Dream Kitchen Transformation
Old kitchen torn out, main brick walls removed, electrical upgraded and a brand-new kitchen installed.
Multi-room and whole-home renovations across Wollongong and the Illawarra
We run home renovations in Wollongong and across the Illawarra where more than one trade is involved: a kitchen and a bathroom together, a new floor through the living areas, a wall out to open up the back of the house, or the whole place at once. If you own a home between Helensburgh and Nowra and the job is too big to hand to a single tradie, this is where to start.
When the job is bigger than one tradie
You get one written scope covering every room, one price, one sequence, and one person to ring. Get a ballpark from the instant estimate tool below, or call Marcio on 0413 147 335.
Handy Tradie 4 U. Licensed and insured. ABN 91 639 254 685. Wollongong NSW 2500. Plumbing and electrical work is carried out by licensed partner trades under their own licences, not in-house.
Three scales of home renovation, and what changes between them
What separates these three is not really the number of rooms. It is how much of the job is sequencing, and who carries it.
Single room
One room, one or two trades, a scope you can hold in your head. If that is what you have got, the trade page is more useful than this one: bathroom renovations, kitchen renovations, carpentry or decking.
Multi-room renovation
Two to four rooms, overlapping trades, one sequence. A kitchen and a bathroom together is the most common version, and doing them in one go genuinely works out better than doing them a year apart. The strip-out, the waste removal, the plumbing and electrical rough-in and the tiling all happen in one mobilisation instead of two. This is where one point of contact earns its keep, because the savings come from sequencing and the sequencing is the hard part.
Whole-of-home renovation
Most or all of the house, usually with the family living elsewhere or in one sealed-off part of it. Services get rerun, floors get levelled across the whole footprint, and the whole thing has to be planned in order before anyone starts, because a decision made in week two about where the laundry goes constrains week nine. These need the sequence drawn out and signed off in advance, and the scope written room by room.
Why coordination is the part that costs you money
If you manage a multi-trade renovation yourself, the trades are not the expensive part. The gaps between them are.
The tiler turns up before the waterproofing has cured, so he leaves and comes back the following week when he is next free. The electrician needs the carpenter's noggings in before he can mount anything, but nobody told him the carpenter is on another job until Thursday. The benchtop cannot be templated until the carcasses are in, and the carcasses cannot go in until the floor is level. Every one of those is a week, and nobody is responsible for any of them, because each trade did exactly what they were asked.
What we do is own the order. One scope that lists what happens in what sequence, one person holding the schedule, and when something slips, one person whose job it is to re-sequence the rest instead of telling you to ring the tiler yourself.
How a multi-room renovation gets quoted
We do not publish prices, rates or ranges, and on a multi-trade job a range would be close to meaningless anyway. The scope varies more than on any other work we quote. What we can tell you is how the quote gets built and what moves it.
It is built up room by room. Each room in scope is priced on what we find in it: how much can be kept and how much comes out, the access, whether services relocate, the condition of what sits behind the walls and under the floor, and the materials and fixtures you have chosen. On top of that sits any structural work, and a contingency allowance, which on an older house is not optional. Working against all that is a saving that only exists on a combined job: one mobilisation, one waste bin and one rough-in visit per specialist trade instead of two or three.
In a 1960s or 1970s Illawarra brick-and-tile, which is a lot of the housing stock here, the three things we most often find are old wiring without an earth, a past bathroom leak that has gone into the adjoining wall, and a floor that is noticeably out of level across a room. That is what the contingency is for, and it is the line we would tell you not to cut.
Use the instant estimate tool below for a ballpark per room. Then we come out, walk the house and give you a firm price for the whole job against a written scope, at no charge. Or call Marcio on 0413 147 335.
Who does what on a multi-trade job
Plumbing and electrical work is never carried out in-house. Both are done by the licensed specialist trades we work with, and each certifies their own work.
Project coordination, scope, sequence and the single point of contact:
Handy Tradie 4 U.
Carpentry, framing, sheeting, flooring, decking, tiling and fit-out:
in-house.
Welding and fabrication:
in-house, and our flagship trade. Gates, handrails and balustrades, structural steel, a bracket or a frame made to size. On a renovation it means the one-off steel element does not need a separate contractor and a separate schedule.
