Do I need council approval for an extension in Cabarita?

Usually yes. On the foreshore blocks and heritage streets it is a Development Application through the City of Canada Bay Council, and a rear extension that sits behind the main roofline is well supported. Elsewhere many detached Cabarita homes qualify for a Complying Development Certificate through a private certifier, which is significantly faster. We confirm which pathway applies to your property before quoting.

How long does a home extension take to build in Cabarita?

Most extensions run 12 to 20 weeks on site. Design and approvals happen before that: a CDC takes about 4 to 8 weeks, and a DA can take up to 6 months, depending on council. We give you a programme with the quote, not after you have signed.

Can I live at home during the extension?

Usually yes. Because the work is concentrated at the rear or side, most Cabarita families stay in the house for most of the build, with a shorter disruptive period when we break through and connect the new space to the old. We plan the breakthrough stage with you so you know exactly when it is coming.

Should I extend out or add a second storey in Cabarita?

On most Cabarita blocks a rear extension is the first option because it keeps the original front intact and the work sits behind the existing roofline. Where the block is small, the yard has to be kept or there is a bay view worth reaching, going up can be the right call. We build both, so the advice is honest: we look at your block and tell you which one your home actually wants. A house extension and a second storey are different builds with different engineering, and we quote both honestly.

Will the extension match my existing house?

That is a design decision, and both answers can work. Matching Federation or post-war face brick exactly is often impossible because the brick is no longer made, so we either source the closest match and blend it, render the junction, or design a deliberately contemporary addition that lets the original house be itself. What must always match is the standard of the junction between old and new, which is where our detailing does its work.

How will I know what is happening during my extension?

Two ways. You get a weekly update from the builder running your job, whether or not there is good news in it. And you get access to our client portal, where you can log in any time to see your documents, selections, variations and job status. No chasing, no phone tag, no wondering.

Are you licensed and insured?

Yes. Strava Group holds NSW Builder's Licence 487370C and carries public liability insurance and Home Building Compensation Fund cover on all residential work over the statutory threshold. You can verify the licence directly through Verify NSW at verify.licence.nsw.gov.au.

Timber roof and wall framing in a renovation

Home Extensions · Cabarita NSW 2137

Home extensions in Cabarita, done properly.

Rear and side house extensions for Cabarita homes by a licensed extension builder. Most extensions run $70,000 to $300,000 depending on size and how much of the existing house has to change, itemised quote, honest programme, one builder from concept to handover.

Get Your Extension Assessed Call 0450 605 080

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487370C

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City of Canada Bay Council areaNSW Builder’s Licence 487370CItemised quotesClear inclusions & exclusions0450 605 080

Extending out, not up

Opening a Cabarita home to the garden and the water.

Strava Group builds home extensions in Cabarita: rear extensions, side additions and whole-of-back transformations that open the house to the yard. Cabarita is a small peninsula suburb where the park, the ferry wharf and the water set the tone, with Federation and interwar homes on the older streets and substantial post-war brick on the rest. The land is valuable, the streets are quiet, and the brief is nearly always the rear: a bigger kitchen and living that opens to the garden, and on the right blocks, toward the water.

In Cabarita we regularly deliver:

Rear extensions and additions
Side extensions on wider blocks
Open plan kitchen, dining and living
Alfresco and indoor-outdoor connections
New master suites and family rooms
Laundries, mudrooms and storage done properly
Structural openings between old and new
Exterior upgrades to tie old and new together

Thinking about going up instead? That is a different build with different engineering, and we do that too: see second storey additions.

Cabarita blocks are worth too much to waste on a dark rear kitchen and a closed-in verandah. The extension puts the living where the garden, the light and sometimes the bay are.

Kitchen with a white island, timber-look overhead cabinetry and LED strip lighting

Quick Answer

Most home extensions in Cabarita run $70,000 to $300,000 depending on size and how much of the existing structure has to change, at roughly $2,500 to $4,500 per square metre for ground floor work, with around $30,000 in preliminaries (design, engineering and council approvals, plus site set-up) on top. The value of the land here tends to justify extensions toward the upper end of the band, with foreshore sites and sandstone adding to it.

Local knowledge

What we know about extending in Cabarita.

Every suburb builds a little differently. This is what matters when you are extending a Cabarita home.

Council

Cabarita sits in the City of Canada Bay Council area under the Canada Bay Local Environmental Plan 2013 and the Canada Bay Development Control Plan. Foreshore controls apply on the blocks near the water and some streets carry heritage controls, where extensions go through a Development Application. Elsewhere many detached homes can use Complying Development through a private certifier. We confirm the pathway for your property before quoting. Current planning controls are published by City of Canada Bay Council and on the NSW Planning Portal.

