Custom Homes · Sydney NSW
Custom homes in Sydney, built properly.
New homes and knockdown rebuilds by a licensed Sydney builder. Designed for your block, engineered for your soil, quoted with an itemised proposal, and one builder overseeing your project from pre-construction through to handover.
487370C
Not a project home
A home designed for your block, not a brochure.
Strava Group is a custom home builder in Sydney delivering luxury new homes and knockdown rebuilds across established and vacant sites. A custom home is the opposite of a project home. Nothing is chosen from a catalogue: the design comes from your block, its orientation, its slope and its outlook, and from how your family actually lives.
Custom builds we take on include:
- Knockdown rebuilds on established blocks
- New homes on vacant land
- Single and two storey custom designs
- Sloping and difficult sites done properly
- Duplexes and dual occupancy where zoning allows
- Designs oriented for light, outlook and the yard
Not sure whether your house wants a rebuild or a major renovation? We build both, so the advice is honest: sometimes the right answer is a complete renovation or a second storey addition, and we will tell you which one your block and budget actually want.
A project home is designed once and sold a thousand times, and your block has to cope with it. A custom home starts the other way around: the block, the sun and your family first, then the design.
Quick Answer
It depends on the design, the site and the specification, which is the honest answer every builder owes you before the marketing answer. Slope, soil, access, demolition and finish level all move the number materially. What we commit to is the way the price is built: a walked site, an itemised proposal with inclusions and exclusions listed openly, and preliminaries shown separately rather than buried. Tell us your block and your brief and we will give you real numbers early.
A note from Stav
We built our name on extensions and second storeys. A custom home is different, and I treat it differently.
With a renovation you work around a house that already exists. With a new home there is nothing on the block yet, and every decision from the slab up belongs to you. Where the light comes in at breakfast. Whether you can see the backyard from the kitchen. How the house sounds when it rains. It is the one house most people will only ever build once, and I take that seriously.
You get one go at the frame. Once the linings are on, nobody will ever look at it again, but you will feel it every day for the next thirty years. Doors that swing true, floors that stay quiet, walls that stay dry. That is what we are actually building.
There is an advantage in where we came from. When you spend years opening up old Sydney houses for extensions and renovations, you see exactly how homes fail. Where the water got in. Which junctions cracked. What the original builder skipped that became someone else’s problem thirty years later. That knowledge dictates how we build new. We improve on the failures we have opened up and repaired, because without those lessons a new home is just built to the same standard as the ones that failed before it.
I started on the tools as a carpenter and ran sites for years before Strava Group. What that gives you as a client is a builder who reads the structural drawings, walks the frame before the plasterers arrive, and picks up the things that get missed when a job is run from an office.
On every custom home you deal with me directly. I know the job in detail, I answer the phone, and I will still be standing behind the house years after handover. If that is the kind of builder you want on your new home, we should talk.
Stav TobiaDirector, Strava Group · NSW Builder’s Licence 487370C
The process
From first meeting to handover.
We walk the block, talk about how you live, what you want the house to do, and what you have to spend. If we are not the right fit, we tell you at this meeting.
The Strava standard
How we build differently.
We build for longevity. That sounds like a slogan until you see where it costs us money. On every custom home we run:
Footings engineered for your soil, not the minimum
Sydney runs from reactive clay in the Hills and the inner west to sandstone on the harbour slopes, sometimes across a single block. The footing design comes from your geotech report, not from a standard detail.
Orientation considered from concept stage
Window placement, solar access, shading, ventilation and the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces are worked through early, not treated as an afterthought. It does more for comfort and running costs than anything you can bolt on later.
Waterproofing is a documented hold point
Every wet area is inspected and photographed before a single tile goes on, to AS 3740, and the roof and facade junctions get the same discipline. Standard waterproofing membranes typically carry a 7 year manufacturer warranty. The system we use is backed by a 15 year manufacturer warranty, because the membrane is the one part of a bathroom you cannot fix without demolition.
Built above the standard, not to it
The National Construction Code sets the minimum a home is legally allowed to be. That is our starting point, not our target. From structure through to finishes, we build above the minimum standard, because a home built to the minimum performs like one.