Landscaping and retaining walls:
in-house.
Plumbing:
licensed partner plumber, under their own licence.
Electrical:
licensed partner electrician, under their own licence.
Waterproofing:
our waterproofer, working to AS 3740:2021, who issues the certificate for any wet area.
Structural engineering and certification where required:
engaged for the job and named in your scope.
Our four-stage renovation process
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1. Walk the house, then scope and price it.
We walk every room with you, write the scope room by room, and give you one firm price against it before anything starts. Nothing gets committed off a phone call.
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2. Sequence and selections.
The order of work gets drawn out and agreed before anything starts, including the long-lead items: benchtops, custom cabinetry, tile orders, appliances, anything imported. You see the dates. If you will be moving out or sealing off part of the house, that gets planned here, not improvised in week three.
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3. Build, one contact throughout.
The trades come and go in the agreed order. You ring Marcio, not six different numbers. Anything we find gets reported to you in writing with a price before it is done, because a variation that is not agreed in writing first is not a variation. You get a progress update at each stage rather than having to chase one.
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4. Handover and sign-off.
We walk every room with you and write the snag list down together. They get fixed. You get the certificates and paperwork, including the waterproofing certificate for any wet area, the electrical and plumbing compliance paperwork from the partner trades, and the product and manufacturer documents, and the site cleaned.
Structural work, walls and what needs sign-off
Can we take this wall out is the most common question on a multi-room job, and the answer depends on whether it is holding anything up.
A non-structural partition is relatively simple: out it comes, then make good the ceiling, floor, cornice and the two ends where it met the other walls, which is most of the actual work. A load-bearing wall needs a structural engineer's design, a beam sized for the span, and temporary propping while it goes in. That is not something anyone can scope from a photo, and a figure given for it over the phone is a guess.
Where structural work is in scope we engage an engineer, and the design and certification are named in your scope. Approvals depend on the work, on your council, whether that is Wollongong City, Shellharbour or Kiama Municipal, and on strata by-laws if you are in a unit. We will confirm at the quote which approvals your job needs rather than guessing at it here.
What a renovation involves also depends on where the house is. In the older cottages at Thirroul and Bulli the floor and the wall framing decide the scope before any finish is chosen. Through Corrimal and Figtree it is post-war brick, where the walls are usually sound and the question is which ones are holding the roof up. The newer housing at Dapto and Shellharbour is square and predictable, so more of the budget goes into the rooms themselves. At Kiama the council is Kiama Municipal rather than Wollongong City, and a good share of the housing is let out, which puts dates around the work. In Wollongong itself the split is between older suburbs and apartments, and the apartments bring a committee into it.
Staging a renovation over time
You do not have to do it all at once, and sometimes you should not. If the budget covers two rooms now and two next year, we will scope the whole thing and then split it into stages that make sense in that order.
The point of scoping the whole job even when you are only building part of it is that it stops you paying twice. If the laundry is going to move next year, the plumbing for it gets roughed in while the wall is already open this year. If the floor is going through the whole house eventually, we do not lay it up to a doorway and then cut it back in twelve months. Staging done properly costs a little more than one hit; staging done without a plan costs considerably more.
Contracts, insurance and your protections
Most multi-room renovations sit above the threshold where HBCF cover and a full home building contract apply, so expect both on a job of this size.
Insurance.
We are licensed and insured and carry public liability cover. Ask and we will send you the certificate of currency.
Written contract.
In NSW a written contract is required for residential building work when the contract price is over $5,000 including GST. A small works contract covers work worth $5,000 to $20,000; work worth more than $20,000 requires a full home building contract.
Deposit.
The maximum deposit that may be requested is 10 per cent, and that cap applies to both small jobs and large jobs. We do not ask for more than that.
Home building compensation cover.
HBCF cover, and the insurance certificate that goes with it, is required when the contract value is over $20,000 including GST.
Variations.
Agreed in writing before the varied work happens, every time. A variation that is not in writing first is not a variation.
Warranties.
NSW statutory warranties are implied in every contract to do residential building work, and manufacturer product warranties are passed through to you with the paperwork at handover.
