Knockdown Rebuild
Wattle Court Southern Highlands
From old to new
Your home and habitat built together in harmony
You love where you live. The street, the neighbours, the school run, the walk to the shops or the garden you have spent fifteen years getting right. You don’t want to lose any of that, and yet your current home isn’t working for you the way that it should.
A Knockdown Rebuild lets you keep everything you value about your location and build a brand new home designed around the way you live today and into the future.
At Wattle Court Southern Highlands, we handle the whole journey from helping you with demolition to handover, so the process feels simple rather than daunting.
Why knock down & rebuild?
There are many reasons why people choose to knock down and rebuild, and it’s worth considering if any apply to you.
The first is location. If you live close to all the things you love – shops, schools, friends and family – then it’s not necessary to lose all that for a new home. Or you might have an outlook across the valley that is worth almost as much as the home itself. Make the new home come to you and work into your current lifestyle.
Then there’s community. Maybe you live in one of those streets where your best friend lives 2 doors down, where the kids ride their bikes along the street until dusk, but you know that there’s a whole neighborhood looking out for them. Some things are priceless, and not worth moving for just to build a modern home.
And finally there’s price and equity. While a knock down rebuild does entail demolition costs, the price of rebuilding can often be cheaper than that of renovating to a similar end result. Plus, because it’s a new home with modern conveniences and build standards, you’re maximising the equity in that property long term versus an older home that will need further work down the track.
Benefits of a knockdown rebuild
Stay in the community you love
Choosing to stay in the place you love doesn’t mean you have to compromise on modern conveniences, comfort, or style. While your current home has served you well, it might not fully capitalise on the potential of its location or offer the contemporary design and technology you desire.
Established towns like Bowral, Mittagong, Moss Vale, Bundanoon and Goulburn are prized for good reason. New land in these towns rarely comes up in the established streets, but a Knockdown Rebuild means you do not have to leave to get a new home. Your kids stay at the same school, travel to work takes the same time, and the shops and the garden club are as close as ever.
A new home that suits its setting
Building new lets us tailor the layout and aspect of your block and features of the home to work together harmoniously, maximising your property equity.
When you demolish and rebuild your home, it allows you to reimagine your living space. Imagine larger windows that bring in more natural light, open floor plans for a more connected family environment, and a building envelope that actually holds its warmth through a Highlands winter.
It also brings an older home up to current standards. A lot of the housing stock in our towns was built well before today’s requirements for insulation, glazing and energy efficiency, which is exactly why those homes are expensive to heat and uncomfortable in the cold months. Rebuilding is the cleanest way to address all of that at once.
An alternative to renovating or moving
Renovating an older home can be appealing on the short-term cost, but without considering the full picture it can be misleading. A renovation or extension is quite often more per square metre than a new build, and you’re still left with the old bones of a home built to outdated standards. Structural surprises are also common and costs can blow out, and in homes of a certain vintage there is often asbestos to deal with as well.
With a Knockdown Rebuild you start with a clear budget and a clean slate, and you get a predictable Fixed Price Contract with no surprises. You can also address your concerns with the layout and orientation that renovating can never fix.
When it comes to moving, this is often the cheapest to build, however you’re sacrificing all of the qualities you might love about your current location. Additionally, most people don’t factor in the cost of selling their existing home, and paying stamp duty on the new land – both considerable costs that you avoid with a knock down rebuild.
One local note worth knowing early. Parts of Bowral, Berrima, Mittagong and several of the villages sit inside heritage conservation areas, which bring their own design controls and can restrict demolition. That doesn’t rule out a rebuild, but it does change the pathway, and it is one of the first things we check for you.
The knock down rebuild process
From the first site visit to the final handover, we walk the whole journey with you – including the demolition, which we help you arrange and build into your overall costs.
- Initial site assessment. We visit your property to discuss your goals and assess the site’s potential.
- Feasibility and proposal. We establish a workable plan and budget, then provide a clear fee proposal for the site and planning work.
- Home design. Choose or modify a design, or create something custom, shaped around your block and lifestyle.
- Design approval and lodgement. We finalise your design, complete your soil test and surveys, prepare your BASIX and engineering documentation, and lodge your application as a Complying Development Certificate or a Development Application, managing conditions on your behalf.
- Demolition. With approvals in place, we help you arrange a demolition company to clear the site ready for construction.
- Building contract and certificate. We sign off on final plans, take your deposit, and your Construction Certificate is issued ready for work to begin.
- Construction. We coordinate trades and materials and keep your build moving through each stage.
- Handover. Once every detail is perfected, the keys to your brand new home are all yours.
Thinking of a knock down rebuild?
Whether you already have your land or are still weighing up your options, Dave and his team would love to help bring your dream home to life. Get in touch and book a meeting with one of our Consultants today.
