Do I need council approval for an extension in Strathfield?

Yes. Inside the Strathfield heritage conservation areas it is a Development Application through Strathfield Council with a heritage assessment, and a rear extension that sits behind the main roofline and keeps the street presentation is well supported. Outside those areas many detached homes qualify for a Complying Development Certificate through a private certifier, which is significantly faster. 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 Strathfield?

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 Strathfield 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 Strathfield?

On a typical Strathfield block, extending out is almost always the better path because the land is there and the conservation area controls favour work that sits behind the original house. A second storey on a heritage house is possible but needs careful design to get through council. 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 have to match my heritage house?

Not necessarily, and in the Strathfield conservation areas council often 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, respects the scale of the house and is not visible from the street. Matched materials and rooflines are still an option 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 · Strathfield NSW 2135

Home extensions in Strathfield, done properly.

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

Extending out, not up

Extending a Strathfield home on a block built for it.

Strava Group builds home extensions in Strathfield: rear additions, side extensions and whole-of-back transformations that open the house to the garden. Strathfield has some of the largest residential blocks in the inner west, with grand Federation and interwar homes on the estate streets around The Boulevarde and Homebush Road, substantial 1950s and 60s brick on the surrounding streets, and heritage conservation areas protecting much of it. Land here is expensive and the houses are worth keeping, which makes a well designed rear extension the obvious move.

In Strathfield 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 Strathfield.

Strathfield houses have the front rooms and the street presence. What they often lack is a kitchen and living that opens to the garden. A rear extension that keeps the front untouched and does all its work at the back is the brief almost every time.

White shaker-style kitchen with stone benchtops, induction cooktop and industrial pendant lights

Quick Answer

Most home extensions in Strathfield 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 large blocks and the value of the houses tend to put Strathfield projects in the upper part of the band, and the listed estate houses are custom projects that can sit above it. We tell you early if yours does.

Local knowledge

What we know about extending in Strathfield.

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

Council

Strathfield is its own local government area under the Strathfield Local Environmental Plan 2012 and the Strathfield Consolidated Development Control Plan. Large parts of the suburb, including the estate streets around The Boulevarde, Homebush Road and Albert Road, sit inside heritage conservation areas where extensions go through a Development Application with a heritage assessment. 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 Strathfield Council and on the NSW Planning Portal.

Housing stock

Grand Federation and interwar homes on the estate streets, many of them individually listed, a broad stock of substantial 1950s and 60s brick houses, and later two storey homes. Many of the older houses have been extended once before, sometimes well and sometimes badly, and the earlier work often has to come off. The listed houses are always custom projects and their scope can sit above the range published on this page.

Structure

The older Strathfield homes are double brick on timber floors with hardwood framing and slate or terracotta roofs. Cutting a new opening into a double brick rear wall needs an engineered lintel and careful propping, and matching the new floor to an old suspended floor is a detail that has to be right. The post-war brick homes, often full brick on a slab, extend more simply once the load path is engineered.

Yard and block

Blocks in Strathfield are typically 700 to 1,200 square metres and often larger on the estate streets, which is unusual this close to the city. That leaves room for a substantial rear extension while keeping a real garden. Mature trees are protected under council controls and sometimes shape the design. Side access is usually generous on the larger blocks and tighter on the post-war streets.

Services and ground

Strathfield sits on shale derived clay soils that move with moisture, and the footings under a Federation house were never designed to modern standards. New footings are engineered for the site and detailed against the old ones so the extension does not settle away from the house. Old services, stormwater and absorption trenches on the larger blocks are located before we design.

Value

Strathfield is one of the highest value suburbs in the inner west, with the station, the school catchments and the estate streets holding demand, and the conservation areas protecting it. Buyers pay for original houses on big blocks that have been extended properly at the rear, and a considered extension that keeps the house intact and adds the living space the family needs is the safest improvement in the suburb.

Start here

Tell us about your Strathfield 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 Strathfield 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 a century-old house whose original footings 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 Strathfield.

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 Strathfield the large blocks and the value of the houses tend to put projects in the upper part of the band, with heritage design work and older double brick structure adding to it, and some listed houses sitting above the range as custom builds. How much of the existing structure has to change is usually the largest single factor, followed by wet areas and the heritage process. We give you a realistic figure early rather than a low one that grows.

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

Strathfield extension questions.

From our clients

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Nearby

Home extensions near Strathfield.

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

Strathfield and the inner west

Home Extensions Burwood Home Extensions Ashfield Home Extensions Five Dock Home Extensions Parramatta Home Extensions Dulwich Hill

All Sydney extension areas

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

Extend your Strathfield 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