# Forum Home Renovation Structural Renovation  Cost to renovate vs complete rebuild

## colonel1

Gidday all 
My parents have an original weatherboard Calforian bungalow and are considering putting on a new extension or demolising the existing home and rebuilding from scratch. 
However they are not sure what are the difference in costs would be and which might be the better way to go. So I am trying to ascertain what is the average cost per square meter for an extension ( 15mtrs * 10mtrs) as opposed to building new. 
Can anyone offer any advice 
Colonel1

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## dib

You should get some real estimates/quotes - it has a lot to do with what your plans are. To get an idea of how much the extension might cost you look at archicentre cost guide http://www.archicentre.com.au/pdf/03...nCostGuide.pdf  .  I believe to build new is roughly $600 - $1000 per square metre.

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## SilentButDeadly

If the house is simply being added to then....just do that.   
If the remainder of the house is being considered for renovation (especially if some structural changes are being considered/required) and professional services are required then rebuilding is a better option.

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## Haveago1

:Arrow Up:  What they said 
Generally renovation costs more per sq mtre than to build new, so - 
If they just want to add on a few rooms and not do much with the existing house, it would (generally) be cheaper to do that. 
If they want to increase their floor area AND renovate the existing, a big factor would be how much renovating is anticipated. 
If they want a bigger floor area, renovate, reconfigure rooms, relocate services for kitchen/bathroom etc (particulaly if changing rooof lines is involved) then maybe demo/rebuild would be more cost effective. 
A major consideration is the cost, time and inconvenience of demolishing, removing and rebuilding the entire house if a full demo/rebuild is being considered rather than just working on one section. Cost of renting somewhere else during this time also needs to be factored in. 
Then you need to consider how much difference the capital spent will increase the value overall - even though it may be cheaper to simply do an extension the finished product may not be as 'desirable' in saleability (and therefore fetch a better price) as a completely new home. 
Get some prices and see what pans out from there - 150 sq mtrs is a fair size extension......

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## GraemeCook

At an indicative building cost of $1,000 to 1,500 per square metre the fairly large 150 m2 extension is likely to cost anything between $150,000 to $225,000 - possibly more for a difficult site. 
For such a big planned investment I would seek paid professional advice at a an early stage. 
Cheers 
Graeme

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