Elliott House
East Ryde · knockdown rebuild
Knockdown rebuilds across Sydney, on one contract.
Keep the land, replace the house. Demolition, approvals and the new build run as one job with one builder — not three arrangements with three sets of dates.
The service
When the block is right and the house is not.
A knockdown rebuild tends to win in two situations: the house is beyond economic repair, or what you actually want cannot be reached by extending. The land is usually the expensive part and you already own it.
- Who it suits
- People who like where they live — the street, the school, the aspect — and have run out of ways to make the existing house work.
- What is included
- Demolition, service disconnections and site clearing, approvals for the new house, the build, and the pool, driveway, fencing and planting if you want them.
- One contract
- Demolition and construction are priced and programmed together, so there is no gap between a demolisher finishing and a builder starting, and no argument about who left the site how.
- Approvals
- For the new house, not just for removing the old one. DA or CDC depending on the block and what you are building on it.
- Where you live
- Somewhere else — the site is a building site from demolition to handover. Budget for rent across the whole program, not the optimistic version of it.
- Contract
- Lump sum, agreed before demolition starts, with the provisional sums and prime cost items listed separately.
Rebuild or renovate
The honest answer needs the actual house in front of it.
A rebuild carries demolition and a fresh approval against it. What it buys is the removal of every unknown that lives inside an old structure, and a house built to current standards throughout rather than in patches.
A renovation keeps the parts that still work and the approvals that already exist. What it carries is the risk of what nobody can see until the walls are open — and on a house that has already been added to twice, that risk is usually larger than the quote suggests.
Which one wins is a question about your house, not a rule. Send the address and the brief and you will get a view with reasons, including the case for not rebuilding.
How it runs
Demolition and construction, on one program.
01
Site and brief
We walk the block with the existing house still on it and look at what the site can carry once it is gone — fall, access for machinery, trees, sewer, easements and what the neighbours have already built.
A straight answer on whether rebuilding is the right move
02
Design
The new house drawn around the block rather than around the footprint of the old one, and costed while it is being drawn.
A plan you have seen, changed and agreed
03
Approvals and price
Approval for the new house, engineering and certification, then a lump sum built from the finished drawings with both allowance lists set out.
One contract sum covering demolition and the build
04
Demolition
Services disconnected, the house removed and the site cleared, on the same contract and the same program as the build that follows it.
A clear site, with the build already scheduled
05
Build and handover
Trades engaged and sequenced by the person who priced the job, then the finished house walked room by room with you.
The keys, and someone who still answers
Built and finished
A rebuild we completed.
Elliott House at East Ryde replaced the house that was on the block.
Where
Knockdown rebuilds across Sydney.
Most rebuild work sits in the established suburbs where the land is worth more than the house on it — Ryde and East Ryde, the Hills district, and the inner west.
The Hills District
Annangrove, Bella Vista, North Kellyville and the acreage belt north-west of Sydney.
View →Ryde & East Ryde
Suburban lots, duplex sites and knockdown rebuilds across the City of Ryde.
View →Hawkesbury
Cattai, Pitt Town and the rural-residential blocks along the river.
View →Inner West
Tight sites, established streets and houses that have already been added to twice.
View →Common questions
Before you take the house down.
Knockdown rebuilds
Does a knockdown rebuild cost less than renovating?
Sometimes, and not always for the reason people expect. A rebuild has demolition and fresh approvals against it, but it avoids the unknowns of opening up an old structure and gives you a house built to current standards throughout. The honest answer needs the actual house and the actual brief in front of you.
Where do I live during the rebuild?
Somewhere else. The site is a building site from demolition to handover. It is worth budgeting for rent over the whole build rather than the optimistic version of it, and worth agreeing the likely duration in writing before you sign a lease.
Do I need a DA, or will CDC do?
It depends on the block and what you intend to build on it. CDC is faster where the proposal fits inside the code; a DA is the path where it does not. The decision is worth making early, because it changes both the program and the drawings. There is a longer explanation on the Learn page.
Does the price include demolition?
Yes. Demolition, service disconnections and site clearing sit inside the same lump sum as the build, which is the point of running it as one job.
Start a conversation
Send the address of the house you
are thinking of replacing.
You will get a view on whether rebuilding is the right move, including the case for not doing it.