Hornsby · Hornsby Shire
Home renovations in Hornsby.
Six in ten Hornsby dwellings are apartments, so a good share of the whole-home work here is a complete unit renovation — kitchen, bathroom, floors and joinery under one owners corporation approval.
NSW contractor licence 397801C · Hornsby Shire Council area · Showroom at 104 George St, Hornsby
Apartments — 59.1% of Hornsby
Renovating a whole apartment.
Hornsby has 9,613 private dwellings and the majority are flats. A full unit renovation is a genuinely different project to a house renovation — fewer structural options, far more process, and one approval that has to cover the lot.
One application, not four
Kitchen, bathroom, laundry and flooring go to the owners corporation as a single scope. Four separate applications is four times the waiting.
Acoustic requirements bite hardest
Replacing carpet with hard flooring usually triggers an acoustic by-law. We check the required rating before you choose a floor, not after.
Structural walls are not yours
In a unit, opening up the kitchen to the living room may cross into common property or structure. That gets confirmed in writing first.
Everything moves through one lift
Demolition out, materials in, all through a booked lift on agreed hours. It is a scheduling problem, and we plan it as one.
Hornsby by the numbers
9,613
private dwellings in Hornsby
59.1%
flats or apartments
43.0%
of homes are rented — the highest in the district
22.9%
owned outright
Approvals
Three pathways, and we tell you which one you are on.
Most renovation delays come from finding out about an approval late. We assess which pathway applies at the first visit so the timeline you are given is the real one.
Exempt development
Internal work that does not touch structure generally needs no application at all. Most kitchen and bathroom replacements sit here.
Complying development (CDC)
A faster certifier-issued approval for work that meets set standards. No council assessment, but the standards are strict.
Development application (DA)
Required where the work falls outside those standards. Assessed by Hornsby Shire Council and it takes longer.
Strata sits on top of all of it
In a unit the owners corporation approval is separate from and additional to any planning approval.
Living through it
The order the work happens in.
Sequencing is the difference between six weeks out of the property and twelve.
01
Decide early: stay or go
In a unit, staying through a full renovation is harder than in a house. There is no second bathroom and nowhere to put a temporary kitchen.
02
Wet areas first
Bathroom and laundry go first because waterproofing has fixed cure times that cannot be compressed.
03
Kitchen while the floors are open
Joinery and appliances land before flooring, so the floor runs clean and unbroken underneath.
04
Floors, paint, fit-off
The last three weeks are the visible ones. Everything before that is the part that decides whether it lasts.
05
Handover with certificates
Waterproofing certification, appliance documentation and warranties, handed over together.
Why do it
What the money actually buys.
Hornsby's median weekly household income is $1,952 and the median mortgage repayment is $2,240 a month — both the lowest in the district. Being deliberate about return matters more here than anywhere else we work.
Renting it out afterwards
With 43% of Hornsby homes rented, a lot of this work is done to let. A renovated unit lets faster and holds tenants longer.
Depreciation on new work
Capital works and new plant may be depreciable on an investment property. Worth asking your accountant before you start, not after.
The running costs drop
New appliances, LED lighting and sealed windows change the quarterly bills. That is a return you collect every quarter.
Know the ceiling
There is a price no unit in your building exceeds. Spending past it is a lifestyle decision, and we will say so plainly.
Credentials
Based in Hornsby, licensed for the whole job.
NSW contractor licence
397801C
Renova Holdings Pty Ltd
Builder
99764S
Alireza Kamalzadeh
Contractor
395823C
Arshia Kamalzadeh
HBCF eligibility
To 15 Oct 2028
Approved to $150,000 per apartment building
Dwelling, tenure and income figures from the ABS 2021 Census QuickStats for Hornsby (SAL11943). Exempt and complying development are defined in the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008 — see the NSW Department of Planning. Verify licences on the NSW Government public register.
Hornsby questions
Whole homes and whole apartments.
Can I renovate an entire apartment in one go?
Yes, and it is usually the better way to do it. One scope, one owners corporation application, one mobilisation of trades. Doing the bathroom this year and the kitchen in two years means paying for site setup, protection and disruption twice and living through it twice.
Can I replace the carpet with timber or tile?
Usually, but most schemes have an acoustic by-law setting a minimum impact-noise rating for hard flooring. The underlay specification is what gets you there. We check the by-law before you choose a floor, because changing it afterwards means lifting the lot.
Do I need council approval as well as strata approval?
They are separate. Owners corporation approval is a strata matter; council or a certifier deals with planning. Internal work that does not alter structure is generally exempt development in NSW, so often there is no planning approval needed at all — but the strata approval still is.
How long does a full unit renovation take?
Typically eight to twelve weeks on site for a two-bedroom apartment doing kitchen, bathroom, flooring and painting, plus the approval time before it. The approval is often the longer half. We start that clock at the first visit.
Is it worth renovating an investment property in Hornsby?
It depends on the gap between what your property currently achieves and what a comparable renovated one does. We can tell you what the work costs; a local agent can tell you what it returns. We would rather you had both numbers before committing than only ours.
We are your local builder, literally.
The showroom is on George Street. Walk in, or send us the address and we'll come to you.
