Killara · Ku-ring-gai
Home renovations in Killara.
Killara is 55% houses and 43% apartments. A whole-home renovation here means one of two entirely different projects, and the process for each has almost nothing in common with the other.
NSW contractor licence 397801C · Ku-ring-gai Council area · About 17 minutes from our Hornsby showroom
Apartments — 42.6% of Killara
Renovating a whole apartment.
The 2021 Census counted 1,575 flats and apartments in Killara against 2,020 houses. A full unit renovation is one of the most common jobs we are asked about here, and it runs on approval time more than build time.
Everything in one submission
Kitchen, bathrooms, flooring, joinery and any wall change go to the owners corporation as a single scope.
Ask for the renovation by-law first
Your strata manager has it. It tells you what needs approval, what hours you can work and what documentation is required.
Hard flooring needs an acoustic rating
Replacing carpet with timber or tile almost always triggers a minimum impact-noise requirement. The underlay achieves it.
Ageing in place inside a lot
Level shower entry, wider doorways and future rail blocking are all achievable in a unit. They just need consent.
Why do it
Who renovates in Killara, and why.
Two distinct groups. Families in the houses adding space, and downsizers making an apartment worth moving into. Both are staying put afterwards, which is why liveability tends to outrank resale in the brief.
Downsizers renovate the unit
Moving from a Killara house to a Killara apartment usually means making the apartment work properly first.
Build the next twenty years in
With 39.4% of homes owned outright, a lot of these renovations are the last one. Design for that openly.
Storage is the apartment problem
Custom joinery does more for how a unit lives than any finish. It is where the budget earns most.
Running costs fall
New appliances, LED lighting and better glazing show up on every quarterly bill from handover onward.
Killara by the numbers
3,700
occupied private dwellings in Killara
42.6%
flats or apartments
39.4%
owned outright
25.4%
rented
Approvals
Two dwelling types, two processes.
Killara's near-even split means the first question is never about design. It is which of two completely separate approval systems you are about to enter.
In a house: check heritage and trees
Ku-ring-gai's listing and canopy controls shape what is possible before the floor plan does.
In a unit: strata, then planning
Owners corporation consent is a separate process to any council or certifier approval, and usually the slower one.
Exempt development covers most interiors
House or unit, internal work that leaves structure alone generally falls under exempt development in NSW and needs no application.
Then complying development, then a DA
Opening a wall or extending brings in an engineer. If the design meets the standards a certifier can issue a complying development certificate; if not, it is a development application to council.
Budget
The ceiling is different in each.
Median weekly household income in Killara is $2,802 and the median mortgage $3,300 a month. What the budget should be depends far more on dwelling type than on the suburb average.
Units have a firmer ceiling
There is a price no apartment in your building exceeds. It is a much harder ceiling than a house's.
Approval time is a cost
Months of waiting while holding a property is real money. Starting the application early is a budget decision.
Houses reward the plan
On the freestanding side, money spent resolving the layout beats money spent on the finishes schedule.
Contingency, named
An honest allowance in the quote rather than a low number and a run of variations. Unused, it is not charged.
Living through it
You can stay in a house. You usually cannot stay in a unit.
It is the most practical difference between the two halves of this suburb.
01
In a unit, plan to move out
There is no second bathroom and nowhere to put a temporary kitchen. Six to ten weeks elsewhere is realistic.
02
In a house, zone it
Seal a working half, keep a kitchen and bathroom live, and hand rooms back progressively.
03
Storage either way
Furniture has to go somewhere. Budget for it rather than discovering it in the first week.
04
Wet areas set the clock
Waterproofing cure times are fixed. They are the one part of the programme that cannot be compressed.
05
Handover, both halves the same
Whichever you own, you get the certificates, the acoustic specification if one applied, and the warranties.
Credentials
Licensed for houses and for strata.
NSW contractor licence
397801C
Renova Holdings Pty Ltd
Builder
99764S
Alireza Kamalzadeh
Accessible work
NDIS and aged care
We build from OT recommendations
HBCF eligibility
To 15 Oct 2028
icare NSW
Dwelling, tenure and income figures from the ABS 2021 Census QuickStats for Killara, NSW (SAL12137). Your scheme's renovation by-law and the rules on lot versus common property are matters for NSW Fair Trading. Verify licences on the NSW Government public register.
Killara questions
Houses and apartments, side by side.
Can we renovate a whole apartment before moving in?
It is the ideal sequence and a common one in Killara, particularly for downsizers. An empty unit lets trades overlap and removes all the daily protection work, so the programme is shorter and cheaper. The constraint is that owners corporation approval still has to be obtained first, and that runs on the committee's calendar, not yours.
What is a renovation by-law and where do I get it?
It is the rule your scheme has adopted setting out what owners may do inside their lot and on what conditions — approval process, work hours, protection of common areas, insurance and documentation. Your strata manager will provide it. Reading it before design saves a rejected application later.
Can I open up the kitchen in an apartment?
It depends which wall. A stud partition sitting entirely inside your lot can often come out with consent. A wall that carries load, or one on the lot boundary, is generally common property — that needs engineering and frequently a general meeting rather than a committee decision. We establish which is which before any design work starts.
How long should we allow for a full unit renovation?
Typically eight to twelve weeks on site for a two-bedroom apartment covering kitchen, bathroom, flooring and painting. Add the approval period in front of it, which varies with when your committee meets. We start the application at the first visit so the two run in parallel where possible.
We are downsizing from a house here. What should we prioritise?
Storage and accessibility. Custom joinery makes far more difference to how an apartment lives than any finish, and building in a level shower entry, wider doorways and blocking for future rails costs very little now. If the unit is where you intend to stay, say so at the first meeting and we will design accordingly.
House or apartment?
Answer that and we'll send back the process, the timeline and the approval steps that actually apply to you.
