Have you reached the point where you love the part of Melbourne you live in, but your home doesn't suit your lifestyle anymore? Have you found an area on the Peninsula you want to live in and an ideally located block, but you don't like the house that's currently on it? If either of these apply to you, you might be at the 'knockdown/rebuild' stage of your life.
Whatever the motivation, there is no doubt that 'knockdown/rebuilds' are growing in popularity. Building the home of your dreams opens up exciting new possibilities for your life, including a chance to completely transform the existing garden, whether you've lived there for years or are just buying the property.
We've completed many gardens in Melbourne and on the Peninsula for clients in exactly these circumstances during the last 30 years or so. So we understand not just the challenges of 'knockdown/rebuilds' but also the wonderful opportunities they present.
In this article we'd like to share our insights with you, to help you better understand how you might make the most of this opportunity to not just create the home of your dreams but a brand new dream garden as well.
The before and after photos of this garden in McCrae reveal its transformation
Understanding site conditions of your existing home
If you have already lived for many years at the address where you are planning to rebuild, your lived experience will be invaluable in helping you shape and recreate your garden landscape.
Perhaps you are aware of how the neighbours' tree impacts your garden. (Maybe its roots stretch into your veggie garden.) Perhaps there is a spot in the garden that collects runoff water from your neighbour's paving. Or in the worst case do you have a neighbour who's always a little too interested in what goes on in your garden?
On a positive note, you would probably already know where the best sun is in your garden at any time of the day. You might also know that your neighbour John is talking of moving and when his home goes up for sale, it will likely have a two-storey new home built on it. Knowing this, you can probably predict the additional shade your garden may experience.
All of this knowledge will be invaluable when briefing your landscape designer or landscape architect on what you would like to include in your new garden.
Get to know the site conditions of your new home
Many people these days buy a property with no intention of keeping the house that currently exists on it. Particularly if the house is old and in need of renovation.
Unless you want to retain the character of a period home it can often be as expensive to undertake a major renovation as it can be to simply knock it down and start again. Additionally you will not need to make anywhere near the same number of compromises if you rebuild as opposed to renovate. Within reasonable limits, such as budgets, you can almost get whatever you want in a brand new home, compared to a renovation.
So if you have bought a property because of the desirability of the location - close to schools, transport, employment, shopping centre or whatever - but will be rebuilding, the one thing you don't know are issues connected to the garden.
Compared to a property you have lived in for many years there will be many unknowns about the garden on this new property such as:
- what trees on the property may council order you to retain?
- is there an easement on the property?
- does the exisiting garden hide some unknown secret problem?
- are there issues with the neighbours that could affect what you can do to the garden?
- are the neighbours about to do their own knockdown rebuild or is there potential of a multi-unit development going on next door?
- what is the soil like on the property and will this limit your options?
- does the property have any flooding or other issues
- does the property have a heritage overlay that may affect aspects of the garden?
Many of these questions should be answered in your Section 32, such as easements, flooding etc, however soil issues, problems with neighbours, etc will most likely not be covered.
How the council may view trees on your property
One of the first and foremost issues to address concerning your garden when undertaking a knockdown/rebuild relates to any existing trees on your property. Usually when your builder submits building plans to your local council, it almost always includes an arborist's report for any existing trees onsite. The Council will either approve the removal of certain trees or specify which trees must remain on the property.
Councils have very strict laws regarding trees which can be classified as either significant trees or canopy trees. Any building or landscaping works that may affect existing trees on the property have to comply with council guidelines and directions. A good example of some council guidelines in regards to trees can be found here: Boroondara Council
Note: One puzzling aspect of working with existing trees on a property can be that if you seek permission to remove a tree while living in your existing home, you may get a different result than if you seek to remove the same tree after your home has been demolished. This is why it can be so important to start thinking about trees very early on in the process of a knockdown/rebuild.
No existing trees on this McCrae property were deemed to be significant allowing the owner complete flexibility in replanting an entirely new garden
How Tree Protection Zones can affect landscaping works
If a tree on a property is designated as either a significant tree or a canopy tree or is otherwise deemed that it must be retained, it will normally be assigned a Tree Protection Zone (TPZ). This is an area around the tree designated by council for the purpose of preserving and protecting the tree during any building or landscaping works and thereafter. This area can extend both above AND below the ground.
