The consultant dropped by last night to have a look at our existing single-story, brick veneer home and discuss our ideas for adding a second floor on top. Our thoughts about adding a master bedroom with en suite bathroom, study, and WIR, plus a large lounge room and library appear 'do-able' at about the cost I had in mind - around $230,000 to $250,000. The price includes an interior staircase, bathroom fittings and so forth, and some minor changes to the downstairs, and a large tiled balcony along the front of the house. But it doesn't include floor coverings (we'd probably have hardwood flooring put down), so I'm sure the total cost would end up near $300,000. The extension would be done in single brick 'skin' and a timber frame, with the bricks chosen to match the old red bricks as closely as possible. A slight mismatch shouldn't matter, as the new balcony with separate the old and new brick sections visually. The alternate would have been to use rendered cement sheeting on the extension, and render the existing house - but doing that probably would have cost around $30,000.
We'll get a sketch plan of the concept in the mail, and think about it for the next year or so before making a decision. Meanwhile, I'll consider the alternative of spending the money on a block of land up at Port Stephens, and building a new 4-bedroom holiday/retirement home there. The cost would be about the same as adding an extension on top of our Sydney home. I can't afford to do both. And I'm not entirely sure if I'll decide to do either.
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