Open-Plan Living & Rear Extensions in Melbourne
Most Melbourne homes built before 1960 have the same problem at the back. The kitchen is a separate room, cut off from where everyone actually sits. The rear of the house is dark. There's a laundry and a bathroom in the wrong places, added at some point without much thought. And there's a garden nobody uses because you can't see it from anywhere you spend time.
Opening up the back of the house is the single highest-value change you can make to a period home. It's also where most of the structural complexity sits, which is why it's worth doing once, properly.
Most of these projects run $120,000 to $250,000 and take 4 to 7 months on site.
What this work involves
Removing the wall between kitchen, living and dining
Almost always load-bearing in these homes. It needs a structural engineer, steel, and sometimes new footings to carry the point loads - which is the difference between a job that holds up and a job that cracks in two years.
Rear extension
Adding floor area at the back, typically 20–50m². At $2,500–$4,000/m², a 35m² addition is roughly $90,000–$140,000 before fitout.
A new kitchen as part of the whole
Not a kitchen dropped into an existing room. Designed around how the reconfigured space works, which is a different exercise and a better result.
Light and connection to the garden
Glazing, skylights, bifolds or sliders, and levels resolved so the inside and outside actually meet.
Side return
Specific to terraces - filling in the narrow strip beside the rear of the house. Usually $60,000–$120,000 and it transforms the width of the living space in a house that can't extend backward.
Services relocated
Once walls move, plumbing and electrical follow. Wet areas add $15,000–$40,000 each - worth knowing early, because it's usually the difference between two budget scenarios.
Do I need a planning permit?
Often not - and this is the most common thing people get wrong, in the direction that costs them time they didn't need to spend.
Ground-floor rear extensions frequently sit within ResCode and need only a building permit, which is considerably faster. A planning permit is triggered by things like heritage overlays, setback or site coverage variations, or overlooking issues. Second-storey work almost always needs one; a modest rear addition often doesn't.
We'll tell you which category you're in at the consultation, before you've spent anything on design.
Indicative costs
These are honest ranges for work done properly - engineered, permitted, and finished to a standard you'd still be happy with in fifteen years. They're not the cheapest numbers you'll be quoted.
Open-plan conversion, no extension (structural + kitchen)
Typical Range: $100,000–$180,000
Side return, terrace
Typical Range: $60,000–$120,000
Rear extension, single room
Typical Range: $80,000–$160,000
Open-plan kitchen / living with rear extension
Typical Range: $120,000–$250,000
Add per wet area
Typical Range: $15,000–$40,000
How we work
On-site Consultation
A working session where we walk the house, tell you what's structurally possible and what it's likely to cost, and give you two or three costed scenarios rather than one. The fee is credited against your contract if you proceed.
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Preconstruction Design
3D preconstruction modelling so you see the reconfigured space before demolition.
Construction Estimate
Fixed scope, line-by-line costing.
We needed to remodel the kitchen and shift the laundry into a new location as we outgrew our current kitchen. Dean and the team were extremely professional throughout the whole process. The communication was on point and the result, fantastic. Throughout the whole process we felt informed through honest, clear communication. Can't wait to use Novastri again for future renovation projects.
Boushra N.
Melbourne, VIC
Brilliant, professional, amazing communication and timely - we could not have asked for more. Highly recommended. I have never seen such amazing tiling and we had difficult tiles to work with. Recommendations and ideas for the 3 bathrooms were brilliant and we are so happy with all the work Dean did for us. Thanks Dean. We have never had such a brilliant experience with renovations.
Lisa H.
Melbourne, VIC
Amazing work, Dean was professional and on point with his planning. I was kept updated with all progress & developments. No unexpected surprises as the quality was maintained throughout the project. I’ll be using Novastri again for future projects. My reconstructed balconies have added increased value to the property. Thank you Novastri.
Ivan
Melbourne, VIC
Common
Questions
Can we stay in the house?
Usually yes for most of the programme, though you'll be without a kitchen for a stretch and the join between new and existing is disruptive. We'll set out the realistic disruption at quoting stage.
Is that wall load-bearing?
In a Victorian terrace or a bungalow, usually. A structural engineer's assessment early is cheap and it determines what the design can do.
How long does it take?
4 to 7 months on site, plus 6–12 weeks design and 4–16 weeks approvals depending on whether a planning permit is triggered. Some of that runs in parallel.
Can you do this on a heritage-overlay property?
Yes, and it's common - the rear is generally where councils allow the most change. See Heritage & Period Restorations.
We were only thinking about the kitchen.
Worth costing both. If the kitchen is cut off from the living space, a new kitchen in the same footprint solves the joinery and not the problem. We'll price the kitchen on its own and the reconfigured rear, and you can decide with both numbers in front of you.
What if we find something unexpected?
In a house of this age we will. Contingency goes in the quote, and variations are priced and approved before we do them.
Are you licensed and insured?
Yes - registered building practitioner with full public liability and domestic building insurance. Our work carries a structural warranty.