We take the house down and keep everything that made you buy it: the street, the block, the neighbours.
ST LUCIA · NEW HOME · COMPLETED
THE BLOCK STAYED. EVERYTHING ON IT IS NEW.
What it involves
Most of the houses we knock down were built in 1947 or later: brick, fibro or timber homes that were never made to last a century and have reached the point where fixing them means touching every room.
WHY REBUILD RATHER THAN RENOVATE
We do not build on vacant land in new estates. Our new homes are built in the inner and middle suburbs of Brisbane, on blocks that already have a house on them, for owners who want to stay in the street and start again.
OLD HOUSE · 1962
NEW HOUSE
Nothing about the block changes. Everything about how the house sits on it does.
A knockdown is the one time the plan starts from the boundary, not from the walls that happen to be there. Before we draw, we measure what the block already knows: where the light comes from, where the trees are, what the neighbours can see, and what planning allows today rather than what was built in 1962.
Living rooms turned north to the yard, not west to the street.
Two storeys on a smaller footprint. The ground floor gives back garden.
Set to what the planning scheme allows now, not to where the old walls stood.
The boundary trees, the address and the neighbours. Nothing else.
Why Stark for a knockdown and rebuild
/03
A new house is the one project where nothing is inherited, so every decision is a design decision and every design decision has a price. Having the people who build it in the room where it is drawn is how the price stays fixed.
THE STARK CREW · UNDER A RAISED QUEENSLANDER
ONE CREW, FIRST DRAWING TO HANDOVER
DESIGN AND BUILD, ONE STUDIO
Our architectural designers and our builder sit at the same table from the first sketch. What gets drawn can be priced, approved and built, so the fixed price is set from the finished drawings, not a brochure.
INNER BRISBANE SINCE 1989
Thirty-seven years of building on the same sloping, tight, tree-covered blocks. We know what the soil does, what council asks and what the neighbours notice.
ONE CREW, FIXED PRICE, WARRANTED
The same people from demolition to handover, a Master Builders fixed-price contract, no markup on variations or PC items, and a seven-year structural warranty.
4.8
Projects completed
135 in Brisbane
SINCE 1989
WEEK 8 · SLAB DOWN, FRAME GOING UP
ST LUCIA
THE FIRST NEW WALL ON A CLEARED BLOCK
How it happens
The knockdown and rebuild process, from consult to handover
Consult
FREE · 1 HOUR
We meet at the studio, talk through the old house and what the new one needs to do, and give you an honest first estimate and a view on whether a knockdown is the right call.
Design
UP TO 4 MONTHS
Our architectural designers draw two concepts for the block, each with an estimate, then develop the one you choose into a full set of drawings, with a second estimate from the finished set.
Plan
ABOUT 2 MONTHS + COUNCIL
Soils and engineering, energy compliance, service connections and the approvals path. A development application, where demolition needs one, is lodged now. Then the fixed-price quote.
Build
12–16 MONTHS ON SITE
Demolition, civil works, slab, frame, enclosure, fit-out and landscaping with one crew and a site meeting at every milestone.
04 BUILD · A NEW HOUSE, MONTH BY MONTH
WEEK 1 · THE OLD HOUSE COMES DOWN
WEEK 8 · SLAB AND FRAME
Rebuild, renovate or raise?
/07
Three ways to get the house you want on the block you have.
Compared on the four things that decide it: footprint, cost, time and what survives.
KNOCKDOWN AND REBUILD
Footprint reset to what planning allows
Highest cost band, includes demolition
12–16 months, out throughout
Nothing of the old house survives
In their words
/08
What Brisbane clients say about their knockdown and rebuild
Our project was complex, with multiple consultants and BA and DA conditions. Fletcher and Xanthe kept us informed, were transparent at every stage and genuinely cared about the outcome. The workmanship is exceptional and the result exceeded our expectations.
THE OWNERS
WHERE WE KNOCK DOWN AND REBUILD
ST LUCIA · INDOOROOPILLY · TARINGA · TOOWONG · ASHGROVE · KEDRON · WAVELL HEIGHTS · CAMP HILL · CARINA · HOLLAND PARK
From the journal
/09
Renovation advice from the Stark Builders journal
Three-bedroom house design: the plan most Brisbane families end up with
Three bedrooms is the size most Brisbane houses are, and most renovations return to. Where the third bedroom goes and how the wet areas share a wall.
Design
24 May 2024
READ — 3 min read
Knockdown and rebuild cost in Brisbane: what to expect
A custom knockdown and rebuild in Brisbane starts from around $800,000 including demolition. What is in that number, what is not, and how it compares.
Costs
15 Sep 2026
READ — 4 min read
Is a knockdown right for your house?
/10
If three or more of these are true, it usually is.
Not every tired house should come down, and we will tell you if yours is one to keep. But the houses that suit a knockdown share a few things.
Built in 1947 or later
Council protects pre-war houses; post-war houses can usually be demolished under a building approval.
The work would touch every room
When nothing is left alone, a renovation is a new house with old problems.
Repairs and rework near eighty percent of new
Past that line the new house is the cheaper decision over its life.
Brick, fibro or a slab that will not lift
Houses that cannot be raised or easily extended are the usual knockdowns.
The plan is wrong, not just old
Rooms in the wrong place, no connection to the yard, a house facing the wrong way.
You want to stay in the street
The block, the school and the neighbours are right. Only the house is not.
Before you start
/11
Demolition approvals, overlays and site rules for rebuilding in Brisbane
Four things worth knowing before you call anyone.
None of them rule a knockdown out. They decide the approvals path, the program and where the money goes.
01
ASBESTOS
Most post-war houses have it somewhere. Testing, removal and clearance are quoted, included and done before anything else comes down.
02
DEMOLITION
Asbestos removal, disconnections, tree protection or removal and civil works are all quoted and included. The old house is completely removed.
03
LIVING
You are out of the house for the whole build, 12–16 months. Rent is part of the budget conversation from the first meeting.
04
THE SITE
Slope, soil and stormwater set the slab, the footings and the retaining. Soils and engineering happen in the plan stage so the fixed price is built on them.
THE NEW LIVING ROOM · ST LUCIA
The block already knew where the light came from. The new house was drawn to meet it.
Common questions
/12
Knockdown and rebuild questions from Brisbane homeowners
How long does a knockdown and rebuild take?
Twelve to sixteen months on site, with up to four months of design and about two months of planning before that. Demolition itself takes days; the new house takes the year.
Can a pre-1947 house be demolished?
Rarely. Brisbane City Council protects pre-war houses under the character overlays and demolition needs a development application with a real case behind it. There are avenues, and we will tell you at the first meeting whether yours has one. Most of our knockdowns are houses built in 1947 or later.
Do we need a development application?
Often not. A post-war house on an unconstrained block can usually be demolished and rebuilt under a building approval from a private certifier. Where demolition, siting or an overlay needs a development application, we prepare and lodge it in the plan stage and it adds two months or more.
What does a knockdown and rebuild cost?
A knockdown and rebuild starts at around a million dollars and goes up with size, storeys, slope and finish. You hear a range at the first meeting, an estimate with each concept, a tighter estimate from the final drawings and a fixed price at the end of planning.
Who designs the house?
Our own architectural designers, working with the builder who will build it. Two concepts, each with an estimate, then the developed design you sign off before the final drawings.
Ask us directly.
A short call is usually the quickest way to work out whether your house should be renovated or replaced, and what either would involve.
ONE STUDIO
We design, and we build what we design. The same people draw the house, get it approved and build it.
9 FORSYTH ST,
FAIRFIELD QLD 4103,
AUSTRALIA
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