Bathroom Renovations in Kiama, Including Holiday and Strata Properties
Kiama has a type of bathroom job you do not get much of further north. A good share of the housing here is let out to visitors for part of the year, which means the renovation has to fit between bookings rather than run whenever it suits the builder.
Alongside that there are the older cottages in town, small original bathrooms often with the toilet separate, in houses built before waterproofing membranes existed. And there are the strata units, where anything touching common property needs the owners corporation to approve it before work starts. Each of those changes how the job is planned more than it changes the actual building work: a holiday property needs the scope locked down and materials on site before day one, a cottage needs the floor and the framing checked before anything new goes in, and a unit needs a written scope a committee can read.
Marcio is Wollongong based and Kiama is a regular run at the southern end of our area. Carpentry, waterproofing, tiling and the fit out are all our own work, with plumbing and electrical through licensed partners, which on a job with a fixed finish date matters more than usual.
Bathroom Work We Do in Kiama
Work Staged Around Bookings
Fixed start and finish dates, scope locked down before anything is opened up, and materials on site before day one. If the window does not suit the work, we tell you before you commit rather than after, because a half finished bathroom over a long weekend costs more in cancelled bookings than waiting for a better window ever does.
Older Cottage Bathrooms in Town
Full strip out, check the floor and the framing behind the shower, then rebuild. In a house of this age the layout is usually where the gain is, not the floor area. We look at the room and tell you what it can become, including whether a separate toilet beside it is worth combining in while the floor is open.
Strata Units and Committee Approval
A written scope the committee can read, work that respects common property, and realistic timing that allows for approval before anything is ordered. We do strata balustrade work across the region, so this is familiar ground rather than something we are learning on your job and your timeline.
Fittings for a Coastal Town
Kiama is close to the water and the fittings know it. Tapware finishes, screen hardware and exhaust fans get chosen for the exposure, and we tell you which finishes will still look right in a few years rather than which ones photograph best in a showroom. On a property that is let out that matters twice over.
Bathrooms We Have Finished Around the Illawarra
A compact bathroom in an older Kiama cottage, rebuilt with the layout changed and the original window kept.
Three Kinds of Bathroom Job in Kiama
Holiday properties come with a calendar. The work has to start and finish on known dates, because the room being a week late costs the owner real money in cancelled bookings. That means the scope has to be nailed down before anything is pulled apart, materials ordered and on site before day one, and a realistic allowance made for what the strip out might find. We would rather tell you a job does not fit a two week window than start it and leave you with a half finished room over a long weekend.
The older cottages in town are a different problem. Small original bathrooms, often with the toilet separate, in houses that were built before waterproofing membranes existed. These are full strip out jobs where the framing and the floor get checked before anything new goes in, and where the gain usually comes from rethinking the layout rather than from making the room bigger. Combining a bathroom and a separate toilet is often the best change available in these houses.
Strata units bring a third set of rules. Anything that touches common property, and in most buildings the waterproofing and the drainage do, needs the owners corporation to approve it first. That is a paperwork exercise and it takes time, so it is worth starting early rather than after the design is settled. We are used to working to a written scope that a committee can read and approve, because we do the same thing on strata balustrade work across the region.
Running under all three is the coast. Kiama is close enough to the water that the fittings know it, so tapware finishes, screen hardware and exhaust fans get chosen for the exposure rather than picked from a catalogue, and we tell you which finishes will still look right in a few years. On a property that is let out, that matters twice over, because a finish that marks in two summers is a photo problem as well as a maintenance one.
More on bathroom renovations, strata balustrades, property maintenance and home renovation work.
How Do You Renovate a Bathroom That Has to Be Ready by a Date?
You plan backwards from the date and you take the unknowns out early.
The biggest unknown in any bathroom is what the strip out finds, so on a job with a fixed deadline we spend more time looking before we start. Lifting a corner of the floor, checking behind the shower wall, looking at where the drainage runs. It is a bit of extra work at the quoting stage and it is the main reason these jobs finish when they are supposed to.
