BASEMENT DEVELOPMENT
PARNELL
Picture a lovely Villa set back from the road with an inviting garden at the front.
It was a house in white and had kept the traditional front veranda with a turned
balustrade handrail and bullnosed roof.
Going through the grey Friars front door into the central high stud hallway gave
access to two bedrooms at the front a staircase to the second story, the main
bathroom, a lounge and then through to the kitchen, family room and dining room. Upstairs was another two bedrooms and an ensuite. All of which had been renovated in recent times and provided a warm and comfortable family home in the mostly authentic villa theme.
Under the house was a very low headroom basement / garage which was mostly
undeveloped but had been attacked by someone keen to get some more storage space but with limited building knowledge.
The brief from the client was to turn this basement area into a proper garage with a family room, office / bedroom, bathroom, and laundry all accessed by a new staircase from above. There was also the desire to have a high stud height and to keep the materials and trim in keeping with the villa above.
We started with concept plans which gave our interpretation of the scope of work from the client’s brief. They had a lot of input into this stage to tailor the plans to suit what they wanted. We then worked these plans up until we reached a solution that suited our clients wish list and budget.
Once the parameters had been set, we completed the construction plans and
handled the council formalities. All of this was done on a fixed price basis so that
everyone knew what they were dealing with.
Basements developments are always challenging, and this project was no different. Supporting the house while digging out underneath needs to be carefully planned and carried out by knowledgeable, experienced builders.
There was an added challenge here as there also a large two-story brick chimney to support. The team dealt with this methodically and kept the engineer involved so everyone was on the same page. Despite weather challenges trying to swamp us and the post covid material shortages trying to starve us, the project stayed on track and on budget.
The end result was a beautiful addition to the picture-perfect villa and our clients were very happy. The whole family was delighted with the additional space and the way that it linked in and looked like part of the traditional villa it is.
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