The frame gets covered. Its mistakes don’t.
Straight studs, proper bracing, clean load paths. We come from carpentry, and years of opening up older homes has shown us exactly where frames move, sag and fail over time. We frame to outlast those failures: connections done properly, loads carried where they should be, nothing relying on the plasterboard to hide it. The frame is one stage of the build, but it decides how the home performs for the next fifty years.
Everything recorded before it is covered
Frames, services and membranes are photographed before they are concealed, and we capture a 3D virtual model of the whole house before the gyprock goes on. You receive the full record at handover, so in ten years you know exactly what is behind your walls and under your floor, down to where every pipe and cable runs.
I have seen how seemingly small decisions during framing, waterproofing and rough-in become expensive problems years later. That is why our standard does not change just because the work will eventually be covered. What gets covered at construction still matters ten years later.
Honest numbers
How a custom home is priced.
Custom homes are quoted per project, because the design, the site and the specification drive the cost. What we promise is how the number is built.
| Item | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Your build proposal | Itemised line by line |
| Inclusions and exclusions | Listed openly |
| Preliminaries | Shown separately |
| Allowances | Clearly identified |
Two identical floor plans can cost very different amounts on different blocks: slope, soil, access, demolition on a knockdown rebuild, and the specification you choose all move the number. Anyone who quotes a custom home off a phone call is guessing, and the guess always grows.
So we do it the slow, honest way: we walk your block, we talk through the brief and the budget, and the proposal you receive is itemised line by line: what is included, what is excluded, and what the preliminaries are. No buried allowances. Where an item cannot reasonably be finalised before contract, it is identified clearly rather than hidden inside the total.
We use a fixed price (lump sum) building contract, agreed before signing.
Start here
Tell us about your block and your brief.
No sales pitch, no obligation. Here is exactly what happens when you enquire:
- Answer a few quick questions. One at a time, takes about two minutes, so the first conversation is about your project rather than the basics.
- We call you within 24 to 48 business hours. A builder, not a salesperson. Then we walk your block with you, existing house or vacant land.
- You receive honest early feasibility and realistic numbers. We discuss what appears achievable for the site, the likely approval pathway and what the build is realistically likely to involve. Where engineering, surveying or specialist advice is needed, we identify it early. If it does not stack up, we tell you that too.
Next step
Start Your Enquiry
A few quick questions about your home and your plans, one at a time.
Start Your EnquiryCall 0450 605 080No cost and no obligation.
Good to know
Custom home questions.
Rated 5.0 on Google.
Great communication, honest work, easy to work with, highly recommend to work with for any new build/renovations. If you are looking to get work done without worrying about shortcuts Strava Group is builder to use.
We had Strava Group complete major renovation works on our property and were blown away with the quality. The attention to detail and overall finish were amazing.
I highly recommend Strava Group to everyone great workmanship, reliable service, and I couldn’t be happier with the result.
I couldn't be happier with the work from Strava Group. From the beginning, Stav and the team was friendly, honest, and super easy to deal with.
We engaged Strava Group for a home extension and renovation. We are incredibly happy with the service and the results we achieved. From day one Stav and team where always willing to help with any issues we had and we loved that the main focus was as quality and longevity. Highly recommended
Had a great experience with Strava Group. The team was easy to deal with, super professional, and kept me in the loop the whole way through. They really listened to what I wanted and made the whole process feel smooth and stress-free.
Orom Gabriel
Google review
Aloona T.
Google review
Jonathan
Google review
Clara Shabow
Google review
Jonathan Jajo
Google review
Eli Kosso
Google review
Where we build
Custom homes across Sydney.
Suburb by suburb, with local knowledge on the housing stock, the council and what your street realistically allows.
The Hills District
Ryde, Parramatta & Carlingford
Hornsby Shire & Upper North
Inner West
Outside these suburbs? We take custom home projects across wider Sydney where the build justifies it. Call and ask.
Build your home once, and build it right.
Ready to talk about your block?
Tell us about your land or your knockdown rebuild and what you want to build. We respond within 24 to 48 business hours with honest feasibility and real numbers, no cost, no obligation.