Services
What we build, and what
is involved in building it
Five scopes of work across Greater Sydney. Each one below sets out what the service covers, roughly how long it runs, who else sits around the table, and what you should expect to have ready before we can price it properly.
Residential building
Four ways a project usually starts
Most enquiries land in one of the four scopes below. If yours sits between two of them, that is normal. Buildings rarely read the categories.
New Homes
Custom and architecturally designed homes built from a documented set. Coming in early means buildability questions get raised while they are still cheap to answer, and the finished house resolves the way it was drawn.
Scope
Full construction from documented plans
Typical program
12 to 24 months
ALONGSIDE
Architect, structural engineer, certifier
Includes
Construction-issue drawings and specification
Custom Homes
Architectural residences
Knockdown rebuild
Renovations & Additions
Major renovations, first-floor additions and extensions to established homes. Opening up an existing building always turns up something the drawings did not show, so the program is built with that in mind. If you are staying in the house, the staging is agreed before demolition starts.
Scope
Structural alteration, addition, refurbishment
Typical program
6 to 18 months
ALONGSIDE
Architect or designer, engineer, council
Includes
Possible, staged, scope dependent
Whole-home renovation
First-floor additions
Extensions
Apartment Renovations
Full apartment refurbishments inside occupied buildings. The construction is often the straightforward part. What decides whether it runs smoothly is access: lift bookings, working hours, protection of common property and the by-laws governing all of it. We handle that paperwork and scheduling.
Scope
Full or partial apartment refurbishment
Typical program
3 to 9 months
alongside
Strata manager, building manager, designer
Includes
By-law and approval coordination
Full refurbishment
Strata approvals
Access and staging
Duplex & Multi-Residence Developments
Duplexes and small residential developments, including basement parking, lift installation and integrated building services. Consultant count and decision count both rise sharply against a single dwelling, so these projects turn on coordination.
Scope
Duplex and small multi-residence construction
Typical program
14 to 30 months
alongside
Developer, architect, engineers, certifier
Includes
By-law and approval coordination
Duplex developments
Small apartment buildings
Townhouses
Building remediation
Repairing and restoring
existing buildings
A separate line of work. Where the four scopes above begin with a drawing, remediation begins with a problem that someone has been watching get worse.
Buildings fail in patterns. Water tracks in through a balcony or a parapet, sits where it should not, and eventually reaches the reinforcement. The steel rusts, expands, and pushes the concrete off. By the time it is visible from the footpath, the repair is already larger than it needed to be.
Remediation is diagnostic work before it is building work. Sealing the surface without finding the source buys a year, sometimes two. The sequence is to establish what is actually causing the damage, build to the scope prepared by the engineer, and price the repair against the cause rather than the symptom.
Nearly all of it happens in buildings that stay occupied, so staging, access, dust control and keeping residents informed are part of the job rather than an inconvenience beside it.
Working with consultants. We are comfortable delivering against a scope prepared by an engineer, building consultant or strata manager, and can assist with scoping where none exists yet.
- Concrete repair and spalling. Corroded reinforcement rectified and the concrete around it reinstated.
- Balcony and terrace waterproofing. Stripped back to substrate, falls corrected, membrane and finishes rebuilt.
- Facade and external repairs. Render, sealant, brickwork and coatings on weathered elevations.
- Roof, gutter and flashing. Replacing and correcting the details where water gets in first.
- Structural repair. Reinforcement and underpinning to the engineer’s design.
- Defect rectification. Incomplete or non-compliant work from an earlier builder corrected.
- Water ingress investigation. Finding the actual source before anything gets sealed over.
How a project runs
Five stages, in this order
The order is the point. Most of what goes wrong on a site was decided, or left undecided, at an earlier stage than the one where it surfaces.
01 · Early conversation
Before the drawings are final. Site, intent and budget understood early is what keeps the later stages uneventful.
02 · Scope and pricing
A clear scope priced against the documentation, with assumptions and exclusions written down rather than found on site later.
03 · Planning and sequencing
Trades, consultants, approvals and long-lead items coordinated before work starts, so the program holds once the site is running.
04 · Construction
Decisions made on site, in person, while the work is still taking shape and a change costs a conversation rather than a variation.
05 · Completion and handover
Finished, checked and documented. Warranties, manuals and certificates handed over, and someone still answering the phone.
Who these services suit
Different clients, different starting point
The scope of work is only half the picture. Who you are changes what the first conversation needs to cover.
Homeowners
Building or renovating somewhere you intend to live. The early conversation is mostly about feasibility, staging and what the budget realistically buys.
Architects and designers
You have a set and need it built as drawn. The early conversation is about buildability, sequencing and where the detail needs protecting.
Developers
Small residential developments where the finished standard has to satisfy a private buyer, not just a certifier. The conversation starts with program and documentation.
Strata and building managers
Apartment works and remediation in occupied buildings. The conversation starts with access, approvals, resident impact and how the scope was arrived at.
Questions
Worth asking early
These come up in nearly every first conversation. Better answered here than on the phone.
We work with yours. Most projects arrive with a team already appointed and we are used to joining an existing one. If you have not engaged a designer yet, we can point you t owards people we have worked with and leave the choice to you. Design and construct is also available if you would rather run the whole thing through one contract.
We can give an indicative range from concepts, which is useful for testing feasibility before you spend money on documentation. A fixed price needs a properly documented set. A firm number off a concept sketch is either a guess or has the variations built into it already.
Residential work generally sits in the substantial renovation to full custom home range. Development work covers duplexes and small multi-residence buildings. If your project is smaller, ask anyway. A straight answer that it is not a fit is more use to you than being taken on and given less attention than the job deserves.
Sometimes, depending on scope. Where the structure is being opened up or services replaced wholesale it is usually neither practical nor safe. Where it is possible, the staging is planned around it from the start. You will get a straight answer at scoping rather than after you have committed.
A renovation starts with what you want the building to become. Remediation starts with why the building is failing. The first is a design question, the second a diagnostic one, so the process runs differently: investigation, then a scope written against the cause, then the repair. They also serve different clients, which is why remediation sits separately on this page.
Greater Sydney. In practice most work sits in the Eastern Suburbs, the Sutherland Shire and surrounding areas, which is where the office is and where the trade base operates. If your site is further out, ask and you will get an honest answer on whether we can service it properly.
It depends on what is already on site and where your documentation is up to. Lead times are usually measured in months rather than weeks, so the earlier the conversation the better the chance of the timing lining up with when you actually want to build.
We work with yours. Most projects arrive with a team already appointed and we are used to joining an existing one. If you have not engaged a designer yet, we can point you t owards people we have worked with and leave the choice to you. Design and construct is also available if you would rather run the whole thing through one contract.
TALK WITH US
Tell us about the project
Concept stage, a full set of drawings, or a building that needs repair. Send through whatever you have and you will get an honest answer on whether we are the right builder for it.