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The Complete Landed Rebuild Guide
In short
A full landed rebuild in order, phase by phase: the feasibility study that belongs before purchase, three to six months of design and authority submission from discovery to D4, eighteen to twenty-two months of construction, fit-out, and TOP and CSC, and handover. It sets out what lengthens a programme — a basement above all — and where programmes actually slip: authority queries, site conditions found after demolition, long-lead items ordered late, and nobody owning the dates. The budget is preliminary at D2 and locked at D4.
In this article
Topics
- Rebuild
- Process
- Planning
Start with the plot, not the house
Almost every rebuild that goes badly went wrong at purchase. A plot has an envelope, setbacks, a height limit and a set of site conditions that between them decide what can be built on it, and none of them is negotiable once the money has moved.
The useful question at this stage is not what you want the house to look like. It is what the plot will yield, what it will cost to get there, and what the finished asset is likely to be worth. A feasibility study answers all three in two to three weeks and is the cheapest insurance in the whole process. What a Feasibility Study Tells You sets out what it checks.
The whole programme at a glance
| Phase | Stages | Typical length |
|---|---|---|
| Before purchase | Feasibility study: yield, cost, programme, value | Two to three weeks |
| Design and submission | D1 discovery, D2 concept with a preliminary budget, D3 schematic design, D4 authority submission with the budget locked | Three to six months |
| Construction | C1 the build — demolition, substructure, frame, envelope, services — with monthly reporting | Eighteen to twenty-two months, C1 to C3 together |
| Fit-out | C2 carpentry and finishes, run alongside the tail of C1 | Within the above |
| Completion | C3 TOP and CSC, final cleaning, handover | Within the above |
| In all | From first consultation to handover | Twenty-one to twenty-eight months |
The design phase runs three to six months
D1 is discovery: site, brief, budget posture. D2 is concept design, where layout and mood are set alongside a preliminary budget. The two arrive together deliberately, because a concept that has not been costed is a wish.
D3 is schematic design, with visualisations, elevations and 3D renderings. This is where most clients finally see the house. D4 is authority submission, which is also when a detailed cost breakdown is issued and the budget locks. The submission itself runs in a set order — planning permission first, then building and structural plans — which Planning Permission, Step by Step walks through.
Construction runs eighteen to twenty-two months
C1 is the build, with monthly reporting. C2 is fit-out, run in parallel with the tail of construction so that carpentry and finishes are not a separate project starting after the shell is done.
C3 is TOP and CSC — the Temporary Occupation Permit and the Certificate of Statutory Completion — with final cleaning. Then handover, and the defect liability period begins.
What makes a programme longer
The ranges above are for a typical house. These are the things that push a programme toward the top of them, or past it, with the allowance our own planning tool makes for each. They are planning figures for a starting conversation, not a programme for any particular house.
- A basement. The largest single addition: about a month more design, two more for approvals, four more on site, and one more to hand over.
- A larger house. Over 4,000 square feet of floor area adds about a month and a half on site; over 6,500, about another month and a half.
- Bored piling instead of a shallow foundation: about a month.
- A pool: about a month. A lift or a roof terrace: about two weeks each.
- A third storey: about a month more in approvals.
- A Good Class Bungalow, or a luxury specification: about a month more in design, and for a Good Class Bungalow a month more in approvals.
- The fit-out. A builder's finish alone takes about a month and a half; a full-house interior package, up to five.
Where the programme actually slips
Three places. Authority approvals coming back with queries. Site conditions found after demolition. And long-lead items — stone, imported glazing systems, a lift, specialist joinery — ordered late, so that a house finished in every other respect waits for one delivery. None is fully controllable, but all three are visible early if somebody is reading the reporting for the patterns that precede a delay rather than filing it. Monthly Site Reporting: What to Look For explains what those patterns are.
The fourth cause, and the most common in a split contract, is nobody owning the programme. A designer, a builder and a carpenter each holding their own dates is not a programme.
And the budget
A rebuild budget is more than its construction rate: professional fees, authority submissions, demolition, temporary accommodation and the site itself all sit outside it. The Hidden Costs of Building puts numbers on each, and How to Read a Cost Plan shows how to tell whether a total can be trusted.
Key takeaways
- Twenty-one to twenty-eight months, of which three to six are design and approvals.
- The plot decides the house. Test it before you buy, not after.
- A basement is the biggest single addition to a programme.
- The budget is preliminary at D2 and locked at D4, before construction.
- Programme risk lives in approvals, site conditions and long-lead items.
On this site
First published in the KAPA Journal, written with KAPA Design Collective, the practice that designs and builds our residences.
Published by TMB Development at tmbdevelopment.com/journal/complete-landed-rebuild-guide. Quoting a passage with a link back is welcome; republishing it is not — see the terms.
