Do I need council approval to renovate in Hornsby?

Internal renovations that do not alter the structure or footprint often fall under Exempt Development and need no approval. Structural changes usually qualify for a Complying Development Certificate through a private certifier. Heritage items, conservation streets and bushfire prone blocks backing the reserves go to a DA through Hornsby Shire Council. We confirm which pathway applies to your property before quoting.

How long does a full renovation take in Hornsby?

Most full internal renovations run 16 to 30 weeks on site. Design and any 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 in the house during the renovation?

Sometimes, if the work is staged and at least one bathroom and kitchen stay operational. For a full internal renovation we generally recommend moving out. It is faster, cheaper and safer, and the cost of six months of rent is often less than the cost of the delays that come from working around an occupied home.

Is renovating my Hornsby home cheaper than knocking down and rebuilding?

Usually. The solid brick and hardwood-framed homes across Hornsby typically renovate for 30 to 40 per cent less than a knockdown rebuild. Some of the genuinely tired later stock competes closer, and bushfire construction requirements on the bush-backed blocks affect rebuild costs more than renovation costs. We will tell you honestly which one your house is.

What kind of building contract do you use?

We use a fixed price (lump sum) building contract, agreed before signing. The scope is documented, the inclusions and exclusions are itemised, and any provisional allowances for items that genuinely cannot be priced until walls are opened are listed openly rather than hidden in the total.

What happens after I enquire?

We review your enquiry and call you within 24 to 48 business hours to arrange a consultation at your Hornsby home. A builder walks the property with you, then prepares a written, itemised estimate. There is no cost and no obligation at any point before you choose to proceed.

How will I know what is happening during my renovation?

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.

Freshly plastered living room with curved ceiling bulkheads

Home Renovations · Hornsby

Home renovations in Hornsby, done properly.

Complete home renovations for Hornsby homeowners by a licensed builder. A typical full transformation runs $180,000 to $450,000, itemised quote, honest programme, one builder from concept to handover.

Get Your Renovation Assessed Call 0450 605 080

NSW Licensed Builder
487370C

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

Complete transformations

More than cosmetic updates.

A home renovation is an opportunity to completely redefine how you live. Strava Group delivers high end home renovations across Hornsby and Hornsby Shire, transforming established homes into refined, contemporary residences, managed as complete projects from concept through to completion.

Rather than renovating room by room, we approach each Hornsby project as a unified transformation: layout reconfigurations, designer kitchens, luxury bathrooms, flooring, lighting, windows and street presence, all working together. The result is a home that feels intentional, balanced and built to a higher standard.

Step back from the towers around the station and Hornsby is still a suburb of solid brick and weatherboard homes on big leafy blocks, most of them running interiors from decades ago. The bones are good. The insides are due.

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

Quick Answer

Ground floor renovation work runs $2,500 to $4,500 per square metre, with roughly $30,000 in preliminaries (design, engineering and council approvals, plus site set-up) on top. A full internal renovation of a typical Hornsby home generally falls between $180,000 and $450,000, with structural wall removals, wet areas and the age of the existing services moving the figure most.

Renovating in Hornsby

What shapes a renovation in Hornsby.

Hornsby is the centre of the shire, with Federation streets near the line, post-war brick and weatherboard across the rest, and bushland at the end of half the streets. Here is what shapes a renovation locally.

Council

Hornsby Shire

Hornsby sits within Hornsby Shire Council. Internal renovations that keep the structure and footprint often need no approval at all under Exempt Development. Structural changes usually qualify for a Complying Development Certificate through a private certifier, with heritage items, some conservation streets and bushfire prone blocks backing the reserves going to a DA. We confirm the pathway for your property before quoting.

Housing

Federation to post-war, brick and weatherboard

Federation and interwar homes on the older streets either side of the highway, a broad stock of 1950s to 70s brick veneer, full brick and weatherboard, and later homes on the larger bush blocks. Dated kitchens, single bathrooms and compartmentalised plans throughout. Exactly the stock where a complete renovation transforms the whole house.

Structure

Honest frames, varied eras

The post-war brick veneer is structurally straightforward, the older full brick needs engineered openings and careful propping, and the weatherboard homes renovate beautifully when linings and insulation are done properly. Behind the linings, sixty years of partial renovations are common. We check and rectify the structure before anything goes back on.

Layout

Separate rooms, disconnected yards

Hornsby homes were planned as separate rooms with the kitchen at the back and no relationship to the big leafy blocks behind them. The renovation gain is in the flow: opening kitchen, dining and living into one space, adding the bathrooms a family needs, and pointing the living at the garden. Most of those walls are structural, and we engineer them out properly.

Services

Original services approaching their limit

Homes of this vintage often carry original switchboards, aging wiring and galvanised plumbing. A full renovation is the one moment these can be replaced without ripping open finished rooms, and we assess them up front rather than mid build.

Value

The shire centre, holding demand

Hornsby has the train line, Westfield, the hospital and strong school catchments holding demand, and the detached streets behind the centre are where families want to be. A solid home with a properly renovated interior is exactly what buyers here pay for, and the transformation costs far less than trading up once stamp duty and agent fees are counted.

Thinking bigger than a renovation? We also build second storey additions and home extensions in Hornsby, and staging them alongside a renovation costs less than doing them years apart.

Start here

Tell us about your Hornsby 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.

We build for longevity. That sounds like a slogan until you see where it costs us money. On every Hornsby renovation we run:

The existing structure gets rectified, not covered

Plenty of renovations put new gyprock over old problems and hope for the best. We do a full screw off and re-brace the whole house, tying new and existing structure together so the frame moves as one and future cracking is designed out, not painted over.

Furring channels for a dead flat finish

We install furring channels throughout, creating a perfectly level plane for the new linings regardless of what the old frame is doing behind them. Flat on handover day, still flat in raking afternoon light years later.

Waterproofing is a documented hold point

Wet areas are inspected and photographed before a single tile goes on, to AS 3740.

Blocking installed at frame stage

Extra noggins and fixings go in where vanities, TVs, handrails and shower screens will hang later, not chased in afterwards.

Every new-to-existing junction properly detailed

This is where most renovations crack. It is almost always a detailing shortcut, not settlement. Ours get a proper flashing and movement detail.

Everything photographed before it is covered

You receive the record at handover, so in ten years you know exactly what is behind your walls.

Honest numbers

What a renovation costs in Hornsby.

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
Full internal renovation, typical Hornsby home	$180k–$450k
Ground floor renovation work	$2,500–$4,500 /m²
Work at first floor level	$3,500–$5,500 /m²
Preliminaries, on top of build cost	approx. $30,000

Hornsby projects usually sit in the middle of the range, with the varied housing eras deciding whether the structural and services work is light or substantial.

How many of the walls you want gone are structural is usually the largest single factor, followed by the number of wet areas, since a bathroom carries more trades per square metre than any other room in the house. Post-war and older homes frequently need rewiring and plumbing replacement, priced up front rather than discovered mid build.

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

Hornsby renovation 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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Renovate your Hornsby home properly.

Ready to transform how your home works?

Tell us about your property and what you want to change. We respond within 24 to 48 business hours with honest advice and real numbers, no cost, no obligation.

Get Your Renovation Assessed Call 0450 605 080