Keep the bluestone. Lose the floorplan.
Whole-home renovations of Adelaide's villas, bungalows and mid-century houses — structure first, finishes second, and nothing hidden in between.
Adelaide has some of the best housing stock in the country. Most of it was built for a life nobody lives any more.
A whole-home renovation is the hardest work we do. You're threading new services through solid stone, correcting a century of settlement, and doing it without losing the reason you bought the house.
We sequence it structure-first: footings, framing, waterproofing and services all resolved before a single finish is chosen. It's the least glamorous order of operations and the only one that lasts.
From first conversation
to handover.
Condition assessment
A proper look at what you've bought: footings, damp, roof structure, wiring, previous work. You get a written picture before you commit to a scope.
Scope and priorities
We help you separate what must be done from what you want done, and what can wait for a second stage without wasting money.
Structure and services first
Underpinning, damp treatment, re-roofing, rewiring and plumbing. Unglamorous, expensive, and the reason the finishes stay looking good.
Joinery and finishes
Kitchens, sculleries, bathrooms and built-in joinery, made to suit the proportions of the original rooms rather than fighting them.
Reconciliation and handover
Every provisional sum reconciled against real invoices, shown to you, with the balance returned rather than absorbed.
The parts you live with.
Every line.
Including ours.
Most builders hand you a single number and ask you to trust it. We bring you into the office and take you through the costing schedule line by line — every trade, every allowance, every supplier quote, and our margin stated plainly.
It means you can see exactly where the money is going, question any line in the room, and make the trade-offs yourself instead of finding out about them at handover.
How we price →The questions worth
asking any builder.
Should we renovate or knock down and rebuild?
Sometimes rebuilding is the honest answer, and we'll say so. It usually comes down to the condition of the existing structure, what the planning overlay allows and how much of the original you actually want to keep.
Can a renovation be staged?
Yes, and for many homes it should be. We plan stage one so it doesn't have to be undone later — services roughed in, structure resolved, so stage two is finishes rather than demolition.
How do you deal with damp in bluestone and stone homes?
Rising damp is common in Adelaide's older stone housing. The fix depends on the cause — ground levels, failed damp course, sealed render trapping moisture — so we diagnose before quoting a treatment.
Will the renovation match the original detailing?
Where you want it to. We can match cornices, skirtings and joinery profiles, or draw a clear line between old and new. Both work; the mistake is doing it accidentally.
Bring us in before the drawings are locked.
A first conversation costs nothing and usually saves a redesign. Tell us the site and the idea, and we'll tell you honestly what's in front of you.