Rebuilding for Luxury living

Remember when outdoor living meant camping and garages were usually built for a single car, separate from the house?

Fast forward to 2015 and while many families have two or more cars which are light years from a 1950s Holden, many are living in floorplans dictated by past eras.

Living well in the 21st century is an entirely different proposition to 60 years ago when few families had cars and houses were smaller with neatly segregated kitchens, living and dining rooms.

With a profusion of outdated housing in sought after inner suburbs the idea of a luxury rebuild is becoming increasingly attractive to families who love where they live but want a contemporary lifestyle. Knocking down and rebuilding has become an aspirational phenomenon, upheld as offering better value and greater certainty than renovations with the assurance of a brand new home for a fixed price with up to the minute design, floorplan and finishes and integrated sustainability.

Comdain Homes is one of Melbourne’s most highly regarded professional custom luxury home builders and has won HIA’s Victorian professional small/medium builder of the year 5 times in the last 7 years. Sales and marketing manager Rodney Ord says people are increasingly attracted to knocking down and rebuilding because they know they’ll get the latest design and materials, tailored for their family and site.

“A well-designed custom home will optimise its orientation and have a highly liveable contemporary floorplan with seamless indoor and outdoor living and an integrated double garage. Excellent insulation, performance glazing and efficient heating and cooling make life comfortable.”

Comdain is helping prospective clients understand both the opportunities and challenges of rebuilding by providing site redevelopment assessments and holding regular information seminars. The site redevelopment assessment (SRA) is free and includes a site plan with design opportunities with reference to the site’s planning requirements, orientation, slope, neighbouring properties and vegetation. Floor area, single and double storey and northern light for rear living areas are all considered.

“Buyers interested in knocking down and rebuilding regularly contact us for advice. Our SRA gives them a snapshot of what they need to work through in designing and building a new house on their site,” Ord says.

For knock down rebuild projects he says buyers are focusing on leafy inner suburbs with excellent schools and public transport, and primarily developed between the 1920s and 1970s. Popular suburbs include Glen Iris, Kew, Camberwell, Northcote, Ivanhoe, Balwyn North and Doncaster where there are many older houses with lower design character, closed floor plans, poor insulation and not oriented for light.

Comdain Homes’ regular rebuild seminars guide people through each step of the knock down rebuild process and provides answers specific to individual suburbs and requirements.

The free seminars cover the pros and cons of renovation, extension and rebuilding; demolition preparation; planning zones, heritage listings, covenants, overlays and site conditions; design, preliminary works, costs and savings; what to expect from a builder and advice on issues and opportunities in particular suburbs.

“If you want to build a certain style of house you need to be aware of what shape and size block it requires and the most desirable orientation. While a regularly shaped block is preferred – an irregularly shaped block will provide challenges best handled by a custom home builder such as Comdain who can help create your style and design ‘build-ability’ into your home from the outset,” Ord says.

If you would like to find out more join us for a FREE Knock Down Luxury Rebuild Seminar in Fairfield here https://comdainhomes.com.au/seminars