What a full renovation means here
A full renovation takes the room back to the frame and rebuilds it. Tiles, linings, membrane, bath, shower, vanity, toilet, tapware, lighting and ventilation all come out and all go back new.
In a suburban project home that is a predictable sequence. In a Highlands house it usually is too — but there are three things we want to know about before we put a number on it, because each one can move the price by thousands.
The floor underneath
A large share of older Bowral, Burradoo and Moss Vale houses sit on suspended timber floors — bearers and joists on piers, with a crawl space underneath.
That is good news for design. Drainage can run through the subfloor, so relocating a shower or a toilet is often a plumbing job rather than a slab-cutting job.
It is also where the risk sits. A shower that has leaked slowly for thirty years into a timber floor does real damage to the joists directly under it. From above, the room can look fine. From underneath, the timber can be soft.
Where there is subfloor access, we look at the measure. Where there is a visible problem, the repair is priced. Where access is limited, the quote carries a stated allowance for joist repairs, so the number in the contract is honest about what might be found.
What the walls are made of
Houses built or renovated before about 1990 can contain asbestos cement sheeting in wet areas — behind wall tiles, as a floor underlay, or as the ceiling lining. That is common in the 1960s to 1980s brick veneer and fibro stock across Mittagong, Moss Vale and the villages.
It cannot be identified by eye. Where the age points to it, a sample is tested before the price is finalised. If it is positive, removal is done by a separately licensed asbestos removalist with an air clearance before the renovation crew returns. That appears as its own line on the quote, not buried in a total.
What the services are
In town — Bowral, Mittagong, Moss Vale — the house is on mains water and sewer, and the renovation is conventional.
Out of town it may not be. Many properties around Exeter, Sutton Forest, Robertson and Bundanoon are on tank water with a pressure pump and an on-site sewage management system. That changes two things. Tapware and shower systems need to suit the actual pressure, not a Sydney mains assumption. And adding a new bathroom, as opposed to renovating an existing one, can change the loading on the septic system and may need council to look at it.
Designing for a Highlands winter
The Southern Highlands get frosts most mornings through the middle of winter. A bathroom that suits Bondi does not necessarily suit Burradoo.
Underfloor heating. An electric mat under the tile is the single most appreciated upgrade in this climate. It costs a modest amount when the floor is already open and is close to impossible to add later.
Ventilation that actually works. A ducted exhaust fan, vented outside rather than into the roof space, sized for the room, and switched with the light or on a run-on timer. Cold rooms with warm showers produce heavy condensation; without extraction it ends up as mould on the ceiling.
Heated towel rail on a timer. Dries towels, takes the chill off, uses little power.
Pipe insulation. On external walls and in subfloors on rural blocks, lagging the water lines is cheap insurance against a frozen pipe.
The sequence
- Strip-out back to frame, with protection through the house.
- Inspection of the exposed frame and floor, and repairs where needed.
- Plumbing and electrical rough-in, including heating cable and exhaust ducting.
- Sheeting, screeding and waterproofing, with cure time respected.
- Tiling — floor, then walls, full height in the wet zones.
- Fit-off: vanity, toilet, tapware, screen, mirror, lighting, heating controls.
The process page sets out the program in working days.
What it costs
A main bathroom taken back to frame runs $26,000–$40,000 in the Highlands, before any asbestos removal or significant subfloor repair. Character homes with complex conditions start from about $40,000. The cost page breaks the bands down.
Related work
If the house also has a dated ensuite or powder room, or the laundry sits next to the bathroom, doing them in one program saves on travel and set-up — which matters more in the Highlands than in the city.
Call 02 4210 5289 or send the room details through.