Heritage Overlays: What You Can and Cannot Change
14 August 2026
A heritage overlay is not a ban on renovating. It is a set of rules about what is visible from the street — and the rear of your house is usually fair game.
Costs, contracts, permits and the questions we answer on the phone every week — written out properly so you can read them before you call.
A heritage overlay is not a ban on renovating. It is a set of rules about what is visible from the street — and the rear of your house is usually fair game.
From first sketch to handover, a realistic programme for a Melbourne new build — including the approval months most timelines quietly leave out.
Slope is not the problem. Fighting the slope is. How split levels, suspended slabs and honest early engineering keep a difficult site affordable.
Before you pay for a single drawing, five checks will tell you whether two dwellings on your block are realistic. All five can be done from the title and the planning scheme.
“Fixed price” is used loosely in the building industry. Here is what the words should mean, what a provisional sum actually is, and the two clauses worth reading twice.
Demolition is the cheap part. Here is where the money really goes on a Melbourne knockdown rebuild, and the five line items owners are most often surprised by.
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