Knock Down Rebuild on the Sunshine Coast: How the Process Runs

Keeping your address and replacing the house on it is one of the most common reasons a home comes down between Caloundra and Noosa. A knock down rebuild lets you stay near the beach, school or hinterland view you already have, with a new home designed around how you live now. The catch is that it involves a builder, a lender, a certifier, a demolition contractor and often an asbestos removalist, and each one works to their own timetable. This guide walks through the usual order of work and where demolition fits.

Step one: find out what the block allows

Before you pay for design work, look at what the planning rules say about your land. Sunshine Coast Council publishes its planning scheme mapping online, and overlays for flooding, coastal hazards, steep land, vegetation or character can all shape what you can build. If your property is in the Noosa council area, it falls under a separate council with its own planning scheme, so check Noosa's rules rather than relying on Sunshine Coast information.

This is also the time to ask whether the existing house can come down at all. Most can, but character buildings are treated more carefully, and our article on demolition permits on the Sunshine Coast explains when that applies. If the house is an older timber home in sound condition, it may also be worth asking whether it could be removed and relocated rather than demolished.

Step two: talk to your lender

Knock down rebuild finance works differently from buying an established home. Construction loans are usually paid out in stages as the build progresses, and the value of the property changes once the old house is gone. Ask your lender or broker how they treat demolition costs, when they want the demolition to happen, and what they need from you before the build starts. Sorting this early stops you clearing the block before the money is ready.

Step three: choose a builder and settle the design

Once you have a builder, ask for their site handover requirements in writing. That document drives the demolition scope. It usually covers whether the footings and slab must go, which trees stay, whether the driveway and crossover are kept for construction access, where services should be capped, and how level the block needs to be for the surveyor.

Some builders include demolition in their contract and some leave it to you. Neither is wrong, but you need to know which, and if you arrange it yourself the two scopes have to line up. Our knock down rebuild page explains what builders typically ask for.

Step four: check for asbestos early

If the house was built before 1990, have it checked well before you book the demolition. Fibro cladding, eaves, wet area linings and old vinyl flooring are common hiding places in Sunshine Coast homes of that era. Queensland requires a licence to remove more than 10 square metres of non friable asbestos, and friable asbestos always needs a licensed removalist. Knowing the result early means the cost goes into your budget rather than arriving as a surprise halfway through. Arranging asbestos testing at this stage is a small step compared with finding it once the job is booked.

Step five: get demolition quotes against the brief

With the builder's handover list and an asbestos result in hand, contractors can quote properly. Compare written scopes rather than the bottom line alone. Look at what happens to the slab and footings, how waste and recycling are handled, whether trees and fences are included, who arranges the permit and disconnections, and how anything unexpected found in the ground would be charged.

Step six: the demolition permit

Under Sunshine Coast Council rules, demolishing a house needs a permit, and that permit comes from a building certifier rather than from council directly. The demolition permit is separate from the approval for your new home, and the two can often be progressed alongside each other. Your contractor or builder may arrange the demolition permit, or may ask you to do it. Make sure the quote says which. In the Noosa council area, ask your certifier what applies to your property.

Step seven: move out and disconnect

Once the build approval and finance are on track, set a demolition date with your builder. Line up your move and somewhere to live during the build, redirect your mail, and request disconnection of electricity, gas, water and sewer. Utility work runs on its own schedule, so allow lead time. Your contractor will tell you which disconnections they need confirmed before they start.

Step eight: demolition and site clearing

Any asbestos comes out first, as a separate stage, followed by the main house demolition and clean up. On many Sunshine Coast blocks this is one of the quickest parts of the whole project. Where the new home needs a cut, a pad or retaining, site clearing and excavation may follow straight on, particularly on the sloping streets of Buderim or the heavier soils of the hinterland around Maleny. Sandy coastal lots around Caloundra and Coolum are usually easier to dig but can need care close to boundaries. Before any digging, underground services should be located through a Before You Dig Australia enquiry.

Step nine: hand the block over

Walk the site with your builder before the demolition contractor leaves if you can. Check the block matches the handover list, that services are capped where agreed, and that nothing has been left in the ground that the builder will charge to remove. Once everyone is happy, the builder can set out the new slab.

Getting started

Demolition Sunshine Coast is a referral service, not a demolition company. Tell us your address, what is on the block and your rough timing, and we will pass it to an independent local contractor, who will inspect the site and quote the work under their own licence and insurance.