You may not, for example, be allowed to excavate within 5m of the trunk of a tree with a designated TPZ. This can be a real challenge if you were planning to excavate for footings for a deck or to grade the level of the soil around the tree. Other rules can include stipulating whether you can park vehicles or machinery near the tree, whether you can mix cement near the tree, store chemicals near the tree or even light fires near the tree.
Your landscaper, if they know what they are doing, should understand the very great many rules that can surround existing trees on a property and understand what they can and cannot do when working near them.
Likewise a good landscape designer or landscape architect will understand the reasons why existing trees may need to be retained and incorporate them into the design.
Of course, there may be many trees on the property that you love and wish to feature in your new garden.
There are a great deal of rules around trees and what can occur, so it is vital to consider this when carrying out a knockdown and rebuild.
Consider this project on the Mornington Peninsula which is a holiday home.
In the image on the left, you can see trees next door.
That caused the council to insist that we pour a permeable driveway.
The solution was a product called,
Water Pave Permeable Concrete
This allows water to travel through the surface and underneath where the tree roots from next door can access the water.
How familiarity with your existing home can help shape your new garden
If you are going to knockdown and rebuild your existing home, there will be a lot of knowledge about the current site that you will have gained from living there, especially if you have been there for a while.
For example, if you know that the left back corner of the garden remains damp for a long time after it rains, then this information will be very useful to your landscape designer. Knowing this, they can then factor in additional drainage in the design to handle water that might be seeping from next door.
Or if street noise is an issue you have experienced in your existing home, then there are solutions such as insulated wall panels that can soundproof your property. Which could also be helpful if you know that the teenager next door always practices his drums in the garage right up against your boundary fence. Knowing this, means your designer can perhaps suggest a pergola you're considering would be best built on the other side of the garden, against the opposite fence!
The knowledge you have gained as you have lived in your house is invaluable. it is an asset people building a new home on a new site, do not have.
How the timing of site excavation works can affect the ease of landscaping your garden
An often overlooked point concerning gardens in a knockdown/rebuild is having an understanding of what stage of the project excavation works may need to occur.
Often the builder will focus, quite rightly, on what they need to excavate in order to build the house. But sometimes the garden will require excavation works as well and if the opportunity to have them done at the same time as the house excavations is missed this can become very costly for you.
As well as benefiting from having ALL excavation work done when the excavator is already on-site (which can save you a lot of money) there is also the fact that some excavation work simply cannot be carried out AFTER the house is built for the simple reason it will now be in the way of the excavator!
This is where it can help enormously to have your landscape designer start working on designing your garden as soon as you have the basic design for your house established.
It can then become quickly apparent how the landscaper and builder need to co-ordinate so that any excavation works for both projects can be completed at the same time.
Below is an example of what can happen when this doesn't occur and the house is already completed when the landscaper first arrives on site to commence their work.
For this client's project in North Balwyn when we arrived on site we discovered the builder had only excavated enough of the site to allow them to build the house and that was all.
With the side of the house around one metre from the boundary, excavating the shale material away to build the retaining walls for the garden turned into a very difficult and expensive exercise as it had to be done by hand.
Had the homeowner understood this, all excavation work could have been done together, which would've saved them thousands of dollars.
If this client has simply read this article they could have saved themselves a lot of time, effort and money - When is the right time to engage a landscape designer?
We hope you found this article on gardens for knockdown/rebuild homes helpful. You might also find the following articles helpful to you as you embark on your journey to a new home and a new garden.
Additional articles on landscape design and landscaping for new homes in Melbourne & the Mornington Peninsula:
What you need to know about landscaping when building a new home
How to calculate an accurate budget for landscaping
How we work with Melbourne's best architects & builders
If you would like to have a free, no-obligation discussion about an upcoming landscaping project with one of our Landscape Designers or Landscape Architects please feel free to click through on this link:
