What is a knockdown
rebuild package?

Part of a bigger picture: the whole knockdown rebuild path, step by step.

What's usually in a package?

It varies a lot between builders, which is the single most useful thing to know about them. Broadly, a knockdown rebuild package bundles:

• Demolition of the existing house, sometimes as an allowance rather than a fixed figure
• A house from the builder's range, at a stated size and configuration
• A defined level of finish — a standard specification, with upgrades priced separately
• Some of the approvals and site work, to a stated set of assumptions about the block

The phrase to watch is to a stated set of assumptions.

Advertised package pricing generally assumes a straightforward site: manageable slope, ordinary soil, room for a truck, no surprises in the old house. Those are reasonable assumptions on plenty of blocks. They're just assumptions.

If you're weighing up a package, the honest version of the conversation is: what happens to this price when the soil test comes back, and when the demolisher opens up the old house? Ask it early, ask it plainly, and get the answer in writing.

Who does a package suit?

Plenty of families, and it's worth saying so.

A package is a good fit when:

• One of the plans works for how your family lives — not nearly, actually.
• Your block is regular. Flat or close to it, decent access, nothing unusual running through it.
• You'd rather decide less. A defined range and a standard specification is fewer decisions, and for some families that's the feature, not the compromise.
• Knowing a number early matters more than getting exactly the house you pictured.

If that's you, a package can be a sensible, efficient way to end up in a good house. Nobody at Sabre thinks otherwise.

Where does it stop suiting people?

Usually in one of three places.

The block isn't regular. Slope, tight access, an awkward orientation or an easement in the wrong spot. A plan drawn for a flat estate lot can be made to work on a difficult block — but the making-it-work is where the money goes, and it goes into earthworks and retaining rather than into the house.

The family doesn't fit the plan. Three kids and a grandparent, or working from home, or a block whose good view is at the back and whose living areas end up at the front. These are the things that make a house feel wrong for years, and they're almost free to fix at the drawing stage.

The block has something worth designing around. On the Bayside that's often the aspect — where the light comes from, where the breeze comes from in February, where you can see water from. A plan selected from a range faces whichever way it faces.

“The first thing Stewart pointed out was the plans could be changed to build it cheaper, this helped us enormously.”

Lesley W · Google review of Sabre Constructions · April 2020. That's the direction we work in: the block and the family first, then the plan.

What questions are worth asking, either way?

These work on any builder, including us. Take them to every conversation.

1. What exactly is in this number, and what is not? Ask specifically about demolition, asbestos removal, the soil test and the engineering that follows it, approvals, connecting services, driveway, fencing and landscaping.
2. What happens to the price after the soil test? Every builder has an answer. You want to hear it before you sign, not after.
3. Who is on the phone in month four? Get a name, and ask how many jobs that person is running.
4. Is home warranty insurance included? If it isn't mentioned, ask why.
5. Can I check your licence? The QBCC publishes a licence search. Anyone legitimate will tell you to go and look. Ours is 15486557.
6. Can I talk to the last family you built for? Not a testimonial. A phone number.

In Queensland, most residential building work over $3,300 — including materials, labour and GST — must be covered under the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme, and the premium forms part of the contract price.

Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC). A package price that doesn't mention it isn't complete yet. Sabre's licence is 15486557 — look it up on the QBCC register before you sign with us or anyone.

A builder who answers all six without flinching is one worth dealing with, whatever kind of build they're offering.

What does Sabre do instead?

We start at your house, not at a plan.

Nathan walks through the house you're living in, room by room, and looks at what's stopped working and what your family needs from the next one. Then the design gets drawn around your family and your block — sometimes starting from a home we've built before and changing it, sometimes drawn from scratch with an architect. Then we build it.

We do have homes we've built before, and families are welcome to start from one: Your design. The difference is that it's a starting point rather than a menu.

Common questions

Sources: Queensland Building and Construction Commission — Queensland Home Warranty Scheme ($3,300 threshold, including materials, labour and GST) and the QBCC licence search; Sabre Constructions' public Google listing, read 5 September 2026. This is a general guide, not financial or legal advice. What a package includes differs between builders and changes over time — always ask for the current inclusions in writing.