much as i love a good renovation, unless you have the time and energy to do lots of work yourself and are prepared to live in a demolition site for many months it can be more cost effective to demolish and rebuild but make careful comparisons of both options...eg by renovating our current home we were able to retain favourable features that could not have been included in a new home due to variations in set backs and different building regs ...replacing wiring, plumbing, heating, insulation, roof, floors, kitchen, bathrooms and windows and repairing old wall finishes and flooring added up to about 20% more than a knock down rebuild and we had to compromise on floor plans because of the load bearing internal brick walls but we were able to keep some of the vintage features of the house and recycled as much as possible but a new build would have allowed for better Passive Solar orientation with a slab on ground, no steps and a much quicker and easier result

It's a numbers exercise - like always, comes down to the budget available with consideration to the goals for the property long term......the answers on these situations, that we deal with regularly, will be yours alone to make based on your financial circumstances/capacities and your particular priorities.....but you have to have the right assistance and information, framed and consolidated to be relevant for you and your home and options available....then you can sit back and rationally weigh it all up and move forward with logical & confident decisions, as opposed to going round in circles/caught in limbo playing the "guess what this option will possibly cost" game..... Please feel free to get in touch to learn more about how we professionally manage & assist with this sort of dilemma - it involves analysis and crunching numbers on various options with intimate understanding of your needs within your particular context......there's bit to look at and consider to do it correctly

Cheers PD :)

we would love to see the floor plan of your new house and a few considered details, these period houses are usually very worth working with,

somebody like Dr Retro could give you the best advice :)

with previous experience of building and renovating DIY, owner builder, subcontracting and full builder service (and somewhere else to live and no full time jobs or young children to worry about) we decided to use a combination for renovating our 50s double brick with redundant extension over several years...stage 1 consulting council and our builder to determine possibilities, preparation and approval of plans and negotiating finance stage 2 diy internal demolition of bathrooms and kitchen, including professional removal of asbestos, stripping out old wiring, roof insulation, timber trims, doors, wall and ceilings linings, brick chimney, opening new doorways and carefully salvaging floor tiles and sections of old plaster cornice for later patching, stage 3 subcontract carpenter, electrician and plumber to replace some windows, open up new doorways and build internal walls, first fix plumbing and new wiring, selection and purchase of all taps, PC items, doors, handles, windows, cornice, architraves etc and plan and order the new kitchen and all cabinetry stage 4 employed the builder and his team of trades to remove old roof tiles, rebuild the whole roof, add new structural supports, extending a new hip roof over an old extension, new wall cladding, new bathrooms and laundry, patch damaged plaster work, replace the rest of the windows, add new doors and timber trims and stage 5 we organised installation of the new cabinets, painter, tiler, plumber and electrician to install lighting taps etc ...i'm exhausted just thinking about it but we saved money by doing lots of work and subcontracting ourselves but the services of an excellent builder was worth every cent because they have the trades coordinated to arrive in the correct sequence and results happen so much more quickly but taking our time allowed us to pay more attention to details and we were able to salvage and recycle and sell items that a builder doesn't have time to save eg tiles removed from our roof were used on our neighbours' extension and we sold all the old copper wire and windows...look forward to learning what you decide

This beautiful Bungalow retains it's character with modern additions

https://www.lunchboxarchitect.com/featured/glass-link-house-robbie-walker/

Over the years I've found that the existing dwelling and site will decide if its worthwhile saving or demolishing.

If its a character home in fairly reasonable condition then renovating and extending can be the best value for money.

If its in a pretty poor state and needs significant amount s of money to be spent everywhere then demolishing it may be the best value for money.

Many dwellings (Pre 1970's usually) I come across even when looked after quite well still need stormwater, electrical and plumbing upgrading. This is before the 'exciting and new' works can be considered. Good design can give you effectively a 'new home' for less comparatively even once these upgrades are considered.

Project type homes are good value if you can find one that is suitable. Some are, some aren't and again depends on your site. Independent professional help can assist here rather than the sales spiel from salespeople convincing you that their design is the 'best'...... Sometimes a custom designed home is the only choice.

The site and the existing dwelling decides on the course of action, even a vacant site decides what should be done. A good designer familiar with the local area will usually know whats required and what will work within a few minutes. Getting it to suit a clients aspirations takes quite a bit longer....

Hi AD - some good advise amongst all of this - Your best port of call would be to get a few people out to have a chat and run over options. Don't stop at one or two - get as much info as you can...

From our experiences with similar types of projects that we have done around Adelaide there a few factors to weigh up

Normally (not always) budget is one of the critical factors - (doesn't matter how big or small, everyone has one) - that said there may be some options to consider - ie Does the floor plan allow a builder to carry out addition side of things and the "renovation" can be done by trades/contactors dealing with you direct as a 2nd stage down the track??

Our back ground is both new homes and additions - In most cases, it does not work out cheaper to renovate the existing aspect of character homes AND undergo substantial additions - that said, you end up with a finished home that can be simply stunning - old with the new

Depending where you are located, there may be some planning advantages in maintaining the project as an addition as opposed to new home construction -- some council policy areas have different rules in play for each....

Let me know if you need anything else, happy to assist if your in and around Adelaide