The second thing is materials. On a normal job you can order as you go. On a fixed window job everything is on site before day one, because a tile that is three weeks away will cost you the whole schedule.
The third is honesty about what fits. Some rooms cannot be done properly in ten days, and the waterproofing in particular has stages that cannot be rushed without causing a problem later. If your window is too tight we will tell you, and we would rather have that conversation before you cancel any bookings.
Thinking about the bathroom in Kiama?
Send through a few photos of the room as it is now, and you will get a straight answer on what it involves and what it costs.
Contracts, Deposits and What NSW Asks For
Renovation work in NSW comes with consumer protections worth knowing before you sign anything. A written contract is required once the contract price is over $5,000 including GST. Work between $5,000 and $20,000 can run under a small works contract; above $20,000 it needs a full home building contract, and home building compensation cover with the certificate that goes with it. The maximum deposit anyone can ask for is 10 per cent, on a small job or a large one. Variations should be agreed in writing before the varied work happens, not reconciled at the end. None of that is unique to us, and you should expect it from whoever you use.
Quoting a Kiama Bathroom
Every job gets quoted on what it actually needs. We look at the access, the condition of what is already there, the materials you want and how much of the existing work can be kept, then give you a figure before anything starts. Two jobs that look identical in photos can be very different once someone is standing in the room, so we do not publish a rate card. You get a price for your job, and it does not move once we have agreed it.
Kiama, Minnamurra, Jamberoo and Gerringong are a regular run, and we carry on down to Berry and Nowra. Marcio is based in Wollongong, so southern jobs get grouped into the same trip where the timing allows, which keeps travel off the invoice and makes a return visit for a finish practical. A first look here means establishing early whether the property is let out or in a strata building, because both set the timeline before the design does.
Plumbing and electrical work is carried out by licensed partners, not in-house.
Kiama Bathroom Questions
Can you work around my holiday letting calendar?+
Yes, and it is worth telling us the dates at the first conversation rather than later. A fixed window changes how the job is planned: the scope gets locked down earlier, materials are ordered and on site before we start, and we build in an allowance for what the strip out might turn up. If the window is too tight for the work the room actually needs, we will say so before you book anything in rather than halfway through, because that is the only version of the conversation that is any use to you.
What approvals do I need for a bathroom renovation in a Kiama strata unit?+
In most buildings the waterproofing and the drainage are common property, so the owners corporation has to approve the work before it starts. That usually means submitting a scope of works and waiting for it to go through a committee, which takes time you need to allow for. We write the scope in a form a committee can actually read and approve. Kiama Municipal Council is the consent authority for anything that needs council approval on top of that, which internal bathroom work often does not.
How do I get a quote for a bathroom renovation in Kiama?+
Book a time for us to see the room, and mention at that first call if the property is let out or is part of a strata building, because both change the planning rather than just the price. If there is a window between bookings, give us the dates up front so we can tell you honestly whether the work fits it. You get an itemised written quote with a firm figure and the exclusions listed before anything starts. Call 0413 147 335.
Which trades does a Kiama bathroom renovation need?+
Carpentry, waterproofing, tiling, plumbing, electrical and painting. We do the carpentry, waterproofing, tiling and fit out in house, and the plumbing and electrical go through our licensed partners. On a property with a deadline that matters, because one person is sequencing it rather than six diaries trying to line up, and a day lost waiting on a trade is a day off the end of your window. For a strata unit it also means one scope goes to the committee instead of several that do not line up.
Other work we do around Kiama: home renovations, welding and fencing. In the next suburbs over: bathroom renovations in Nowra and bathroom renovations in Shellharbour.
“Finally found someone who actually turned up when he said he would!”
“Cheerful, quick, and didn't try to upsell me on things I didn't need. Rare these days.”
“Turned a weekend-long headache into a one-visit fix. Absolute legend.”