Apartment renovations
Kitchens, bathrooms and whole unit renovations in Bondi, Bronte and Dover Heights blocks, approved under the building’s strata by-laws.
Home renovationsWaverley Council
Builders in Bondi and Waverley
Shafbuild renovates and extends homes across Bondi and the rest of the Waverley Council area, and delivers apartment renovations and remedial works for the strata buildings that line the coast. We work across metro Sydney from our office in Kensington, a short drive away.
Waverley packs heritage streets, beachfront apartment blocks and steep coastal lots into a small area. We read Waverley’s controls for your lot before design starts, so the project you draw is one council can approve.
- Based in Kensington
- Licensed builder 469244C
- NSW Class 2 Building Practitioner
- 5.0 on Google
Heritage controls in Waverley
Waverley’s local environmental plan lists individual heritage items and a set of heritage conservation areas, from streets of Federation and inter-war houses to landscape areas such as Bondi Beach and Park. Bondi Beach itself is on the National Heritage List and the State Heritage Register, so work in and around it carries extra layers of approval.
Waverley’s development control plan then sets the detail for heritage properties: siting, scale, materials and colour, roofs, verandahs, fences and gates. A heritage item, or a property in a conservation area, generally needs a development application with a heritage impact statement rather than a complying development certificate. We set that pathway at the start of design and approvals.
Coastal lots and apartment blocks
Beyond heritage, the DCP controls setbacks, height, landscaped area, privacy and views. On steep coastal lots in Bronte, Tamarama and Dover Heights those controls, and the views your neighbours already enjoy, shape where an extension can sit and how high it can go.
Salt air is hard on concrete, steel and coatings, and in Bondi’s apartment blocks it shows up as concrete cancer, failed balcony membranes and corroded balustrades. Work that touches waterproofing, structure or fire separation in a Class 2 building needs a registered building practitioner, which Shafbuild is.
What we build in Bondi and Waverley
Strata remedial works
Balcony waterproofing, concrete cancer repair and facade works for owners corporations in buildings exposed to salt air.
Remedial and strataSemi and terrace renovations
Renovating and extending semis, terraces and Federation houses on narrow lots, with party walls and neighbours planned for from day one.
ExtensionsSecond storey additions
Adding space upstairs where the DCP and the streetscape allow it, with the structural read on the existing house done first.
Design and approvalsWaverley suburbs we work in
- Bondi
- Bondi Beach
- North Bondi
- Bondi Junction
- Bronte
- Tamarama
- Queens Park
- Waverley
- Dover Heights
- Rose Bay (part)
- Vaucluse (part)
Elsewhere in the east? See builders in the Eastern Suburbs, Woollahra or Randwick.
Bondi and Waverley building questions
What drives the cost of building or renovating in Bondi?
Mostly the approval pathway (a development application with heritage reports takes more time and fees than a complying development certificate), access on narrow streets and steep coastal lots, what older walls, roofs and slabs reveal once opened up, and the finishes you choose. In apartment buildings, strata requirements and salt damage found during the work add to it. Rather than quote a headline figure, we visit, read the controls for your lot and give you a fixed, itemised scope with any provisional sums flagged upfront.
Do I need a DA to renovate in a Bondi heritage conservation area?
Usually, yes. Work on a heritage item, or external work on a property inside one of Waverley’s heritage conservation areas, generally can’t use the complying development pathway, so it goes through a development application with a heritage impact statement.
How do I find out if my Waverley property is in a conservation area?
Waverley’s local environmental plan maps its heritage items and conservation areas, and a planning certificate for the property states which controls apply. We check both at the first site visit, before any design work starts.
Do you work on apartment buildings in Bondi?
Yes. We renovate apartments under strata by-laws and deliver remedial, waterproofing and facade works for owners corporations as a registered Class 2 building practitioner. See remedial and strata builders.
Which suburbs do you cover in Waverley?
All of Waverley, including Bondi, Bondi Beach, North Bondi, Bondi Junction, Bronte, Tamarama, Queens Park, Waverley and Dover Heights. Rose Bay and Vaucluse are split between Waverley and Woollahra councils, so we confirm which council your lot sits in. See builders in Woollahra.
Start with what Waverley allows
Tell us about your Bondi or Waverley property and what you want to achieve. We will tell you what the controls allow and the smartest way to get it approved.