Where to start
If you are at the very beginning, read where the money actually goes first — it explains why quotes differ so much, and it will make every other number on this site easier to read.
If you live in a unit, go straight to strata approvals. In an apartment, the approval is almost always the longest part of the job, and starting it late is the single most common reason a renovation slips by a month.
If your house is in Ku-ring-gai, Willoughby or Mosman and might be heritage-affected, read renovating in a conservation area before you commission anything.
If you are still at the look-and-feel stage, our bathroom design ideas guide covers layout, palette, lighting and finishes, and the microcement bathrooms guide explains the seamless alternative to tiles.
Design & Planning
- Bath or walk-in shower? How to actually decide The resale question, the household question and the cost question behind removing a bath — and the two situations where you should keep it regardless. Updated 2026-09-10 · 7 min
- Small bathroom layouts that actually work Four layouts for bathrooms under five square metres, the three decisions that free up the most floor, and what to do when the waste cannot move. Updated 2026-09-10 · 8 min
Cost & Budget
- Cost per square metre, and why the figure misleads Why per-square-metre pricing misleads on bathrooms, what really drives the cost of a renovation, and a better way to sanity-check the quote in your hand. Updated 2026-09-10 · 7 min
- Does a bathroom renovation add value before you sell? Whether a bathroom renovation pays back at sale on Sydney's North Shore, when it does not, and the cheaper alternative most sellers should consider first. Updated 2026-09-10 · 7 min
- Where the money actually goes in a bathroom renovation A line-by-line breakdown of where a Sydney bathroom renovation budget goes — each trade's share, why labour dominates, and where upgrading pays. Updated 2026-09-10 · 8 min
Approvals & Compliance
- Renovating a bathroom in a heritage conservation area What heritage listing and conservation area controls mean for an internal bathroom renovation in Ku-ring-gai, Willoughby and Mosman — and what they do not. Updated 2026-09-10 · 7 min
- Strata bathroom renovations in NSW: what needs approving What needs owners corporation approval for a NSW strata bathroom renovation, how long it takes, and why the approval — not the build — sets your start date. Updated 2026-09-10 · 9 min