Recent renovation work across the Illawarra
The photos and short clips in this section are renovations we have completed across the Illawarra, captioned with the suburb and the scope of work and nothing else. There is more on our our work page.
Home renovation service areas
Based in Wollongong, covering the Illawarra and NSW South Coast: Helensburgh, Thirroul, Woonona, Bulli, Corrimal, North Wollongong, Fairy Meadow, Figtree, Unanderra, Port Kembla, Dapto, Horsley, Albion Park, Warilla, Oak Flats, Shellharbour, Shell Cove, Minnamurra, Kiama, Jamberoo, Gerringong, Berry and Nowra. You can see all our Illawarra and South Coast service areas on one page.
Get a ballpark estimate on your renovation
Use the instant estimate tool below to get a ballpark per room in about a minute. Then we come out, walk the house, and price the whole job against a written scope at no charge.
Call Marcio on 0413 147 335 or email info@handytradie4u.com. Handy Tradie 4 U, ABN 91 639 254 685, Wollongong NSW 2500.
Our Work
Recent Work
Whole-room renovation work, structural through to finishes
Videos
Watch Our Renovation Work
Real jobs from our own crew, filmed on site. See all our work videos.
Timber Floors Revived + Home Refresh
Floors sanded back to their natural colour, plus an air-con fix, new hot plate and range hood, bathroom ceiling, courtyard tidy-up and cupboard repairs.
Another Bathroom Reno Complete
Another bathroom renovation finished and handed over, start to finish by one team.
Bathroom Renovation
Another bathroom renovation, start to finish.
Want a firm price on this?
Send a photo and a short description. You get a straight answer on what it needs and what it costs before anything starts.
By Suburb
Home Renovations Across the Illawarra
Questions
Home Renovations Questions
Do you manage the whole renovation or just your own trades?+
We manage the whole job. One written scope, one price, one sequence, one contact. Our own trades are carpentry, welding and fabrication, tiling, flooring, decking and landscaping. Plumbing and electrical are done by licensed partner trades under their own licences, not in-house, and we schedule them.
How do you price a home renovation?+
We do not publish prices, rates or ranges. A multi-trade job is built up room by room from what we find in each one: how much comes out and how much can be kept, the access, whether services relocate, the condition of what is behind the walls and under the floor, and the materials and fixtures you have chosen. On top of that sits any structural work and a contingency allowance, which on an older house is not optional. That is why the honest answer comes from a written scope rather than a range. Use the estimate tool on this page for a ballpark per room, then we walk the house and give you one firm price before anything starts, at no charge.
Is doing the kitchen and bathroom together actually cheaper?+
Yes, per room. One mobilisation, one waste removal, one rough-in visit from each specialist trade and one tiling visit instead of two of each. The trade-off is that more of your house is out of action at once, and the whole job lands in one year rather than two.
Can the work be staged over time?+
Yes. We scope the whole job, then split it into stages in a sensible order. Scoping it all up front is what stops you paying twice. Roughing in next year's plumbing while this year's wall is already open costs almost nothing, and doing it later costs a wall.
Can you remove a wall to open up the living area?+
If it is non-structural, yes, plus make-good to the ceiling, floor and cornice. If it is load-bearing it needs a structural engineer's design and a beam sized for the span, and we will not put a figure on that without the engineering. Either way it is in the written scope before we start.
Do we need to move out during the renovation?+
For a single room, no. For a multi-room job, usually not, though you will lose a kitchen or a bathroom for a stretch. For whole-of-home, usually yes, or you live in a sealed-off part of the house. We tell you which at the quote so you can plan, rather than finding out in week two.
How does this page differ from your kitchen and bathroom pages?+
Those cover a single room done well. This covers jobs where several trades overlap and the sequence is the hard part. If you only need one room, go straight to our bathroom renovations or kitchen renovations page. You do not need project management for a single-room job and we will not charge you for it.
What happens if you find something unexpected?+
You get it in writing with a price before we go any further. On older Illawarra homes the usual finds are old wiring without an earth, a past bathroom leak gone into the adjoining wall, and a floor that is noticeably out of level. That is what the contingency allowance is for, and it is the line we would tell you not to cut.
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