Alterations and Additions in Thirroul

We were contacted by Mrs Dorfer, who has a timber framed cottage located at the base on the escarpment in Thirroul. They have a great location near the town centre and so moving was not an option and really needed extra bedrooms for their growing children and additional living spaces.

My client had never been through this and were unsure who to talk to and how to get this process going, as they knew they had to do something with the house. We explained the process with them and from there assisted in every way possible to make this as easy as possible for them.

Their home was an older timber framed and timber clad cottage home, which was due for an overhaul as the kitchen and bathrooms where dated, but appliances were also not functioning.

We were asked to prepare our sketch design services which we first started looking into their brief and budget. We measured up the existing dwelling but we also had a copy of a DA which was submitted and provided at their time of purchase some time back.

The project needed to be an addition, as their existing dwelling was a beautiful cottage with some TLC could would have some much character which my client was looking to match in the proposed additions. The existing cottage has a nice living space which would be used as a sitting space for guest and 2 large bedrooms. The existing cottage has tall 3m high ceilings which is so important to keep.

The design was to maintain the existing dwelling, but remove the rear lean to addition of the bathroom and laundry. The new additions would attach and start from the main original section of the cottage. The design was to incorporate a new large kitchen, open living and dining at the rear of the site with a nice large door to allow for capturing their extensive rear garden.

The design needed to allow for 2 additional bedrooms, which due to the site limitations, we had to go up. The upstairs allowed for the 2 bedrooms, an additional smaller bathroom as well as another living space for the kids to hang out. Off the first floor addition allowed for a nice deck which would allow you to be in the trees as their backyard has established trees with native wildlife living in and constantly raising their young. It’s like an oasis in the middle of Thiroul, it’s quite remarkable.

As their gardens are quite beautiful, tree removal was not an option so we were very limited to the area of the existing dwelling and some space in the rear yard. This was ok as the size of the space they had to work in was enough space to allow for the extra living spaces and bedrooms.

We worked with our clients and developed a design they were happy with. The next stage was to send their sketch design plans to a couple of local builders for the cost estimations. Their costs came back and we did pretty well to work with our clients to develop a design which was near to their initial budget. So with some minor tweaking and adjustments to the sketch design plans the next stage was to get the plans approved with council.

The application to council was fairly straightforward forward, we prepared the plans and documentation to submit to council. Council had no changes and so after a couple of months the plans were approved.

Once we had our approval we assisted our client with their construction certificate. During this stage my clients and their preferred builder has been negotiating and signed their contract. They signed the contact with the builder and we had the construction certificate organised to get the builder to work.

This was a great project, as we were able to hold our clients hand from the beginning to the end. We listened to our clients and whenever they needed help or unsure with anything we were there and took over holding their hand. I have been able to visit the home on a number of occasions and as their children have grown the house and their spaces have been adjusted to their changes and its too pleasing to experience a family in a home over a few years and see how the home I have designed works with them but has allowed for them to change and grow.