Knockdown Rebuild
Keep the street.Replace the house.
You already have the hardest thing to buy in Adelaide: the right land, in the right suburb, near the right schools. A rebuild lets you keep all of it and start the house again.
Why people rebuild instead of moving
Moving costs more than money.
Once you account for stamp duty, agent fees, conveyancing and the difference in price between a good block and a good block with a good house on it, moving is rarely the cheaper option. And it costs you the thing that made you buy there in the first place.
A rebuild keeps the location, the neighbours, the school zone and the trees, and gives you a home designed around how your family lives now, rather than how someone else lived in 1968.
End to end
One contract, from the first site visit to the last defect.
Site and feasibility assessment
We check what your block will actually allow before you commit: zoning, overlays, setbacks, site coverage, and whether a character or heritage overlay applies.
Tree assessment
Regulated and significant trees are one of the most common reasons an Adelaide rebuild stalls. We identify them early and design around them, or apply properly.
Hazardous materials survey
Any home built before the late 1980s is assessed for asbestos before demolition. Removal is carried out by a licensed removalist and documented.
Service disconnections
Power, gas, water and telecommunications formally disconnected and capped before demolition. We arrange all of it.
Demolition
Licensed demolition, site clearance, waste separation and recycling, and a clean, level site ready to build.
Approvals
Development Application prepared and lodged through PlanSA and managed through to Development Approval.
Design and construction
The same custom design and fixed-price build process as any Sakar home.
Before you start
Five things worth knowing about your block.
Is there an overlay on your land?
Historic Area, Character Area and Heritage overlays are common across Burnside, Unley, Norwood Payneham & St Peters, Walkerville, Prospect and Mitcham. They do not always prevent a rebuild, but they change what is possible. We check this first, for free.
Are there regulated or significant trees?
South Australia protects trees above a certain trunk circumference. A significant tree may need to stay, and its root zone will influence where your home can sit.
How steep is the fall?
Slope drives retaining, excavation and footing costs more than almost anything else. A site survey settles it early.
What is the soil?
Much of Adelaide sits on highly reactive clay. Your soil classification determines the footing system, a real number in your budget, not a formality.
Where will you live?
Most clients rent nearby for 12 to 18 months. It is worth budgeting for from day one, and we will help you plan the timing so you are not paying rent while nothing is happening on site.
Questions, answered
The rebuild questions we hear most.
Plan on 18 to 24 months from first conversation to handover. Demolition itself takes one to two weeks; approvals and design are the parts that take real time.
Not until shortly before demolition. Design and approvals, the first six to nine months, happen while you are still living in the house.
It is common in Adelaide homes built before the late 1980s, and it is entirely manageable. A survey is done first, removal is carried out by a licensed removalist, and the clearance documentation is provided to you.
Often, yes. But the design has to respond to the streetscape, and the assessment is more involved. This is exactly the kind of site custom design is for, and it is work we want.
Sometimes. If your block has the frontage and area, land division can be run alongside the rebuild. We will tell you at the feasibility stage whether it is worth exploring.
Wondering what your block would allow?
A feasibility check costs you nothing and settles the question properly: zoning, overlays, trees and an honest budget range.