Thanks Gioenne. This project was bringing a 70's home into the 21st century! Glad you like it.

We are weeks away from breaking ground on a build that has nearly taken a year to get to this point. My best advice is to look very closely at every little design feature that relates to liveability. These include things like where you turn your shower on (nothing worse than spraying yourself with freezing water), one downlight in a bathroom or kitchen (we went from one to 5)and how many power points are in a bedroom. The problem mainly lies in that building companies will not guide you in any way, it's totally up to you some of their designs beggars belief how they think is appropriate. I'm just glad I do it for a living and enjoy the game but I imagine large building companies could be quite intimidating, especially if you have trouble reading a plan. Ask as many people as you can because after pre start, $500 for every variation could get expensive or you could be living with the unliveable.

i especially like the extra width to the garage that creates the offsett look of the garage door and extending the house forward in separate areas that helps make the roof so much more interesting without changing the basic shape...very well done, congratulations to the design and construction team and lucky homeowner

Many of the items you are describing are wood related. I would search in your area for a reputable carpenter. They can walk through the home advise the work they can complete. Doors, external rotting wood, sash windows etc. You can pull up the carpets yourself and the carpenter can advise on whether floors are worth re sanding floors, or give you a contact for a business that does that. You already have a plumber and a painter. You can do each bathroom individually, taking out existing plumbing fixtures, purchasing new ones. Get a tiler in to advise on removal or restoration of existing tiles, and relaying of new tiles. Plumber can refit fixtures. Contact a reputable kitchen cabinet company, or go to Bunnings and look at the Kaboodle range. Etc etc. If you are an organised person and willing to put in the extra time, it is definitely worthwhile, financially and personally to do the project management yourself. If you have no idea and no time, then even a handy man business may be able to do all the coordination for you. $250k, without knowing the extent of renovation/restoration required, seems overly adequate for updating and fixing. If you coordinate the trades yourself, it will be less.