Chatswood is one of the most apartment-dense pockets on the North Shore. Most of the renovation work here happens in strata, and that changes the job before a single trade is booked.
Most kitchen and bathroom renovators in Sydney build for houses. An apartment is a different problem, and the building decides most of it.
What is different about renovating in Chatswood
The towers around the station
The high-rise stock clustered around the interchange comes with the constraints every large building imposes: service lift bookings in fixed windows, loading dock access, same-day waste removal, and work hours that are usually weekdays only. None of that is a problem when it is planned for at quoting stage. It is expensive when it is discovered in week one.


Large schemes mean a longer approval
A big Chatswood scheme has more lots, a professional strata manager rather than a volunteer committee, and a meeting calendar that does not bend for one apartment. Major works need a special resolution, and a special resolution needs a general meeting. That is why we ask about the meeting schedule before we agree a start date, rather than after.
The older blocks are a different job
Away from the centre, the low-rise walk-up blocks on the residential streets are older stock. There is no lift to book, but there is original wiring and original plumbing behind the walls, and it turns up on strip-out. We carry a 15 to 20 percent contingency on those buildings and say so upfront.
This is the part we carry. Across 30 years and more than 1,000 Sydney apartments, our strata approval rate is 100 percent. We prepare the application and the by-law, deal with the strata manager, book the lifts, work inside the building's hours, and hand over the waterproofing certificate at the end. Fine Touch Group holds NSW Builder Licence 151772C.






















