Why you should knockdown and rebuild your house

What is a knockdown rebuild?

A knockdown rebuild is a two-step process to creating a brand new home on a block of land where another house already stands. 

First, the existing house is knocked down and removed. Then the site is prepared and a new home is built. 
 
Known as a “KDR” in the building industry, knockdown rebuild is a particularly commonly used strategy in Sydney and other parts of NSW and the ACT where land is a precious commodity. 
 
For all the essential info you need to get started in a simple and easy to understand way, you can download our FREE Ultimate Knockdown Rebuild Guide.

Reasons why you should knockdown rebuild

There are so many great reasons to consider a knockdown rebuild! We’ll outline eight reasons why knockdown rebuild can be a powerful real estate move.

1.      Location, location, location
 
‘Location is everything’ is a real estate mantra that applies to knockdown rebuilds as much as it does to buying a new home. 
 
You might already own a home in an ideal location but the house isn’t working for you. Maybe you’ve outgrown the house, it’s an older home that might cost as much to renovate as rebuild, or you simply want to start from scratch to build your dream home.
 
Or, you might know exactly where you want to move to but can’t find a house that suits. By considering a knockdown rebuild, you can focus firstly on securing the location and then on designing and building a home that meets all your needs.
 
Either way, a knockdown rebuild is your chance to love your home as much as your address.

2.     Keep your address, neighbours, schools and shops
 
Not all change is good, especially if you’ve settled into an area and love your local life. It might be your local shops, cafés or medical services that you’d be sad to leave. 
 
If you have kids, avoiding disruptive changes of school or childcare is a win. We know some people form such close and supportive relationships with neighbours that moving away would be a great wrench. 
 
Sure, you could try to move house within the same locality but this is hard, especially in times of tight property markets. 
 
Keeping hold of your neighbourhood and local amenities is a big positive of undertaking a knockdown rebuild rather than moving away. 

3.     Start from scratch
 
Renovation is a powerful way to update, remodel or refresh a home. Larger renovations can be a tricky endeavour, with major project management required and always the potential of unexpected surprises (whether that’s extra costs, or what lives under the floorboards!). There’s also a likelihood that you’ll need to move out for a period anyway as larger renovations can leave a home unliveable for a time. 
 
Sometimes, it’s simply easier to start from scratch. A knockdown rebuild allows you to create your home from the ground up. You have the peace of mind of knowing everything is new and designed just the way you want.

4.    Create and control 
 
It’s tempting to focus exclusively on a house without also considering the surroundings. Choosing a knockdown rebuild means you can consider every aspect of your land. You’re in control as you create your dream home.
 
A knockdown rebuild can allow you to maximise the benefits of the land’s orientation to the sun’s path across the sky, the gradient of the land, the position of neighbouring houses, views from various windows, options for growing a gorgeous garden and creating a flow between inside and outside living, including al fresco dining and entertaining areas.  

5.     Avoid continual renovations
 
You might start by thinking you’ll be happy in your home if you just redo the kitchen. Oh, and the bathroom. Then, once those rooms are done, the living room might start looking a little shabby in comparison. And, perhaps the living room renovation might alert you to some structural problems that mean additional work is needed…
 
Before you know it, years have passed and you’re still not entirely happy with your home. Knockdown rebuild is an intensive process that creates your new dream house in one project.

6.     The benefits of new
 
Times change and houses need to change with them. Imagine if there hadn’t been any knockdown rebuilds in Sydney or your city – there’d be a heck of a lot of fibro shacks and 70s brick wonderlands, even with substantial renovation between then and now.
 
Constructing a new home allows you to include all your desired sustainability measures that will minimise both your environmental footprint and ongoing bills. It also gives you the opportunity to get creative with and maximise the potential of your available land, such as adding a well-positioned granny flat for the kids or parents in your life.
 
You also have the peace of mind of a construction warranty (Rawson offers both a quality guarantee on construction and a six-year structural guarantee) that covers the whole build. 

Knockdown rebuild vs renovation

Is a knockdown rebuild worth it?