Housing stock

Federation and interwar homes on the older streets toward the park and the wharf, a solid stock of substantial post-war full brick and brick veneer houses, and newer homes along the foreshore. Many of the older houses carry a lean-to or enclosed verandah added decades ago that was never built to last. Those earlier additions usually come off and are replaced with something engineered.

Structure

Older Cabarita homes are double brick on timber floors with hardwood framing and terracotta roofs, and the post-war stock is often full brick on a slab. Cutting a new opening into a double brick rear wall needs an engineered lintel and careful propping, and the new floor has to land exactly on the existing level. Brick veneer homes extend more simply once the load path is engineered.

Yard and block

Blocks are typically 450 to 700 square metres, with the streets toward the water often sloping toward the bay. Side access varies, and where it is tight materials come through the house and the programme changes. A full width rear extension with a usable garden kept beyond it is the usual move, and on the sloping foreshore blocks the extension often steps down the site.

Services and ground

Cabarita sits on shale derived clay over Hawkesbury sandstone, with the rock closer to the surface toward the foreshore. Footing design varies across the suburb, so the engineering is done for your site, and new footings are detailed against the existing ones so the extension does not settle away from a house whose original footings were never engineered. Services along the rear boundary are located before design starts.

Value

Cabarita is one of the most valuable pockets of Canada Bay, with the park, the ferry and the water keeping demand strong on a small number of streets. Buyers pay for a character or quality post-war house with a properly built modern rear, and an extension that delivers that is one of the safest improvements you can make here, and far cheaper than buying the bigger house down the street.

Start here

Tell us about your Cabarita home.

No sales pitch, no obligation. Here is exactly what happens when you enquire:

One at a time, takes about two minutes, so the first conversation is about your project rather than the basics.

Start Your Enquiry Call 0450 605 080

The Strava standard

How we build differently.

An extension lives or dies at the junction between old and new. We build for longevity, and on every Cabarita extension we run:

Every new-to-existing junction properly detailed

This is where most extensions crack, leak and part company with the house. It is almost always a detailing shortcut, not settlement. Ours get a proper structural tie, flashing and movement detail.

The existing structure gets rectified, not covered

Where the extension meets the house, we screw off and re-brace the adjoining structure, tying new and old together so the whole building moves as one and future cracking is designed out, not painted over.

Footings matched to the ground, not the minimum

New footings are engineered for your soil and detailed against the existing ones, because differential movement between old and new slabs is the classic extension failure, and on Cabarita sandstone the challenge is usually matching new rock-founded footings to old ones that were never engineered.

Furring channels for a dead flat finish

Where new ceilings and walls run through to existing rooms, furring channels give one level plane across both, so you cannot see where the house ends and the extension begins.

Waterproofing is a documented hold point

New wet areas are inspected and photographed before a single tile goes on, to AS 3740, and new roof-to-old-roof junctions get the same treatment.

Everything photographed before it is covered

You receive the record at handover, so in ten years you know exactly what is behind your walls and under your floor.

Before starting Strava Group, I spent seven years on the tools as a carpenter and five years running sites. The failures I kept seeing in extensions were always at the join: cracked cornices along the old wall line, roofs that leaked where new met old, floors that stepped as slabs settled differently. None of it was illegal. All of it was avoidable. None of this shows up in a finished-room photo. All of it shows up in year seven.

Honest numbers

What a house extension actually costs in Cabarita.

Most builders will not put numbers on a website. We will, because the alternative is wasting your time and ours across three meetings before anyone mentions a figure.

Item	Typical range
Home extension, depending on size and scope	$70k–$300k
Ground floor extension work	$2,500–$4,500 /m²
Preliminaries, on top of build cost	approx. $30,000

Preliminaries are the costs that exist before a single wall moves: design, engineering and council approvals, plus site set-up such as site fencing, temporary services, waste removal, insurances and supervision. They are real, they are unavoidable, and a quote that does not show them separately has either buried them or forgotten them.

In Cabarita the value of the land tends to justify extensions in the middle and upper part of the band, with foreshore sites, sandstone and older double brick structure adding engineering work. How much of the existing structure has to change is usually the largest single factor, followed by wet areas, access and rock.

Every project is quoted properly after a site inspection. These ranges are here so you can decide whether it is worth a conversation.

Good to know

Cabarita extension questions.

From our clients

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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.

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Nearby

Home extensions near Cabarita.

We build extensions across Canada Bay and the inner west and the surrounding suburbs. Select a suburb for local council information and what extensions there typically cost.

Canada Bay and the inner west

Home Extensions Concord Home Extensions Drummoyne Home Extensions Five Dock Home Extensions Croydon Home Extensions Burwood

All Sydney extension areas

Looking for a different service in Cabarita? We also build second storey additions and home renovations in Cabarita.

Extend your Cabarita home properly.

Ready for more room?

Tell us about your property and what you want to add. We respond within 24 to 48 business hours with honest advice and real numbers, no cost, no obligation.

Get Your Extension Assessed Call 0450 605 080