Inkerman Road Caulfield
When Robyn and I were looking to buy our next house about two years ago, we decided to speak to Anton from Calm Living Homes. We had heard about his work and decided to contact him.
We bought our property with the initial intention to build something new from scratch but after Anton had a look at our property, he convinced us to look at renovating the home instead of pulling it down. We knew that we could never build something new that would not only have the structural properties of the existing house – double brick walls, high ceilings: but more importantly maintain the history and the character of the building. We realised that the cost of trying to build the same structural quality in a new house would not be cost effective .
It was important to us to be able to work with Anton and listen to his suggestions. We felt confident enough with Anton not to use an architect as it was important to us to be involved in the process of building our new home. Anton was very proactive. He worked with us to think about ideas on how to work with the existing building. Things like how we could make it energy efficient, a low maintenance building and structural sound. The process of using a draftsman enable us to get the final plans we wanted.
The whole project took about 9 months and was reasonably smooth. Having built and renovating before we understood that renovating house can be stressful. The project was completed within our estimated budget with no major blowouts. Reflecting on how the project went we are very happy not only final outcome but with the actual journey. Anton’s team of workers were very accommodating and in-fact we can think of Steven (Anton’s building manager) as new friend! I think we spoke to him more often than each other at times! If we wanted advice or wanted to change things during the build – we could always rely on Steven or Anton.
The final building is beautiful, the workmanship first class and we are extremely happy with the final product. We would recommend Calm Living Homes to any person who are thinking about renovating their home. A big THANK YOU to Anton, Steven and the team.