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Extension of 1960 home in Hilton

A Renovated Home in Hilton with a few twists and turns

Bev and Geoff had plans to demolish and re-build their 1959 house in Hilton. They told me their tale of woe with local Council red tape, and the eventual renovation and remodel performed by John Bodin’s One Design and Construct.  

Bev and Geoff bought the Hilton house in 2009 as an investment property. It was rented until 2014 and, at that point, they decided to demolish the existing building completely and build a brand new house that reflected their ideals of sharp modern design and functionality combined with an energy-efficient living space. It would be a retirement house dream.

Knock one down, build another one. Easy.

That dream quickly became a bureaucratic nightmare. As you may know, before a building project can go ahead, the plans have to be submitted to local Council for approval. It all seemed pretty straight forward for Bev and Geoff. Other people in the areas had done it. Knock one down, build another one. Easy. So it came as quite a shock when the plans were rejected by the City of Fremantle. This was when Bev and Geoff discovered that their house, while not ‘technically’ heritage listed, was considered to be in an area of ‘some historical significance’. While other nearby applications for demolition were approved, the Council insisted that Bev and Geoff’s house could not be knocked down. You can imagine how frustrating that would be after six months of expectations and paying a builder for plans and organising a demolition company to do the work.

The Council had moved from recalcitrant to somewhat upset

What next? Time to get a heritage consultant and meet with the councillors. So Bev, Geoff, the heritage consultant and the Fremantle City councillors met to discuss the problem and possible options or changes to help the project go ahead. The meeting ended with another big fat no. They could renovate, but they couldn’t demolish and build something new.

In the meantime, the demolition company thought they would get a head-start on the project by ripping off the roof tiles. They didn’t ask Bev and Geoff for permission to begin because they thought the house was going to be demolished anyway. Now Bev and Geoff had a house open to the sky, not rentable, and the Council had moved from recalcitrant to somewhat upset.

After some consideration, Bev and Geoff decided that, if they were going to get the home they wanted, the only real option was an extensive renovation and modernisation. So back to the drawing board, new plans, new design and let’s roll. They had names of a couple of potential builders.

Enter builder number one. ‘This is what we want’. Eyes roll. Scratches arse. Nope, too hard.
Enter builder number two. ‘This is what we want’. Yeah, I’ll get back to you. He never did. And neither did builder number three. They didn’t even bother offering a quote.

Yes, we can do that

This was when their son mentioned that he had once worked with John Bodin. They called John and he came out immediately. Not long after shaking hands, Bev and Geoff knew he was the guy for the job. They said, ‘This is what we want,’ and John said, ‘Yep, we could do that. Yes, we can do that.’ 

Bev told me that John knew exactly what they were talking about. ‘The other builders didn’t seem to get it and they clearly didn’t see any potential in the renovation. They only seemed to see risks and kept saying it should be demolished.’ But John could see what they saw and he got right on board and was able to give Bev and Geoff the answers to all of their questions about how it could be done.

Now we can’t trust anyone else except One Design and Construct

But it wasn’t just John who had a great eye for detail. Everyone on his team had that same level of knowledge and pride in their workmanship. Bev and Geoff were very impressed with the team. Once work began, they quickly realised that the lead carpenter was just like Geoff. A little bit obsessed with getting all the details just right. Because Geoff was working away at the time, he able to relax in the knowledge that the team would get everything to a level that Geoff would be happy with. That was big thing. They were really able to trust John and his team.

For example, they wouldn’t just ‘patch’ over things like variations in floor levels, ceiling or window layout. These had all been done incorrectly in the past. They would point them out, correct them and finish the job properly. This was right up Geoff’s alley.

Bev said, ‘They would look at the design and if something wasn’t right, we would know about it immediately. These things were always discussed and rectified. They would always go the extra mile. They were also very patient because there were times when they had to wait for Geoff to become available to make final decisions at some key stages during the build. And we also didn’t want any cornices. The entrance from the hallway into the extension had to be neat and square. Builders don’t usually like that type of thing, but John’s team did a really good job. It was important for us because the whole design is very linear and straight.’

I asked Bev, ‘What about if you ever want to renovate another property?’ There was only one answer to that. ‘We’ll definitely call John.’

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