Do I need council approval for an extension in Pennant Hills?

Usually yes, but often not a full DA. Many Pennant Hills 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. Heritage items, the streets near the Beecroft Cheltenham conservation area and bushfire prone blocks toward the valley remove the CDC option. 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 Pennant Hills?

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 Pennant Hills 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 Pennant Hills?

On a typical Pennant Hills block, extending out is usually the better path because the land is there and the garden is part of why people live here. Going up makes more sense on the tighter blocks near the station or where the block falls away steeply at the back. 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 1960s and 70s 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 · Pennant Hills NSW 2120

Home extensions in Pennant Hills, done properly.

Rear and side house extensions for Pennant Hills 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

NSW Licensed Builder
487370C

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Hornsby Shire Council areaNSW Builder’s Licence 487370CItemised quotesClear inclusions & exclusions0450 605 080

Extending out, not up

Pennant Hills blocks have the room to extend.

Strava Group builds home extensions in Pennant Hills: rear additions, side extensions and whole-of-back transformations that open the house to the garden. Pennant Hills is a leafy suburb of large blocks, with Federation and interwar homes near the station, a big stock of 1950s to 70s brick and weatherboard houses on the streets either side of Pennant Hills Road, and bush blocks running down toward the Lane Cove valley. There is almost always land at the back, and the original house rarely makes the most of it.

In Pennant Hills 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 Pennant Hills.

A Pennant Hills brick home from the 1960s with a small rear kitchen and a big, sloping, tree-lined backyard is the brief we see most. Open the back, bring the living to the light, and let the house meet the garden.

Waterfall-edge island in grey woodgrain cabinetry with tall pantry and integrated fridge space

Quick Answer

Most home extensions in Pennant Hills 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 Pennant Hills blocks support substantial open plan extensions, which tends to put projects in the middle of the band, with sloping sites and bushfire requirements adding to it.

Local knowledge

What we know about extending in Pennant Hills.

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

Council

Pennant Hills 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. Heritage items, the streets near the Beecroft Cheltenham conservation area and bushfire prone blocks toward the valley 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

Federation and interwar homes closest to the station and the Beecroft boundary, a broad stock of 1950s, 60s and 70s brick veneer, full brick and weatherboard houses, and later homes on the larger bush blocks. Many have been extended once before, often with a family room or sunroom that was never built to last. Those earlier additions usually come off and are replaced with something engineered.

Structure

Brick veneer homes from the 1960s and 70s are straightforward to extend once the load path is engineered. The older full brick and Federation houses need more care at the junction: we cut the openings cleanly, install engineered steel and tie the new frame into the existing brickwork properly. Weatherboard homes on brick piers extend well in timber, and the junction is where the flashing has to be done properly.

Yard and block

Blocks in Pennant Hills are typically 700 to 1,000 square metres and often larger toward the valley, many of them sloping and most of them treed. The trees are protected under council controls and usually 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

Pennant Hills sits on shale derived clay over Hawkesbury sandstone, with the rock close to the surface on the slopes toward the Lane Cove valley. Footing design varies across a single block, 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 the house. Bushfire construction requirements apply on the blocks backing the bush, and old services on the larger blocks are located before we design.

Value

Pennant Hills is a tightly held family suburb where the station, the village and strong school catchments hold demand, and the trees and the block sizes protect the character. Buyers pay for houses on big blocks that have been extended properly at the rear, and a considered extension that keeps the front intact and opens the back to the garden is one of the safest improvements in the suburb.

Start here

Tell us about your Pennant Hills 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 Pennant Hills 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 mix of clay and shallow sandstone across Pennant Hills means the engineering is done for your site, not copied from a neighbour.

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 Pennant Hills.

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 Pennant Hills the larger blocks allow substantial extensions, which tends to put projects in the middle and upper part of the band, with protected trees, 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 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

Pennant Hills 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 Pennant Hills.

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

Hornsby and the Hills

Home Extensions West Pennant Hills Home Extensions Beecroft Home Extensions Cheltenham Home Extensions Castle Hill Home Extensions Epping

All Sydney extension areas

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

Extend your Pennant Hills 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