Just wondering if you went to a draftsman and told him that you wanted to use the space under the house? Or did you approach a designer and give him a brief with accommodation required and a budget to let him/her work out the best answer?

Whenever any of my clients talk to me about excavating under a house for more room I always advise them that it is the most expensive way to add space, that the quality of the space is never great, and to consider any other option. Adding another floor is the second most expensive option, but gets a better quality of space. There are other ways to measure a house apart from square metres and number of bedrooms.

I am sorry you have wasted four years (as well as drafting and engineering fees) and nobody has told you this. If you post a site plan showing the location of your existing home in relation to the existing boundaries and slopes perhaps somebody may suggest some alternatives (that aren't the two most expensive options) such as a split-level pavilion style option. Or you could always engage a local design professional for experienced advice, and not somebody who just draws up pre-conceived and expensive ideas.

Best of luck,

Dr Retro

of Dr Retro House Calls

BUILD Architecture Award 2018 · More Info

much as i love a renovation i think the scale of your plan is much too complex for a simple renovation...it would be worthwhile to obtain a quote for a complete knock down and rebuild before you add an extra floor, completely change the current upstairs and add a new roof...As suggested by Dr Retro, depending on the size and slope of the block and available setbacks, there may be much better options but it often costs much more to renovate than to build new ...first check local council restrictions for adding an extra floor... upstairs often has to be set back further from the downstairs side walls which also creates issues making space for the extra staircase to the new 3rd floor not to mention challenges from neighbours about overshadowing...good design is essential to achieve the best result and it's time to employ a professional

Hi Sarah, sorry to hear you have had troubles and finally hit the 'budget' wall with your reno. We professionals love to jump in and help Houzzers with their design dilemmas, but it really is a complex task to try to solve your budget and design issues just through this forum alone. It sounds like you HAVE employed professionals, and even if they were taking instructions from you they really still should have given you an indication of a budget allowance. Yes it is expensive to build in a sub-floor level! The same price as starting from scratch really - but I can see the advantages of preserving the garden area and minimal objections from neighbours etc. Building an upper level is simply more expensive for the fact you are building more circulation, a more expensive construction envelope and paying for an actual stair. I really think you need to start with your maximum BUDGET first (and keep at least 5% for design and construction contingency, 10% preferable), then advise a designer your brief. They will soon tell you the amount of floor area you can afford. It really is like a shopping list in the first few meetings and can also research the planning constraints. A famous Quantity Surveyor used to lecture us architects and say ' the first meeting should only involve a calculator and NO drawings' - their point was that there are always hard decisions to be made about what is 'in' and what is 'out', but if you can adjust your dream early, then you can get excited about the 'adjusted' dream and have a more successful project outcome. And looking at your proposed plans, I can see many opportunities to save or revise space ( for example the ensuite is in a corridor when by shrinking the robe slightly it could be larger and more efficient, the kitchen /pantry could be more efficient, the linen cupboard could be smaller etc). This indicates to me that you could reconsider the strategy for the existing floor and consider living-kitchen-dining along one side of the house opening up to rear pool, keeping 3 bedrooms to the 'other' side (depends on north!) and just build a new master-suite and new laundry/bath, either up another level or out to side or rear, depending on where your boundary is. Be firm with yourself if you can't afford the current plans - try to be open-minded about reductions to the scope that you can make and still have a beautiful renovation.

And don't give up! It is likely if you have already had a few quotes that this is simply the cost/m2 of building in this current climate, but you can use this knowledge wisely by working out how much new area you can afford working backwards from your budget. Yes you can save owner-buildering but you are effectively funding it through your own time, stress and risk. You need to now invest a little bit more in design fees but at least your project will go ahead - hopefully with a designer and then builder to guide you, working backwards from your budget, I think you will get there. Good Luck!

