How Your Dream Home Emerges from a Knockdown Rebuild Project

We all have our own view of what our dream home would look like. From the ideal location and land parcel to the perfect floor plan and design style, we all have our preferences. And these often change over time as our requirements and personal tastes evolve and grow.

But bringing this dream to life can be quite difficult using the most common approaches to securing a new home. While you may be able to buy in your ideal location, the space and style are unlikely to be right. And while you may be able to renovate or extend, you will still be restricted by the existing structure.

However, a knockdown rebuild project can overcome all these issues, helping you create the home you have always wanted. It gives you the best of both worlds – the exact design you want in the exact location you want. And all it takes to get it is a strong vision, a little creativity, and some careful planning.

Here we look at why knockdown rebuilds have become such a popular way for people to build their dream homes. We explore the benefits these projects provide and how they maximise the options available to you. We also go over the main things you need to think about when coming up with your knockdown rebuild plans.

Keep your dream location

Location has long been a key factor in real estate, particularly when it comes to purchase prices. In fact, the right location can turn an otherwise ordinary home into a highly sought-after, ‘dream’ property. This is particularly true when you are planning to knockdown and rebuild as you can look past the existing structure.

For example, say you love where you currently live, but your current home no longer meets your requirements. To fix this, you could spend your weekends attending every local inspection in the hope of finding something more suitable. Or you could take the risk and try to renovate your way to a more fitting design.

Or you could get exactly what you want by planning to knockdown your current home and rebuild in its place. This means you create a home perfectly tailored to your needs and tastes without compromising on the location. It also means you can continue being part of your current community and stay connected to your existing support network.

Alternatively, being willing to knockdown and rebuild can allow you to move to where you have always wanted to live. It also means you do not need to find the perfect property – just the perfect land for your dream design. This can help make even the most exclusive and competitive areas far more accessible and easier to buy into.

Remove any structural issues

Unlike renovation and extension projects, a knockdown rebuild allows you to start with a clean slate. This means that you can develop the exact design you want, unencumbered by an existing structure. It also means you can confidently plan your build, knowing there is minimal risk of hidden issues.

This is especially important as old houses can be full of secrets. From leaky plumbing and unsafe wiring to foundation damage and asbestos, even well-presented homes can be riddled with problems. And even if you have all the suggested pre-purchase checks done, these issues still may not be picked up.

This is a real concern when planning an extension or renovation, as works are heavily dependent on what is already there. If there are any issues with the existing structure, these will need to be remediated before new building works begin. This means that even a minor issue can have a major impact on the planned budget and timeline.

Compare this to a knockdown rebuild, where the construction phase is basically a new build. The existing structure will be completely removed, and the site will be properly prepared prior to building works starting. As such, there is minimal risk that your builders will encounter anything unexpected or requiring significant remediation work.

Choose a style that truly suits you

Building on the above point, a knockdown rebuild also removes most of the limitations on your design. In fact, the only major considerations you need to account for are the land size and local planning requirements. Beyond that, the design of your new home is really up to your creativity and imagination.

More than just choosing the number and size of your bedrooms and bathrooms, you have complete control over the whole design. Want to incorporate a unique architectural feature or use an unusual material? No problems – you can work that in. Have very specific ideas about how you want rooms to be laid out and the flow in between them? Good – this will help shape your design. Want your new home to reflect your favourite architectural or design style accurately? Great – this will make a lot of your decisions easier.

If you do have clear ideas about your new home’s design, it is important to find a site that will suit them. This means looking for a block that is the right size, shape, and slope to comfortably fit your plans. It also means choosing an area that has planning requirements that are conducive to your dream design.

This is where working with a knockdown rebuild expert, like Carmel Homes, can be a major help. They can assist you in assessing the suitability of potential sites and choosing the best one for your design. They can also identify any potential issues and help you make a fully informed decision about where to buy.

Set your own sustainability standard

Up until relatively recently, energy efficiency was not a major consideration when designing a new home. This is something you really notice when renovating an older home, with most traditional features impacting the property’s efficiency. Often this means needing to find a compromise between retaining the heritage and meeting modern quality standards.

But this is not an issue when you knockdown rebuild, as everything will be built using contemporary materials and techniques. This should mean that your new home is naturally better climate-controlled and more energy efficient. It should also mean your ongoing utility costs are much lower, at least on a per square metre basis.

If sustainability is really important to you, you can make sure your new home design has serious green credentials. From optimising the orientation and adopting passive design principles to installing water tanks and rooftop solar, the options are endless. To further reduce the project’s carbon footprint, you can also use sustainably sourced materials or recycle materials from the existing structure.

And as the building will be designed with sustainability in mind, you can make sure you maximise each feature’s effectiveness. This is quite different to upgrading an existing property, where new, more sustainable technologies and materials can only be retrofitted. This reduces their potential impact and limits the benefits they can realistically be expected to provide.

Maximise your potential for capital growth

In addition to being a great place to live, a true dream home should also be a great investment. It should be worth more than you spent on it and continue to increase in value over the long term. It should also help you minimise your ongoing expenses by keeping the operating and maintenance costs as low as possible.

This is another way that a knockdown rebuild project often outperforms other options. While most properties will naturally increase in value over the long term, this growth potential is generally fairly limited. And while a renovation or extension should increase the value in the short term, the return on investment is often quite low.

By contrast, as a knockdown rebuild delivers an entirely new home, its resale value will usually be higher. This is particularly true in highly competitive locations, where most buyers are looking for a turnkey property.

To make this even better, a knockdown rebuild may be substantially more cost-effective (per square metre) than a renovation. Obviously, this will depend on the location of the property, the quality of materials used, and the exact design. But, with careful planning and good budget management, the return on investment you achieve should be much higher.

Also, as everything in a home that has been knocked down and rebuilt is new, it should require less maintenance. This should mean there is less need for fixtures and fittings to be repaired or replaced. It should also mean the property continues to look great and function as designed for many years to come.

Want to discuss this further?

If you are still not sure whether a knockdown rebuild could be right for you, give Carmel Homes a call. As one of the leaders in knockdown rebuilds in Melbourne, we understand the process and can guide you through every step. We are also experts in helping homeowners plan their dream home build, whether modern designed homes or French provincial inspired homes, and get the most from their knockdown rebuild project.