A First home buyer's guide to understanding knockdown rebuilds

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Being a first home buyer can be an exciting experience, especially when you find an area that suits all your needs and is the perfect fresh canvas, on which to paint your life. But, if the home that sits on your block does not serve you the way you want, it's time to knock it down to create your dream home.

However, this world of rebuilds can be a confusing place, with so many paths you could take, and so many logistics to tackle it's difficult to fully understand where to start? So, we're here to help you, and simplify this process a little with this article so you can understand the dos and don'ts of the rebuild world.

Before you get started on creating your dream home, it's important to start outside of the house. To be more specific, on the street, and the area surrounding your block. There will be street regulations that determine what you can and can't do when it comes to your space.

This is why it's important to contact your local council to see what your restrictions are, you may find there are limitations when it comes to heights, vegetation, and a plethora of other categories.

Conducting preliminary research by speaking with builders and your local council will save you the heartache and frustration of constructing a dream layout that isn't able to be built the way you envisioned.

It is important to understand that quality knockdown rebuilds take time and research prior to the beginning of the actual building process to ensure no issues along the way.

One of the best parts of a knockdown rebuild is that is generally a lot cheaper than some of the other alternatives, which is ideal for first time home buyers. If you find an area that you love, but the house on the land is far beyond repair, completely starting afresh may actually be the best course of action.

Looking at alternate locations can obviously lead to you finding a place that meets your needs but is significantly more costly. And, if you're considering opting for a renovation route with the mindset that this would be a lot more cost effective, rather than knocking down and starting fresh, this is in fact a slight misconception.

Whilst it's an understandable assumption to make, renovating an already established older home can lead to hidden costs popping up from working around aged structures that can need significantly more maintenance than initially thought.

There are also the long term financial benefits, every home requires upkeep after a while, no matter whether they're old or new, but a newer home is cheaper to maintain, to extend on this point, building your own home gives you more agency on how you would like it constructed, meaning you can use sustainable materials that are not only environmentally beneficial but also can add to the property value in years to come.

One of the ultimate benefits of opting to knock down and start anew rather than renovate an existing home is its user-friendly nature. Renovations typically require construction workers and builders moving throughout your home at all hours of the day, which can be incredibly disruptive when you're still living in the home, whereas building from the ground up means that once the home is done, you're able to move in, free from any disturbances that come from home restorations.

This can be an incredibly attractive offer for those with certain lifestyles. For example, a young professional couple likely would prefer to live free from the noise and interruptions that a renovation will bring. The same goes for a young family, who for both comfort and safety, likely do not want the hassle of living in amongst the stress of a renovation.

One of the overwhelmingly positive factors to knocking down the house and creating your new home is selecting a new and improved floorplan.

This is not simply due to the aesthetics, but also for the overall comfort. Older homes often have a floorplan that does not properly make use of the light, and no longer properly insulates the space.

By starting from scratch you can build a space that is comfortable to live in by working with the environment it is situated within, rather than against it.

And, for first home buyers who are inexperienced with the housing process, there are now many builders that offer options like a customisable base plan. This takes the pressure off you to entirely design the house on your own and gives you essentially a template to tailor to your liking, so you know you're making the correct choice when you have a professional aiding your decisions alongside you.

When considering whether to knock down and rebuild or renovate, there are a plethora of factors to consider, such as financial and the comfort of all those living within the home, so the choice that you make is all dependent on what works best for you and your family.