Do I need council approval for an extension in Concord?

Yes. Inside the Concord heritage conservation areas 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. Outside those areas many detached 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 Concord?

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 Concord 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 Concord?

On a typical Concord block, a rear extension is usually the first option because the land is there and it keeps the original front intact. Going up makes more sense where the yard has to be kept whole or the family needs bedrooms rather than living space. 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 interwar brick house?

That is a design decision, and both answers can work. Matching interwar 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. In the conservation areas council generally prefers the rear to read as clearly new. 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 · Concord NSW 2137

Home extensions in Concord, done properly.

Rear and side house extensions for Concord 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

More room at the back of a Concord home.

Strava Group builds home extensions in Concord: rear additions, side extensions and whole-of-back transformations that open the house to the yard. Concord is one of the best extension suburbs in the inner west: interwar brick bungalows and Federation homes on generous, regular blocks, wide quiet streets, and a big stock of post-war full brick built by the families who settled here. The front halves of these houses are worth keeping. The back halves, where the kitchens were squeezed in, are where the extension earns its money.

In Concord 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.

The classic Concord brief is a solid interwar brick bungalow with a small kitchen, an enclosed back verandah and a deep backyard. The front stays. The back comes off and becomes the open plan living the house never had.

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

Quick Answer

Most home extensions in Concord 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. Opening double brick walls and replacing an earlier sunroom or verandah are the things that move the figure most here.

Local knowledge

What we know about extending in Concord.

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

Council

Concord sits in the City of Canada Bay Council area under the Canada Bay Local Environmental Plan 2013 and the Canada Bay Development Control Plan. Several Concord streets sit inside heritage conservation areas where extensions go through a Development Application. Outside those areas 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

Interwar brick bungalows and Federation homes on the older streets, a large stock of 1950s and 60s full brick and brick veneer houses, and later two storey homes toward Concord West and the river. Many carry a lean-to, sunroom or enclosed verandah from decades ago that was never built to last. Those earlier additions usually come off and are replaced with something engineered.

Structure

Older Concord 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

Concord blocks are typically 500 to 750 square metres and unusually regular for the inner west, often with workable side access, which makes the build simpler than in the terrace suburbs. A full width rear extension with a real backyard kept beyond it is the usual move. The blocks toward the river and Majors Bay can slope, which drives the footing design.

Services and ground

Concord sits on shale derived clay soils that move with moisture, with sandstone closer to the surface toward the river. New footings are engineered for the site and detailed against the existing ones so the extension does not settle away from a house whose original footings were never engineered. Sewer and stormwater lines often run along the rear boundary and are located before design starts.

Value

Concord is a tightly held family suburb where Majors Bay Road, the parks and the school catchments keep demand strong. Buyers pay for a character house with a properly built modern rear that opens to the yard, 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 Concord 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 Concord 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 it matters more on an older house whose original footings were never engineered to modern standards.

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 Concord.

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 Concord the regular blocks and workable access keep builds efficient, but heritage controls on some streets and older double brick structure tend to put projects in the middle of the band. How much of the existing structure has to change is usually the largest single factor, followed by wet areas and access.

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

Concord extension questions.

From our clients

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Nearby

Home extensions near Concord.

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 Cabarita Home Extensions Burwood Home Extensions Strathfield Home Extensions Five Dock Home Extensions Homebush

All Sydney extension areas

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

Extend your Concord 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