Turramurra · Ku-ring-gai
Home renovations in Turramurra.
Turramurra has the second-highest outright ownership in Ku-ring-gai and only 19.2% rented. Houses here get renovated because the family outgrew them, not because someone is preparing to sell.
NSW contractor licence 397801C · Ku-ring-gai Council area · About 15 minutes from our Hornsby showroom
Why do it
What a whole-home renovation buys here.
With 39.3% of Turramurra homes owned outright and 38.4% mortgaged, this is a suburb of committed owners. The brief is nearly always about how the house lives, not how it presents to a buyer.
The land is the asset
On a Turramurra block the house is the smaller part of the value. Rebuilding what sits on it is the efficient move.
Connect the house to the garden
These blocks are generous and most older houses ignore them. Opening the rear is the change people notice most.
A second living zone
With 54.8% of families here couples with children, the single-living-area plan stops working around high school.
Comfort you feel daily
Insulation, glazing and zoned heating on a large older house change the experience more than any finish does.
Approvals
Trees, slope and stormwater.
The three things most likely to reshape a Turramurra extension have nothing to do with the house itself. Getting them assessed early is the difference between a design that gets approved and one that gets redrawn.
Canopy first, footprint second
Ku-ring-gai's tree controls routinely decide where an extension can go. We map the significant trees before drawing.
Heritage closes the fast lane
Parts of Turramurra carry heritage listing. Complying development is generally unavailable on that land, so it becomes a development application.
Slope and stormwater
Many blocks here fall away. Where the water goes is an engineering question that gets answered before design, not after.
Interiors are exempt development
Reconfiguring rooms without touching structure generally falls under exempt development in NSW and needs no application at all.
Turramurra by the numbers
4,888
private dwellings in Turramurra
39.3%
owned outright
19.2%
rented
54.8%
of families are couples with children
Apartments — 27.2% of Turramurra
Whole-apartment renovations too.
1,329 flats and apartments by the 2021 count, most within walking distance of the station. A full unit renovation runs on approval time rather than build time, which is the reverse of how a house project behaves.
Consent covers the whole scope
Kitchen, bathroom, laundry, flooring and joinery go to the owners corporation together rather than as four separate requests.
Trees and heritage stop at the door
The constraints that dominate a Turramurra house barely touch a unit. Here the by-law is the binding document.
Slab construction, fixed waste
Fixtures generally stay near their existing positions. The gain comes from joinery, storage and light instead.
Certified on completion
Waterproofing certification and acoustic underlay documentation handed over, and available to the strata manager.
Budget
What a Turramurra budget actually contains.
Median weekly household income here is $3,046 and the median mortgage $3,484 a month. Budgets are usually adequate; what causes trouble is costs that were never mentioned rather than costs that were too high.
Consultants are part of the cost
Arborist, surveyor, engineer, certifier. On a Turramurra extension these are real money and we name them up front.
Sloping sites cost more to build on
Footings, retaining and access all scale with the fall. It is not a surprise if it is priced honestly at the start.
Do the whole ground floor at once
Flooring, wiring and plaster are far cheaper as one continuous scope than as three separate visits.
Contingency, named
On an older house a real allowance sits in the quote. Unused contingency is not charged.
Living through it
You can usually stay on site.
On an extend-and-renovate job the sequence below often removes the need to rent anywhere.
01
Extension first, always
Where you are adding, build and seal the new part before opening the old one. It buys you somewhere to live.
02
Relocate, then gut
Once the addition is serviced you move into it and the original house can be stripped without you leaving the site.
03
Services through the old half
Rewire, replumb and insulate while it is empty. Doing this around occupants doubles the time.
04
Finishes and floors
Continuous flooring across old and new so the join does not announce itself.
05
Sign-off across both halves
Engineering certification for the new structure, wet area certificates, and a single set of warranties covering the lot.
Credentials
Licensed for extensions and structural work.
NSW contractor licence
397801C
Renova Holdings Pty Ltd
Builder
99764S
Alireza Kamalzadeh
Contractor
395823C
Arshia Kamalzadeh
HBCF eligibility
To 15 Oct 2028
Approved to $750,000 per dwelling
Tenure, family and income figures from the ABS 2021 Census QuickStats for Turramurra (SAL13998). Tree protection and stormwater requirements sit in the Ku-ring-gai Development Control Plan — confirm with Ku-ring-gai Council. Verify licences on the NSW Government public register.
Turramurra questions
Blocks, trees and extensions.
Will the trees on our block stop an extension?
They can reshape it. Ku-ring-gai's tree protection controls are strict and a footprint that encroaches into a significant tree's root protection zone will often need an arborist report, and sometimes cannot be approved as drawn. We identify the constraint before design so the plan is built around the canopy rather than fighting it.
Our block slopes. How much does that add?
Meaningfully, and it varies with the fall. Deeper footings, retaining, drainage and site access all scale with slope, and materials often have to be carried rather than driven in. It is entirely buildable — most of Turramurra is — but it should be priced into the first quote rather than emerging as variations.
Can we avoid renting somewhere during the build?
Frequently, if the job includes an extension. We build and service the new portion first, move you into it, then gut the original house. That sequence adds a little to the programme and often saves several months of rent. On an internal-only renovation there is less scope for it.
Do you renovate whole apartments in Turramurra?
Yes. About 27.2% of dwellings here are flats or apartments, mostly near the station. We submit kitchen, bathroom, flooring and joinery to the owners corporation as one scope, and the process is entirely different to a house — fewer structural options, far more procedure, and the approval usually takes longer than the build.
Do we need a development application?
Not for most internal work — reconfiguring rooms without altering structure is generally exempt development in NSW. An extension on a standard block can often go through complying development, which a certifier issues against fixed standards. Where the block is heritage-affected or the design steps outside those standards, it becomes a development application to Ku-ring-gai Council and a months-longer path.
Send us the block, not just the house.
Trees, slope and drainage decide more about a Turramurra extension than the floor plan does.
