Do I need council approval for an extension in Cherrybrook?

Usually yes, but often not a full DA. Many Cherrybrook homes qualify for a Complying Development Certificate through a private certifier, provided the extension meets the setback, site coverage and landscaped area controls, which is much faster than a DA through Hornsby Shire Council. Bushfire prone blocks backing the reserves remove the CDC option, and tree removal needs its own approval. We confirm which pathway applies to your property before quoting.

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

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 Cherrybrook 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 Cherrybrook?

On a typical Cherrybrook block, extending out is usually the better path because the land is there and many of the houses already have two storeys at the front. Going up makes more sense where the block falls away steeply at the back or the yard has to be kept whole. 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 brick house?

In Cherrybrook, more often than most suburbs, yes: 1980s and 90s bricks are closer to current production, so a near match can often be sourced and blended. Where it cannot, we 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 · Cherrybrook NSW 2126

Home extensions in Cherrybrook, done properly.

Rear and side house extensions for Cherrybrook 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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Hornsby Shire Council areaNSW Builder’s Licence 487370CItemised quotesClear inclusions & exclusions0450 605 080

Extending out, not up

Cherrybrook blocks were made for extending.

Strava Group builds home extensions in Cherrybrook: rear additions, side extensions and whole-of-back transformations that open the house to the yard. Cherrybrook was built out mostly in the 1980s and 90s, which means substantial brick homes on generous, leafy blocks, many of them single storey at the rear with a backyard the original layout barely uses. The houses are younger than most we extend, but the brief is the same: the kitchen and living belong at the back, open to the garden, and the original plan rarely put them there.

In Cherrybrook 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.

A late 1980s Cherrybrook brick home with formal living at the front, a smallish kitchen in the middle and a paved area out the back is the brief we see most. Open the back, bring the living to the light, and let the house meet the garden.

Landscaped backyard with a rock garden, timber edging, lawn and gravel path

Quick Answer

Most home extensions in Cherrybrook 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 larger Cherrybrook blocks support substantial open plan extensions, which tends to put projects in the middle of the band.

Local knowledge

What we know about extending in Cherrybrook.

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

Council

Cherrybrook sits in the Hornsby Shire Council area under the Hornsby Local Environmental Plan 2013 and the Hornsby Development Control Plan. Most detached homes on standard residential zoning can pursue a ground floor extension through Complying Development with a private certifier rather than a full DA, subject to setbacks, site coverage and landscaped area. Bushfire prone blocks backing the bushland reserves go to a DA. We confirm the pathway for your property before quoting. Current planning controls are published by Hornsby Shire Council and on the NSW Planning Portal.

Housing stock

Predominantly full brick and brick veneer homes from the 1980s and 90s, many of them substantial single and two storey houses on the original estate streets, with some earlier homes toward New Line Road. The typical plan has formal rooms at the front, a family room in the middle and a modest kitchen that never matched the size of the house. That is exactly the layout an extension is designed to fix.

Structure

Brick veneer homes of this era are straightforward to extend, with timber framed walls and trussed roofs that take a new structural opening well once the load path is engineered. Full brick homes need more care at the junction: we cut the openings cleanly, install engineered steel and tie the new frame into the existing brickwork properly. Split level homes, common on the sloping blocks, need the new floor levels planned carefully against the existing ones.

Yard and block

Blocks in Cherrybrook are typically 700 to 1,000 square metres, many of them sloping and backing onto reserves and bushland. The trees are protected under council controls and sometimes shape where the extension can go. The size of the block means a substantial rear extension is possible while keeping a real garden, and on the steeper blocks the extension often steps down the site.

Services and ground

Cherrybrook sits on shale derived clay soils that move with moisture, with sandstone near the gully lines. New footings on an extension have to be engineered for the site class, not copied from the original house, and detailed against the existing slab or strip footings so the two do not settle at different rates. Bushfire construction requirements apply on the blocks backing the reserves, and sewer lines often run along the rear boundary.

Value

Cherrybrook is one of the most tightly held family suburbs in the district, with the Metro, the school catchments and the block sizes protecting its value. A well built extension that gives a 1980s house the open plan rear it never had is one of the most reliable improvements you can make here, and it usually costs less than the stamp duty and agent fees involved in moving to a bigger house nearby.

Start here

Tell us about your Cherrybrook 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 Cherrybrook 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 the clay soils across Cherrybrook make it more likely, not less.

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 Cherrybrook.

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 Cherrybrook the larger blocks and substantial houses tend to put projects in the middle and upper part of the band, with sloping sites and bushfire requirements on some blocks adding design and engineering work. How much of the existing structure has to change is usually the largest single factor, followed by wet areas and how far footings have to go to find good ground.

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

Cherrybrook extension questions.

From our clients

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Nearby

Home extensions near Cherrybrook.

We build extensions across The Hills and Hornsby and the surrounding suburbs. Select a suburb for local council information and what extensions there typically cost.

The Hills and Hornsby

Home Extensions West Pennant Hills Home Extensions Castle Hill Home Extensions Thornleigh Home Extensions Pennant Hills Home Extensions Normanhurst

All Sydney extension areas

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

Extend your Cherrybrook 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