Some homes need more than one room fixed. Whole-home renovation is where the layout itself is the problem: dark hallways, a kitchen closed off from everywhere the family actually sits, bedrooms in the wrong place, and a house that works against you every day rather than for you.
We take on full home renovations across South East Melbourne, from staged room-by-room programmes through to complete internal reconfigurations. Because the whole house is in scope, decisions compound, and the value of the job is decided at the planning stage long before anyone swings a hammer.
Get a fixed price for your home renovation — agreed before any work starts.
Free consultation. Licensed & registered building practitioner. 7-year workmanship warranty.
What a whole-home renovation covers
- Assessment of the existing structure, services and what the building will allow
- Layout redesign, including wall removal, room repurposing and circulation
- Structural work, beams and engineering where load-bearing walls come out
- Full rewire and replumb where the existing services are at end of life
- Kitchen, bathrooms and laundry delivered as part of one coordinated programme
- Flooring, painting, doors, skirtings and architraves throughout
- Lighting design, heating and cooling, insulation and window upgrades
- Permits, inspections and certification handled by us
Renovating in stages versus all at once
This is the first real decision, and it has more effect on cost and disruption than any material choice.
Doing everything at once is cheaper per square metre. Trades come once, scaffolding goes up once, and the sequencing is efficient. It also means moving out for a period, which carries its own cost in rent or accommodation.
Staging the work lets you stay in the house and spread the spend across financial years. It costs more overall, because each trade returns multiple times and areas already finished need protecting. It also takes considerably longer in elapsed time.
Neither is universally right. We will tell you honestly which one your house and your circumstances suit, including when the answer is that staging will cost you more than moving out would.
How the process runs
- Site assessment. We walk the house, look at the structure, the services, the roof and the subfloor, and identify what is realistically achievable.
- Concept and feasibility. Layout options against your budget, so you can see the trade-offs before committing.
- Design and documentation. Full drawings, engineering where required, and a detailed specification. This is what makes a fixed price possible.
- Permits. Building permits and any planning approvals, coordinated by us.
- Build. Demolition, structural, rough-in, lock-up, fit-out and finishing, run to a programme you can see.
- Handover. Defects walkthrough, certificates, warranties and maintenance guidance.
Whole-home renovations typically run three to six months on site depending on scope, with design, documentation and permits adding two to four months in front of that. Anyone quoting a full renovation with no design phase is quoting a number they will need to revise.
What drives the cost of a home renovation
- Structural change. Removing load-bearing walls, altering the roof line or changing floor levels are the big-ticket items.
- Wet areas. Kitchens and bathrooms carry the highest cost per square metre in any house, so how many you touch matters more than total floor area.
- Services age. Homes with original wiring or galvanised pipework will need full replacement, which is not optional and cannot be deferred safely.
- What the house hides. Asbestos, termite damage, stumps and inadequate footings are common in older stock and are found during demolition, not before it.
- Finish level. The gap between a solid standard finish and a high-end one across an entire house is very large.
Our renovation price guide gives indicative ranges to help you frame a realistic budget.
Building a contingency you will actually need
Every whole-home renovation should carry a contingency, and on older homes we recommend a meaningful one. This is not pessimism. The nature of the work is that a significant portion of the structure is concealed until demolition, and no builder can price what nobody has seen. A properly documented job reduces surprises substantially, but it cannot eliminate them. A contingency that goes unspent is the best outcome available; a job with none is the one that stalls.
Home renovations across South East Melbourne
We work throughout the South East corridor, including Berwick, Narre Warren, Cranbourne, Pakenham, Officer, Clyde, Dandenong, Endeavour Hills, Hallam and Beaconsfield, and the surrounding suburbs.
The renovation opportunity differs sharply across these areas. Established suburbs such as Dandenong, Endeavour Hills and Hallam have solid brick homes on generous blocks with compartmentalised 1970s and 1980s floor plans, where opening up the living areas transforms the house and the land value supports the spend. Berwick and Beaconsfield carry a mix of older homes and larger family properties where whole-home work is often about bringing a good house up to current standards. The newer estates in Clyde, Officer, Cranbourne and Pakenham are less about structure and more about upgrading a builder-grade finish and adding the storage and function the original build left out.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need to move out?
For a full internal renovation, usually yes, at least for the structural and rough-in stages. Living on site during that period is unpleasant and slows the trades down, which costs you money. For staged work you can generally stay.
Is renovating cheaper than knocking down and rebuilding?
Often, but not always. If the structure is sound and the footprint broadly works, renovating usually wins. If the house needs restumping, rewiring, replumbing, a new roof and a changed floor plan, a rebuild can be comparable in cost and gives you a new-home warranty. We will tell you which side of that line your house sits on.
Do you handle permits and engineering?
Yes. Building permits, structural engineering and any planning approvals are coordinated as part of the job.
Can you work from plans I already have?
Yes. If you do not have them, our design and documentation service covers that stage.
How do you handle variations?
In writing, priced, and approved by you before the work is done. Verbal variations are how renovation budgets get away from people.
Book a free home renovation consult
Tell us what is not working about your house and we will come and assess it properly. The visit, the assessment and a ballpark figure are free. Your full drawings and firm fixed price come from our design and documentation stage — one set fee, quoted and agreed before we start.
Book your free home renovation consult, or browse our recent projects.
