Two halves of one suburb
Through the middle of Padstow the streets are conventional — flat blocks, driveways, post-war brick veneer and fibro houses on regular lots. Straightforward to work on and straightforward to price.
Toward the river, Padstow Heights sits on sloping ground where houses frequently drop below street level. The bathroom inside is usually much the same house; what differs is how a bath, a skip and four trades get to it.
That distinction is worth making explicit in a quote, because access is real labour on every single delivery and it is the thing most likely to make a phone estimate wrong.
The standard job
Compact original bathroom, separate toilet next door, suspended timber floor. The floor is the important part: it means a plumber can work from underneath and relocate drainage at a proper gradient without anyone cutting concrete.
That makes combining the two rooms into one properly sized bathroom a cost question rather than a structural one, and it is the change that most improves how these houses live. Establish whether the dividing wall is carrying load at quoting stage — often it is not, and where it is, a beam handles it.
What strip-out reveals
On a pre-1990 bathroom, expect asbestos cement sheeting behind the tiles as a realistic possibility rather than an outside chance. The suburb was built squarely within the period when it was standard material.
The process does not vary: survey, removal by a separately licensed asbestos removalist, clearance, then general work continues. See the full renovation page for how that sits in the sequence.
Alongside it, the usual: deteriorated framing where a shower has leaked into the studs, old cast-iron waste, and sometimes work carried out without a licensed plumber.
Where later extensions complicate things
Many Padstow houses have a rear extension added at some point, often on a slab. If the bathroom sits in that part of the house, the drainage picture changes — the floor no longer offers the flexibility the original section does, and moving a waste becomes a concrete decision.
Establishing which construction sits under the bathroom is one of the first things a measure settles, and it changes the advice substantially.
Second bathrooms
Common request here, and usually feasible. An ensuite off the main bedroom, a conversion of an underused bedroom, or a powder room taken from an oversized laundry that already has drainage — the last of which is the cheapest when it works.
What it costs
Like-for-like renovations sit at $15,000–$24,000, combined rooms with drainage moving at $22,000–$34,000 and up, with the Heights blocks adding labour for access. The 2026 bands set it out, and the FAQ covers what comes up next.
Nearby
We also work in Revesby, Bankstown and Greenacre, plus Panania, Riverwood and Peakhurst.
Call 02 4404 0504 or send the room details through.
From first call to hand-back
- Measure — half an hour at your place, no cost, evenings and weekends included.
- Survey where the age warrants it, before the price is finalised rather than after.
- Written quote — fittings named, tile allowance stated, variation method set out.
- Build — 15 to 20 working days, with the waterproofing cure time shown.
Questions people ask before they commit
What is different about Padstow Heights?
The blocks slope toward the river and the house frequently sits below the street. That does not change the bathroom, but it changes how material gets to it — more carrying on every delivery, and sometimes a skip that has to sit on the road. It is labour, and it belongs in the quote.
What are the bathrooms like?
Post-war standard: compact, on a suspended timber floor, with the toilet in its own room next door. Many were updated once in the 1980s, which puts two layers behind the tiles and makes the strip-out slightly less predictable.
Can the drainage move?
On a suspended timber floor, generally yes and at a reasonable cost. That is what makes combining the bathroom and separate toilet worth doing here rather than merely desirable. Where a later slab extension is involved, that part of the house is a different proposition.
Do you work on granny flats and secondary dwellings?
Yes. They are common across this part of Sydney and the bathroom in one is a compact, self-contained job. Check how the flat itself was approved before designing, because that affects what can be done inside it.
Can you get a skip onto a Padstow Heights block?
Sometimes on the property, often not. Where the house sits below the street the skip usually goes on the road, which can require a council permit and needs to be identified in the quote rather than discovered on day one. On the flatter streets through the middle of Padstow it is rarely an issue.