating indoor-outdoor flow. Planting (two or three shade trees and some stands of tall perennials rather than a "green fence" hedge) keeps your front garden private yet inviting and stops your front porch becoming a stage set for the street. Good luck! I think you'll turn this very ordinary house into a much nicer place to live!

To clarify, what exactly does the extension involve? Are you opening up/changing the existing family/kitchen space? Or is it just a tack-on as per the rough sketch? Is it only single storey? What is the site access like? Is it high end finish or have character/heritage type detail/fabric to tie in/continue with? 4-500K It seems high, but then if the whole area was being re-jigged and you have to then do structural support to the upper level etc....then it's surprising how much the costs can stack up...... Have you only just discussed this in concept and an architect throw a number at you, or have you actually completed a proper/professional pre-design/feasibility stage of service? The way we professionally manage/address these types of "weighing up" scenarios (which is very common) is by properly crunching the numbers on several different options based on specific scope of works. We call this a "feasibility" stage of service, which is relatively contained/compact, and we find it really helps people regularly in situations like yourself to make confident decisions moving forward with projects. But you need to be given the right information and then have the capacity to properly weigh up options (say renovating/extending in various formats and aspects) against the next in terms of costs and overall value. For that type of number, whatever it is, you want to make sure that it makes sense for the property investment, and that it is the best way to spend it. For example, you may have to spend 4 or 500K one way or the other, but is there a more effective design strategy than just a relatively small extended footprint? What we try and achieve for clients is best bang for buck with the design solution, in terms of property/investment value of the built result, and so we see our job to not just simply design a kitchen extension because that's what is being asked of us, but rather look at it all broadly, identifying the opportunities and maximising them, and sometimes particularly for small scale/tight sites reno scenarios, that we find better value outcomes often involve a larger scale project where the budget is more cost effectively distributed, so in other words, you still pay the money, but it's spent so much better ;) Hope this helps as food for thought, but ultimately until there's more information provided (or a proper investigation/service performed) it's hard to provide accurate comment on whether in your case doing something is "worthwhile" or not. As a last comment - we've done several similar scale/nature projects - let's just say we "spread" that type of budget much further than just a 10m2 extension scope ;) Feel free to contact us if you're interested in discussing further Kind regards PD :) Paul Di Stefano Design www.pauldistefanodesign.com admin@pauldistefanodesign,com @pauldistefanodesign

Hi Amelia, Of course you could extend your house, AND get a great outcome....that's actually relatively easy to demonstrate......but how exactly? and what will it cost? ......everyone will have a different opinion and take on it...and I'd actually argue other people's opinion on whether you should do this or that or spend this much or that much is in fact arguably irrelevant - all that matters in these situations is what you want/need and working out the balance between that and the investment involved, whether it's viable or sensible or both or not, and in what particular format that looks like....it's not something you can get the answer in asking the next door neighbour or a friend who's just done a project. Every situation is different and unique because it comes back to personal priorities and financial capacities and opinions on what a particular lifestyle is worth to them. There's no online calculator or simple answers for this stuff! $850K may sound like a lot of money, but it's all relative. Some people may think you're crazy considering spending that on a knock down, and argue you should work with what you have. A builder may tell you you're crazy to spend $650K on a reno when he can supposedly give you twice the bang for buck for new build.....to rationalise the options we must understand that there is a complete difference between what are you getting for a new build $850 in a project builder land vs a customised $650K renovation utilising existing structures & character.........it's not accurately or fairly comparing apples & apples.......you may find you're taking a downgrade in quality with spending more on a new build option, of course depending upon the builder / product / design etc.....it depends on the size and complexity of the design. It's always an exercise of working through & balancing certain project requirements in relation to project scale and quality level against available budget within specific context. This is a classic dilemma we deal with regularly - that is, owners considering what is the logical path forward for their property.....there are always options and it's never right or wrong. There is an issue in looking at something purely in terms of cost when there is not enough information around WHAT exactly you can potentially achieve for $X in one particular option vs the next. Just because something is less in cost doesn't necessarily mean it's the best value option and vice versa. It requires specialised analysis and exploration in order to provide the accurate answers. What someone was able to achieve say for $650K in one scenario is not applicable to the next example. Every project, particularly when talking about renovations & extensions, are unique and have their own complexities. Also $650K in owner builder DIY land is completely different to $650K in building contract financed by bank land.....in a contractual situation take the number, remove GST, remove builder's margin and you're left with something like 75% left to play with for the actual raw construction costs. In regards to a renovation scenario, it's likely more accurately a renovation AND extension scenario. The thing is with renovating and design solutions for them, there comes a point when it becomes false economy on a dollar for dollar comparison exercise to substantially change that you have. When you consider reno scenarios, there typically needs to be some inherent value to the existing, such as in existing character or layout, that makes sense so you're not having to rework the whole thing. So how do you work this stuff out? Where do you start? Well, we deal with this scenario with a "feasibility" stage of service that has repeatedly proven successful to help clarify project options and scenarios properly so home owners (for example) can make an informed decision one way or the other. It involves properly exploring viability and potential in broad form for certain project scopes, so for example you can see what is involved if you renovated and added a bedroom and a bathroom and how that would look and what it wold cost vs a more conservative option that maintained an existing 3 bedroom format prioritising spend on the main living area of the home. One thing we find is important with growing families is the accommodation of a 2nd or flexible living space, which becomes higher use and helpful for living options as families/kids grow and move through different stages. It's also super important to ensure that the home is well balanced and properly scaled, in that say living spaces are not undersized for the number of bedrooms - eg it's a big fail to have lots of large bedrooms with a generous ensuite but ignore/retain only a limited relatively sized living area. Of course everyone has their own requirements and need to work out how exactly they want to live and what their priorities are, however when it comes to designing solutions for these things, particularly when banks and valuers get involved, you have to make sure that the proposal is aligned with the investment from a value point of view...so if you are spending $500K simply rejigging an existing 3 bedroom only to make it nicer, it could potentially be considered over capitalising. Of course location makes a difference with this aspect of the discussion........ In terms of timeframes involved for renovation/extension projects, again it depends on what the exact scope is, how much fit-out is being done, the availability of sub-contractors, the capacity of the builder to manage the process efficiently to minimise downtime. The same scope renovation could take anything between 6 - 12 months, the difference/variance in timeframe dependant upon any one or combination of the above factors........ Sorry for the elongated answer / info overload but unfortunately, there are no simple easy black & white answers for you.....BUT there are professionals with the knowledge who can assist. The one piece of advice I'll provide is at least make sure you are making informed decisions for these significant investments , and typically that will involve a certain degree of investment in professional advice, particularly at the front end of the process (an investment for "the" investment shall we say!). Take whatever a builder says with a grain of salt, particularly when it comes to design outcomes, and remember numbers are only numbers until they're contractually established to a certain set of documents and specifications........... Good luck! Cheers PD :) www.pauldistefanodesign.com

I’ve just ordered this for my new build, along with the Combair pyro oven. I can’t wait to use them!! V-Zug are the leaders in steam technology so you can’t go wrong. Hopefully someone will share some reviews soon.