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Free DIY Renovation Design Guide

Posted by Adam in Home Maintenance 0 Comments

Tool House The increase in the first home owners grant for Australians from $7,000 to $14,000 for an existing home and $21,000 for the purchase of a new home may be welcome relief if you’re starting out, but for those of you that are already locked and loaded with a mortgage and contemplating a move to a new home it’s not so rosy given the current economic climate.

A possible alternative to selling in a flat market and then spending $50,000+ on government taxes and charges may be to stay put and renovate your existing home to meet your future needs.

I meet an Architect on Friday and we touched on his experience of renovating vs. building. He suggested you should always allow a 5% overrun when building new home and increase that to a 10% overrun if you’re renovating (some may say ‘and the rest’), which in his experience, almost always gets consumed.

It reminded me of two useful guides that were published in July by the Archicentre which may be use to those of you contemplating renovating or looking to hire help for part of your renovation but are unsure of the approximate costs.

DIY Renovation Design Guide

Repair & Maintenance Costs

Their download page provides a range of other reports such as DIY Checklist for Home Buyers which are worth checking out.