You will need a builder to quote on house 1 extension, not cheap as you are changing roof line.
Pay an architect or builder to quote local costs. Little expenditure to get a better feel of local costs.

Out of your two options House two has the easiest renovation.

On house 1 I believe that Bedroom one and the ensuite and the adjacent living room is an addition. This is one thing to keep an eye out for when you’re shopping. Unless the addition was done well it is often cheaper to knock it down and rebuild than move walls. Allow $10-20k for demolition depending on asbestos, site access and rubbish disposal costs. If you’re very lucky there is a reusable slab underneath.
In Canberra if you’re lucky you would most likely need to allow $2-3k per square metre for basic construction - standard roof height, simple roofline, square box, minimal windows - plus the $$$ for fit out. You need to add design and permit fees to that. But as above you’d need to talk to locals professionals.

Others on here can give you plan ideas for working with House 1 within its footprint which saves a lot of money. The changes you propose are very expensive for the benefit you get.

On House 2 the only floor plan change is the kitchen and the house has plenty of space. You can price a cheap kitchen yourself using the Ikea or Kaboodle planners. This will give you a base price. You’ll need a couple of visits from a plumber and electrician - rough in and fit off - about $600-800 a visit each plus materials for a simple kitchen. The builder for house 2 is too hard to estimate on the info provided but you save a lot of money if you’re prepared to pull out the old kitchen and demo the back to studs before the builder arrives.

Can you paint yourself? This will save many dollars.
You also need to consider flooring. Once you move a wall or kitchen you’ll need new flooring (Most major brands have calculators on their site), heating and cooling, window positions and natural light, and matching existing fittings.

aim for best location, orientation and placement of the house on the block of land but these two houses are very different and if they are similar prices why?.. depends on what you want to do with the house and how many will live there and for how long.. if i was looking for a cost effective first home for a young family i would choose house 1 and swop kitchen and dining area without any extensions or changing any walls except to remove the half wall blocking the end of the existing kitchen but consider a big deck off the new kitchen with window and/or glass doors overlooking the gardens on both sides of the house to take advantage of Canberra's changing seasons... cost will be determined by how much you need to spend on other's labour and surprises like asbestos removal but to relocate the kitchen and update living areas with DIY flatpac cabinets (Kabboodle or Ikea?) electrical, plumbing, new appliances (could old appliances, sinks and taps be recycled?) heating, DIY paint, window and floorcoverings maybe $50,000 with very careful planning.. imo house 2 has limited connection to outdoors and has too many potential problems including too many external steps and no internal stairs to be comfortable unless you want to be spend more money and lose the equivalent of a small bedroom upstairs and downstairs to install an internal staircase and if that was cheap and easy it would have already been included

I would go option 1 as well, and open kitchen to the hallway beside it.

Thanks for the advice all, certainly things to think about. One benefit of Canberra is that so many of the houses are ex-Govvies, so solidly if not attractively built. Despite the strange floor plan, house one is an ex-Govvie with no addition. The two properties are in different suburbs, so whist likely to sell for similar prices are at differing levels of livability etc. I certainly think the idea of speaking to a local architect/builder is smart, so thanks for that! Wherever the end house is, it's intended to be a if-not-forever-then-certainly-for-15-years-plus house, for 4 - 6 people, so being able to future plan for any house I potentially buy is important to me. Thank you all for the suggestions :)

If you went with 2, don’t mo the ensuite- lots of expense for little gain, much easier just to remove the two little robes and replace with a big on (or walk in) on the opposite wall

When you start changing roofline, moving wet areas, extending existing footprint, knocking down load bearing walls the $$$ add up quickly. I would always buy the property in the better suburb and better orientation to the north, these things cannot be changed (easily) and will always improve resale eventually. Its a big decision so list all the pros and cons of each property, but go on gut instinct! Good luck

Thanks all! A few auctions this weekend, so fingers are crossed. I'm sure I'll be back with questions once a house is locked in :)

ONLY ROUGH - I did a little research for our reno (MN, USA) and figured 10-20% of home value for kitchen and adj space. Ours did not entail a lot of structural changes. There may be article or calculators online that can help more.

Hi all,

Thanks again for your comments thus far! I’m thinking about bidding on this property this weekend - it’s an 800m2 block in a good spot, in a great suburb, and nicely elevated.

My sticking point it that I want to end up with a large, open plan living/dining/kitchen area, a separate living space (ideally) and a master bedroom with ensuite. The house is built “in” to the block, so there are retaining walls in line with the edge of the patio, which limits the scope of works I think. I’m hitting a brick wall with how I would approach the reno. Any ideas on potential end-goal footprint? I just need to be able to visualise how I would make it work!

I’ve attached the only floor/site plans I have, but will answer any questions I can.

The property is a privately built, 1970s house. It’s 133m2 of living area. Brick veneer, timber truss construction with concrete tile roof. The floor is timber bearers and joists, the garage is on a slab.

The property faces SW, with views over the hills. My end aim is to have a house with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 2 living areas, with the kitchen/dining area a focal point - and ideally large bifold/stacking windows to capture light and views. I’m happy for it to be an ‘in-stages’ project, not all at once, but I’m just stuck on how to maximise the enjoyment from the space!

