Carpenter in Shell Cove, Built In Joinery and Internal Work

Volume built homes are finished to a standard, and the standard stops at the point where a house becomes liveable rather than the point where it works. Storage is the clearest example. A new house often has generous floor area and almost no built in storage beyond a wardrobe with a single rail, which is why so much of what we do out here is joinery rather than repair.

Built in joinery is where that gets fixed, and it is worth being specific about what changes. Drawers instead of shelf space in a wardrobe. A laundry with benchtop, overhead storage and somewhere to hang things. A study nook with real desk depth and cable management. Shelving in an alcove that was left as a blank wall. Each one is usually a day or two of work in a space that was already paid for and is currently being worked around.

The second thing is finishing. A lot of new homes have standard skirting, architraves and doors that are fine and generic. Changing those is relatively cheap carpentry that changes how a house reads more than people expect, because it is what your eye follows through every room. It is also work best done across a whole floor rather than one room at a time, since the junction between the old profile and the new one is the thing people notice rather than the profile itself.

The advantage out here is that the house is square and plumb, which makes everything faster and more precise than the same work in a hundred year old cottage. Less packing, fewer scribes, and joinery that can be made off the measurements with confidence rather than fitted and adjusted on site. The thing worth checking before we start is your builder's warranty. Adding joinery generally does not affect structural warranty, but anything touching waterproofing, roofing or structure can, and it is better to know in advance than to find out later when somebody is deciding who is responsible.

More on carpentry, built in wardrobes, kitchen renovations and home renovation work.

More, and the gap is smaller than people assume once you compare like with like.

Flat pack is cheaper on materials and it is the right answer in some situations, particularly a garage or a space you expect to change. Where it falls down is fit. Standard carcass sizes leave gaps, the height stops short of the ceiling, and the hardware is usually the first thing to fail.

Built in work is made to the opening you have, goes to the ceiling, and uses hardware rated for the weight it will carry. The labour is the difference, and in a square new house that labour is less than it would be in an older place where nothing is true.

Our honest position is that a kit is the right answer in a garage and the wrong answer in a bedroom you look at every day. We will tell you which one your job is rather than quoting the bigger option by default, and if half your list is better off as a kit we will say that too.

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.

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.

Shell Cove is a straight run down the highway from Wollongong, with Shellharbour, Oak Flats, Warilla and Minnamurra all a few minutes away. Work in this group gets batched where the timing allows, which keeps travel off the invoice on a one or two day joinery job. A first look here is a tape measure rather than an investigation, because the house is square and what matters is the exact opening and what you want it to hold.

Plumbing and electrical work is carried out by licensed partners, not in-house.

Shell Cove jobs we also cover include welding and fencing. In the next suburbs over: carpentry in Figtree, carpentry in Berry and kitchen renovations in Oak Flats.