Layout and Reno Costs

Hi All

Conducting due diligence on a potential purchase and wanted to get your thoughts on improving the layout of this property and how much a renovation may cost to make it what we want. We'd like to keep reno to under $100k all up and will likely do it in parts over a few years. This is what we're thinking of doing (for ease of reference I'm using the names of the rooms as detailed in the attached property plan):

1. Open up the whole Lounge/Dining-Kitchen-Living/Meals area. This would involve removing the wall between the Lounge/Dining and Kitchen (likely load bearing as it has a chimney above it, and probably gas pipes in the wall) and removing a wall between the Kitchen and Living/Meals area that may also be load bearing.

2. Moving the kitchen to the current Lounge/Dining - running along the lefthand side wall, with the 'store' becoming a pantry, and either have the kitchen as an L shape or with an island bench. This would mean the old kitchen area becomes the dining area, and leave the Living/Meals as the living space.

3. Full reno to the Bath/Laundry (removing the laundry aspect)

4. Make the Laundry/Ensuite just a smaller laundry so that part of the space becomes a BIR for the bedroom. Include a door leading out to the side of the property.

5. The backyard is mostly a lot of uneven, brick paths, and has an inconveniently placed car spot taking up a fair portion of it. In terms of the car space, we're thinking either:

a) Move it to the back far right corner of the backyard
b) Change the car space to be at the front of the property, however still need to suss this out with council as there is currently no driveway leading into the property, and there is a storm water drain smack bang in the middle of the property potentially prohibiting the creating of a driveway from the street.

6. In terms of the rest of the back yard, we would remove all the sheds/coop etc and paving, and level out the ground to create mostly a grass/landscaped area. This will involve the removal of at least 1 large tree - no permit required according to the applicable council overlays.

7. Property has a heritage overlay so not looking at changing the facade, will most likely just paint it/tidy it up.

I've attached the layout and some pictures of the property so you can get a sense of how it all looks. Keen to hear thoughts on whether this is all doable in our budget. Any other suggested layouts within our budget are also welcome.

Thanks!

 

Giving this post a bump in the hope someone sees it and can assist

 

The trees are protected. You cant just cut down trees. Same with some internal changes need council approvals, engineering and drawings.

You first step may be with a builder to address what is possible and they can talk "ballpark" numbers. Agents often have some on hand for these sorts of issues as they dont want you to get the gold plated view and then not buy. I would think $100K is well short of the ideas. Some are major and could even impact major structural, plumbing and whole house rewire. Down to restumping with changed loads and flooring. The shift of car parking could be an excuse for the tree to council. Agree the rear may be better. The landscape may be a easier and cheaper task if you get a bobcat in. I would focus on the structure initially.

The tiles in the ensuite are very different. Like they have eight types of materials and didnt want any to be wasted

 

Thanks Paul. The property isn’t subject to a vegetation protection overlay, and the building/heritage overlays didn’t specify the requirement for permits to cut down trees but I will call council to double check. Appreciate some internal works will require permits and that’s something to consider.

We’ll get a builder to walk through with us and give an indication of what’s possible and costs. I guess I also don’t wanna show all our cards and come off too eager so need to have a think about how best to go about it

 

With 4 bedrooms I would be reluctant to lose the 2nd bathroom.

 

This did cross my mind too. Would look at keeping at least a second toilet but worth considering keeping the extra shower too.

 

If this property is in Melbourne, it may not need a vegetation overlay for trees of a certain diameter to be protected.

In my Council area all trees over 110cm trunk diameter need a local laws permit to be removed.

 

A second toilet would be an absolute necessity given that otherwise the only toilet would be in the main bathroom.