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Im guessing by the plans and what you said about being built in to the block that the block is quite steep. This will definitely increase the reno costs unless you are keeping exactly the same footprint. Do you have any photos of the house from different sides? I also wanted 4beds, 2 living. I have recently received a ball park figure for an extension to the rear of my house, single storey on a moderate sloping block which was moving kitchen into this space and it started at 300k but was more likely to cost 400-600k. Im in Sydney so i think would be more expensive than Canberra. But always better to overestimate when trying to budget. And that was doing our own electrical as my hubby is a sparky. Unless you think you can do a lot of the work yourself i would definitely budget for 6 figures.

Thanks @ajfp :) You're right, it's a steep block. The area labelled 'covered bbq patio' has been levelled, so that area is flat and accessible. Don't really want to be doing earthworks in so far as is possible - but conscious that going up isn't an option either. Not much by way of photos - here's the sides, front and a satellite image of the block.

if the house is set back enough from the front and side boundaries it might be possible to extend towards the front and side to expand a master suite and use the existing rear deck space for a new family room/kitchen and maybe stairs down to the garage and a dining area in the old kitchen...this adds about 60sqm plus the new deck

Thanks @oklouise - I love the idea of stairs to the garage, which is definitely possible. Unfortunately I don’t believe the house can come out any further - I’ll check, but Canberra has a thing for waste-of-space-huge front yards. The yellow highlighting on the block plan I posted earlier shows the service easements on the back and left hand side of the property - so not sure if there’s actually space to extend to the left either. I’ll have a proper look this morning! Thanks again :)

Thanks @oklouise - you might be my new hero! Government diagram of building requirements attached as an FYI. We might get an ensuite off bedroom two, rather than bedroom one? Both are plenty big enough, but I'm not sure we'd fit a decent ensuite at the front of the house, given the easement requirements. It's a pity, but I don't think we could go any higher to make proper use of the view - but I cant find the full height of the house listed anywhere, legibly...oh well! It's a great house anyway, and everyone's ideas have helped me feel confident

that it's the right option!

For the amount of work and effort, I'd be looking at something larger or a knockdown rebuild. I don't say this lightly as currently looking at a renovation at the $500k mark and knock down was seriously considered! Our saving grace though is that the original house is much bigger than yours and so we are not increasing the footprint.

How did you go at auction? Don't envy you trying to buy in Canberra on this market

Yep @C P - it's not fun. Someone decided they liked the place so much, they were happy to pay $300k over reserve for it...so I guess we'll keep looking! Insane how people are so happy to over leverage themselves at the moment....oh well!

how disappointing for you but keep trying

Alright brains trust! For anyone who wants to tackle this weekend's options. House one is a total crazy town - 250m2 of living space, with the top floor rented out separately (with a separate entry). We'd want to bring the two levels together into one house. House two is a little place, on a good size corner block.

Our dream requirements across both houses are:

4 bedrooms, including main with genuine WIR and ensuite

At least 2 bathrooms with a separate toilet (or 2.5 inc a powder room)

Two living spaces

Open plan kitchen/dining, with a big island and a walk in pantry

A mud room connected to the garage

Maximise indoor/outdoor flow, with light - it's Canberra, so we have both -8 and 40 with depressing regularity.

Both of the properties are brick veneer, timber bearer and joist floor and conventional truss roof. House one has a SW facing facade, 780m2. House two has a S facing facade, 990m2. Both are flat blocks, and easements are at the edges of the property so no real encroachment issues.

Unfortunately I don't have legible floor plans, other than the agent's mock ups, for either. Happy to answer questions where I can!

House One

House Two

My very vague thoughts for house one below!

house one already looks like it's had several renovations and your variation has the kitchen facing the street instead of connected to the garden but everything about the different locations being equal and assuming you don't have renovating skills and close friends or family including an electrician, plumber, carpenters, tiler etc etc i would choose the basic house on the bigger block and save the extraordinary cost of renovating someone else's decisions in favour of a simple extension designed to suit the block but we need a site plan to guestimate a rough floor plan and what are the neighbouring houses like?

House one is certainly....something, that's for sure! My mock up aims to move services as little as possible, hence the kitchen facing the front courtyard, but you're right, it's totally accommodating for someone else's (very odd) expansion choices. Both houses are on streets full of largely similar ex-Govvy houses (house one is the only two story house on the street.) Unfortunately the satellite image below is the best I can provide for house two, because we're still waiting on the actual floorplans...

i like the unusual shape of the block for house two that seems to offer several options for an extensions and outdoor living...some people don't like corner blocks but depends on how busy/noisy the traffic is and which side is the front (usually the street address) änd where is north on the photo?

Yep it's certainly intriguing. We're big fans of a corner block, and despite the street being busier than we'd like, it's still very much suburban with minimal road noise. The 'front' of the house is the bottom edge of the block (though it's angled towards the corner of the two roads. There's currently a deck attached on the right hand side of the house, and a slightly sunken paved area on the top corner (near where you can see the shed.) On the most recent image, N is directly behind the red marker (the bottom edge of the block faces S).