Do I need council approval for an extension in Drummoyne?

Yes. Inside the Drummoyne heritage conservation areas and on foreshore blocks 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 Drummoyne?

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 Drummoyne 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 Drummoyne?

On most Drummoyne blocks a rear extension is the first option because it keeps the original front intact and the heritage controls favour work behind the existing roofline. Where the block is small, the yard has to be kept or there is a view to capture, 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 Federation house?

That is a design decision, and in the conservation areas council generally prefers a rear extension that reads as clearly new rather than a copy of the original, as long as it sits behind the main roof and respects the scale of the house. Matched brick and rooflines are still possible where the controls allow. 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 · Drummoyne NSW 2047

Home extensions in Drummoyne, done properly.

Rear and side house extensions for Drummoyne 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 Drummoyne home to the back and the water.

Strava Group builds home extensions in Drummoyne: rear extensions, side returns and whole-of-back transformations that open the house to the yard. Drummoyne is a peninsula suburb of Federation and interwar homes on modest blocks, many of them with a view or a breeze off the water that the original house ignored. The extension brief here is nearly always the rear: a bigger kitchen and living that opens to the yard, and on the right streets, to the outlook.

In Drummoyne 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 in Drummoyne.

Drummoyne houses put their best rooms at the front and their kitchens in a dark corner at the back. An extension turns that around and puts the living where the yard, the light and sometimes the water are.

Open-plan kitchen and dining area with a white island, bar stools and timber-look floors

Quick Answer

Most home extensions in Drummoyne 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, cutting sandstone for footings and working without side access are the things that move the figure most here.

Local knowledge

What we know about extending in Drummoyne.

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

Council

Drummoyne 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 Drummoyne streets sit inside heritage conservation areas where extensions go through a Development Application, and foreshore controls apply near the water. 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

Federation cottages and interwar brick bungalows on the bulk of the streets, with semis and some Victorian houses toward the bridge and newer homes and apartments along the foreshore. Most of the older houses carry a lean-to or sunroom from the 1970s or 80s that was never built to last, and those earlier additions usually come off.

Structure

Older Drummoyne homes are double brick on timber floors with hardwood framing and terracotta or slate roofs. Cutting new openings into a double brick rear wall needs engineered lintels and careful propping, and the new floor has to land exactly on the existing level. Semis share a party wall, which changes both the engineering and the neighbour approach, so those are always custom projects.

Yard and block

Blocks are mostly 400 to 600 square metres and often narrow, so side access is the first thing we check on site. Where there is none, materials and spoil come through the house and the programme changes. A full width rear extension with a usable yard kept beyond it is the usual move, and on sloping foreshore blocks the extension often steps down toward the water.

Services and ground

Drummoyne sits on Hawkesbury sandstone, often close to the surface, with shale clay on the higher ground. That makes footings predictable on some blocks and awkward on others where rock has to be cut, so the engineering is done for your site. The footings under a 1910s house were never designed to modern standards, and new footings are detailed against them so the extension does not settle away from the house.

Value

Drummoyne is a high value inner west suburb where the water, the ferry and the proximity to the city 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 Drummoyne 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 Drummoyne 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 Drummoyne 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 Drummoyne.

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 Drummoyne the smaller blocks keep the footprint modest, but heritage controls, narrow access and sandstone excavation tend to put projects in the middle and upper part of the band. 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

Drummoyne extension questions.

From our clients

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Nearby

Home extensions near Drummoyne.

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

Canada Bay and the inner west

Home Extensions Five Dock Home Extensions Gladesville Home Extensions Hunters Hill Home Extensions Burwood Home Extensions Leichhardt

All Sydney extension areas

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

Extend your Drummoyne 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