Hi Sarah,

I completely sympathise with your situation and very sorry to hear about it for you. You're in a complete mess with this. As a Pro it's super frustrating to look on and hear of these stories because 100% this is so easily avoided with the right approach and astute investment in using a competent design professional. I've lost count of the number of times I've had people eventually come to find us, but in a bit of state/heads done in/in a shemozzle of a situation, after spending time/(sometimes years) and money getting nowhere, being disappointed with higher than expected quotes etc yet still pretty much back exactly where they begun with no logical plan forward.........sound familiar? The common thread is lack of alignment or management of expectations of Project budget to Project brief relationship. And that's why we have a job as professional designers - we develop solutions for specific needs, balanced within context and balanced within constraints, the biggest one always being budget. You just can't bypass this process and expect to get good results. And you won't achieve it effectively on a Houzz forum. Hopefully though a few of our Pro responses will help steer you in the right direction. Unfortunately people think it's a good way to save money on their projects to not pay for design - it's actually quite the opposite.

There's no easy answer here of say "move the kitchen there, flip that over, change this or that" etc unfortunately you're back to the drawing board....and you're best to accept the time and money put in so far is actually part of the process and your particular journey. This reminds me of a project years back where clients came in asking me to tweak and draw up a design that someone else had done - they already spent $40K and had a planning permit for it but there were big budget problems - it was clearly/unfortunately a poor & inefficiently resolved design beyond budget (similar to yours) & I could visualise a much better alternative solution. So I convinced them to move on, toss it all away and we go back to the drawing board - I'd redesign it from scratch much better and better value/cost effective overall - they reluctantly agreed and that's exactly what I did. Fortunately they did themselves a favour knowing deep down that they had to go backwards to go forwards. I designed and delivered a far better, less expensive and more impressive home. that they are eternally grateful for, and for my honesty and advice at the time that was ultimately in their best interests.

Like always, with all projects, it ALWAYS comes down to money.........so their success relies predominantly in the design solution..... I'll try and keep it simple:

1. Design is a process of balancing requirements within context within constraint/limits

2. Good design decisions involve having understanding of cost/budget consequences

3. the above points are primarily what distinguishes design professionals from amateurs

4. It's therefore false economy trying to DIY design and/or pursue projects of this scale as Owner Builder unless you (a) have a passive income (b) significant construction experience (c) a flexible budget and are just in it for a hit & a giggle

So our Advice: Seek Professional Design assistance

How we manage these types of projects is by starting with clarifying the project brief in writing - forget about the floor plan - define and specify your brief requirements and goals and define the budget. The next step is to look at broad form options that we develop in a "Feasibility' stage of service in which we analyse the context, identify some logical options/variations of format for a nominated project scope relative to context and apply accurate construction cost projects to each to compare. So in your case we'd be looking at answering the critical questions of in what particular format can we best meet the requirements? Is it with an extension, or hybrid alterations&additions, do we go up, down or out, what are the cost differences and pro's and cons to the different configuration options, how much should we renovate, how does the investment one way or the other stack up in regards to property value? Is it actually better value to do more than less (more often yes!) Is staging/breaking up a project into parts beneficial or proven to be less cost effective? So many questions that need professional assistance and experience to answer to get the best outcome for you and your family. It's not easy business........Labour cost these days is the killer on renos - if you don't know what you're doing (ie understanding how certain design decisions translate to X cost) then you've got no hope in balancing the numbers to success................

Apologies for the long winded response! Hope this helps Sarah. Trust us, we know what we're talking about.

Happy to provide further advice/assistance if you'd like to contact us directly

Kind regards,

Paul Di Stefano

Paul Di Stefano Design

www.pauldistefanodesign.com

Whats your budget.

What did the costs come in at (I have ballparked it without knowing fit out quality, etc...)?

Excavation can be 'cheap' (depending on site obviously) but everything else will kill it anyway. Drainage, engineering, masonry, etc.... Depending on circumstance perhaps use the builders costing as your budget for works but redesign it to that rather than sticking with the current plan or stick with your available lower budget and have designer come up with something more suitable. Good luck and don't give up just yet.