The Ultimate Guide To Renovation Course - Module 9: Schedule & Site Management

All of the preliminaries should be completed before or during the settlement period. You also need to use this time to organise trades and purchase materials so that come settlement day, you are ready to go. So now the real work begins. The sequence of works for our structural renovation is the existing house and site preparation. So we're looking at demolition, removing unwanted structures such as lean tos or outhouses. We strip out, we remove the damaged plaster, timber work and lift floors where it's needed. Then there's site clearance. Maybe a bobcat is used to clear the site and remove rubbish. Then we have the set out. This is where the new structure is set out according to the building drawings and marked on the ground. And then we have stump holes and footings. A small machine is brought in to drill stump holes and dig the footings. So let's move on to foundations and restumping. If the new extension needs to tie in with the floor level of the existing house, then restumping will need to occur on the existing house prior to subfloor commencing on the new addition. So for foundations, earthworks now begins. For your foundations. This will mean stump holes if you're using a timber subfloor or site leveling and trenches if using a concrete slab, subfloor, concrete slabs. First of all, we need the services prior to work on the concrete formwork. All services such as plumbing and electrical need to be in place according to the building drawings. Then comes the concrete formwork. In the days prior to the concrete pour, the concreter will erect formwork according to the building drawings. Then there's the concrete pour. The concrete pour is typically completed in one day. The formwork is then removed in the next couple of days. Let's look at subfloor made from timber. Let's start with the stumps. Stumps are set in place on a concrete footing. The spacing and placement are according to the building drawings. Then there's the bearers. The bearers are placed on top of the stumps with appropriate ant protection. Then there's the joists. Floor joists are installed on top of the bearers running perpendicular or in the opposite direction. Then there's sheet flooring. At this point, many builders choose to lay sheet flooring over the joists prior to erecting the wall frames. This allows for a convenient platform from which to work as opposed to stepping from joist to joist if using polished floorboards. However, this is effectively doubling up on your flooring. It is a cost versus time equation for renovators. Builders typically value convenience over cost because the cost is simply passed on to the client, obviously. Then we get to the framing. Wall frames are erected, followed by the roof frames. All framing is braced as per your building drawings. Roofing such as iron or tiles are then installed. For our structural extension, we are using decking or clip lock roofing. This has a minimum floor of 1 degree. Then there's Windows and doors. These are installed into the frame openings. Flashing is then installed around the windows and doors and then cladding in our case, where the board is then installed. Congratulations, you've reached lock up. So are we finished? No, we have to head inside. So let's go look at the interior once again. We start with the electrical and plumbing rough in. Remember, we've already stripped out the interior. So what we do is we put the cables and pipes, they're installed in the wall, floor and roof and that's prior to any plastering. Then we look at the air conditioning and we have to rough that in. Put in all the cables and everything that's needed. We then move on to the flooring. Then we straighten the walls. Prior to the plastering of the wall, it needs to be straightened, such as battening old existing walls. It can also involve removing the high spots in a new wall and ceiling frames using an electric plane. New frames can also require packing out low spots prior to plastering. Then we move on to insulation. Insulation should be installed prior to plastering and according to the specifications of your energy assessment. Then we move on to plastering. Plasterboard is hung and stopped. Now that's a little bit of builder lingo that we're going to go into in module nine. It just means finished. Then we need to waterproof the wet areas. Then we need to paint the wet area ceilings. Now, because I tiled the ceiling, I like to do this prior to tiling because if I didn't, I would then have to go and tape up all the tiles when it came time for me to actually paint. Then we do the tiling followed by the grouting. Then we do the caulking. Internal corners of tiled areas need to be caulked. No grout used on internal corners. Then the door jambs and internal doors. Door jambs are installed into the frame openings and the doors are then hung. We then move on to the kitchen and bathroom fit out, which is the fun stuff. The kitchen base cupboards, followed by the overhead cupboards, appliances and bench. The bathroom vanities and mirrors. I often tile kitchens first so that I can replace the kitchen in the future without having to replace the tiles. That means that I actually tile underneath the kitchen bench. Then we move on to architraves and skirting fix out between one to four days. This takes depending on the size of the home. Then we move on to the air conditioning and fireplace installation. Ducted or split systems then need to be fitted off. Then we paint wall and timber preparation needs to be done. The walls and ceilings are then painted and the timber work is painted. Then floor sanding is done sanding, staining and finishing. Then any floor coverings are done such as carpets in the bedrooms. Window coverings such as blinds or curtains are then installed. Then I get a professional cleaner to come in and clean the property. Staging is done so furniture staging, rubbish removal outside all the last bits and pieces are taken away. Finally I do the landscaping planting followed by turf. You may choose to do the landscaping earlier but this is the schedule our structural renovation took that I'm going to share with you in the case study.