Can you please just itemise the rooms you want at the end.

Have you checked with Council on the ability to extend in front? There will be rules on setbacks.

Ideally we would like to have the following:

- 4 beds (Ground - MB with ensuite/WIW + spare room/study. Upstairs 2 beds)

- Kitchen

- Living room (off the kitchen/dining room)

- Dinning area (off the kitchen)

- 2nd living room (separate from the open plan living)

- 2 bath (1 ground / 1 upstairs)

- Laundry with mudroom (garage to open into mudroom through existing external front wall)

- Rear living area to open up to the north facing back yard

Extending to the front should be ok, we have about 7m of available space from the front of the house that sits within current set back. The house is strangely set right in the middle of the block, so looking to utilise space at front of house

Where are the stairs to second storey preferred to be?

The extension to the front of the garage involves working with a complicated roof line. Unless you want a flat roofed extension at the front of your house. The costs are going to make a single room extension prob not worth it. Similarly with the rear extension the less you can touch the existing structure and roof the smoother and less costly your extension will be. A second story in the existing building is likely to be twice the cost of a rear extension. Before you get too far down the planning have you had someone check the footings etc to see the feasibility of what you’re thinking. Anything can be done with enough money but you may not want to spend $100k just on increasing support before you actually gain any additional space.

I too would question the council regarding allowed built structures at the front. Looking at your overhead photo, your home and the adjoining homes are similar setbacks. If they were allowed to go forward, one would of thought they would have.

My first thought is to turn the house to a u shape with a 2storey extension on the west side. I would be surprised if a new build would not ultimately be cheaper but don’t know the house.

Hi Richard, Great House, I have had trouble with the dimensions shown on the floorplan and hope that you might be able to correct my plan. plus the distance from the RH side of the house to the boundary where you propose a garage, it looks like you could add a double to the boundary and going by the neighbor to your left having already set the precedence of how far forward you can extend. Maybe even include the additional bedrooms above the new garage

Here’s an option trying to minimise changes to existing. There are lots of variations, as I said could do two storey at rear instead of over garage

terrific, thank you. We need to keep testing our assumptions on what is possible but also reasonable. Our initial ideas to go up may be a bit optimitic. Do you have a feel for what a renovation like your suggesting is likely to cost?

thanks again

the very simple rear extension is about 60sqm including new kitchen, laundry and powder room plus the modest carport and new front porch as well as the minimal internal renovation and ensuite and costs will be impacted by your choice of materials and appliances etc etc.... last time we built anything similar we spent more than $350,000 (plus an extra $50,000 for minor changes to a much less complex roof than yours) and others may have more detailed ideas of costing but, keep in mind that my suggestions can be staged over time (eg maybe the ens/wiw and old bathroom changes could wait until the kids are older and the new front porch could happen anytime funds allow and/or could even be a DIY project but you should still be able to continue to live in the house during most of the changes and although it's always better to have council approval for the entire house ( including any outdoor entertaining area or extensions to the old garage) you can usually do the work over a specified time frame

A very basic idea trying to work within the existing footprint apart from the garage and deck area.

I notice that other houses in your street having a two street frontage have sub divided so thought that you might also consider doing that to pay for your renovations, Both houses

on the sub divided block are two story so thought it would be a good idea to face your living away from that

Archicentre had a two page cost guide you can download. It’s understated compared to current market pricing and doesn’t include everything like the $40k odd you’ll need for plans/permits/paperwork.

Great use of space Siriuskey - (now logged in on PC and have edited my post)

Not sure what you meant in your second post Kate, funny, I actually did feel your frustration Kate

once you understand the real cost of a big renovation a knock down rebuild may be a more realistic option and more in keeping with the rest of the neighbourhood and a quote from a volume builder who does KDR would help make the options easier to compare

Hi okloise...wanting to have a play around with some layouts...is your floor plan design system online (and free)? or can you suggest a basic system. cheers

I would seriously consider selling off the rear section of the block which would involve taking down part of the sunroom. And as I mentioned earlier this would pay for any renovations you needed for your family of 4.

The problem with doing a KDR is that you will need to rent elsewhere while building which will add to your costs.

several neighbours have already sub divided their blocks which will add to all that comes with high density living.

My CAD program was purchased many years ago and is no longer available but there may be other programs available online but you must keep in mind that the DESIGN of any alteration is the most important aspect of any renovation and a free DIY program will not include all the necessary information about structural and legal requirements, sizes etc and HOUZZ suggestions will not replace the benefit of on site professional advice but, if you post simple hand drawn sketches or a description of what you would like to try, i will attempt to produce a rough plan for you but, please confirm if you have investigated costs of KDR and/or subdivision and what you found out, as this will be important points for comparison

All good advice OKL, in NSW we have Volume builders advertising to build two houses for the price of one, They are usually two story same design, perhaps this could work for your block building the first on Allen street and then moving into it to allow for a KDR on the original house. This would save having to rent else where and give you the choice to keep both or sell one.

Apologies for the poor image...I have thought deeply about how best to maximise space/livability with retention of existing structure and minimal additions. Grey is existing structure with updated layout (minimal layout change), green represents addition on the ground level, and is basically a sitting and living room to the rear, while blue is the addition of a 2nd level with 2 beds/1 bath. This ticks off all our wants/needs and captures quite a number of small but important layout elements from the contributions above. Interested to hear any thoughts/comments and if someone is better able to replicate this image on a computer program that would be much appreciated.

Key points:

• Carport rather than enclosed garage (given we have rear garage, no need for a fully fledged garage at front)
• Centre/Front room becomes master bedroom + WIW/ensuite.
• Front Living room remains as a living room.
• Rear sunroom room and adjoining bedroom become laundry/kitchen/dining.
• Addition to the rear (in green) is a sitting area/hall adjoining to a living room
• 2nd level, 2 beds / 1 bath and sits above the carport/front right-hand corner of the house.
• No mudroom, but given the wide front entrance can make space here to add in storage/hooks etc.

cheers

the first thing that needs to be decided is where to put a staircase with adjoining access hallways both upstairs and down and that need a space about the size of the original kitchen or all of bed 2... the old rear lounge is not big enough for kitchen, dining and laundry and isn't the old bed 2 on a different floor and ceiling level? would the old rear lounge and extensions back and front have floors raised to match the original inside floors or will there still be a step down between old and new floors and what about ceiling heights in new and old rooms?... an upstairs extension needs far more floor area than is needed for the 2 bedrooms that already exist downstairs and downstairs already has a bathroom... the original roof would have to be partly demolished in every direction and would probably need all new reinforcing and roof cladding and building above the carport means the carport would have to be extra tall to make the upstairs floor fit above the old downstairs rooms and that ruins the simple carport to front verandah roof that should fit under the original eaves and not make any changes to the main roof and what upstairs roof shape would you have? eg hip roof to match original house or a low gable to use less floor space and what about windows...an upstairs extension is possible but i think a KDR would be more cost effective but a professional designer could draw up your two story extension but i wouldn't encourage such an expensive option when you have more than enough space available at ground level