NSW · Sydney — Lower North Shore
Home builders in Hunters Hill
A builder’s licence is permission to trade. It is not a solvency test. 2,361 construction companies entered external administration last financial year, more than any other industry in the country — and no regulator checks whether the one quoting your Hunters Hill job can still pay its framer on Friday. We run the Four-Point Builder Check™: licence with NSW Fair Trading, insurance sighted, still trading, and genuinely working in Hunters Hill. Then one name and the reasoning behind it — or a straight no.
- Costs you nothing, ever
- No obligation to use them
- Details never sold
Why this is harder than it looks in Hunters Hill
- Hunters Hill is not a generic block
Mapped here: 3 residential zones, 3 overlay families, 505 heritage records, bushfire-prone land. A builder who prices the house and discovers the site is a builder whose quote moves — and the variations land on you, not on them. The ones who work Hunters Hill regularly already know which of these reach which streets.
- A current licence tells you nothing about solvency
Every one of the companies behind that figure held a valid licence the day before it failed. The certificate on the wall says they are permitted to build. It does not say they can pay their framer on Friday.
What building in Hunters Hill actually involves
Hunters Hill carries thirteen landscape conservation areas against a single general one. That ratio is the signature of this peninsula: the heritage layer here is protecting the setting — topography, trees, gardens, views to the water — at least as much as it protects buildings.
A landscape conservation area constrains what a building sits in
A general conservation area governs new work in terms of streetscape and built character. A landscape conservation area governs the ground and the planting: mature trees, the fall of the land, the garden setting, sightlines from the water and the street. The practical reach is wider than owners expect, because it extends to work that involves no building at all — removing a tree, regrading for a level lawn, cutting a driveway, building a pool or a retaining wall, clearing to open a view. On a block inside one of these thirteen areas, the landscape plan is part of the application rather than something settled after approval, and a design that assumes the site can be cleared and levelled first is the one that stalls.
Four hundred and ninety-one items as well
The item layer is also dense — 491 general items across 3.63 km² — so the usual sequence of establishing whether a property is itself listed still applies. What is different here is that clearing that question does not clear the site: an unlisted house inside a landscape conservation area is constrained through its grounds.
The full residential range, in 3.63 km²
Three residential zones are mapped: R2 Low Density Residential dominant, with R3 Medium Density Residential and R4 High Density Residential also present. R4 anticipates apartment scale, and it sits in the same small area as a heritage layer oriented to retention and setting — which is why the zone alone is a poor guide to what will be approved on a particular block. Height is mapped at 8.5 m on 112 of 119 parcels and runs to 11 m on larger sites, and floor space ratio at 0.5:1 on 112 of 148.
Large lots, and three clear results
Minimum lot sizes are substantial: 700–749 m² on 69 parcels, 900–999 m² on 41 and 1000–1999 m² on 36. Thirteen bushfire-prone features are mapped across Vegetation Buffer and Categories 1 and 2; eighteen acid sulfate soil features are mapped; and no declared mine subsidence district covers the peninsula.
Settle the ground before the house
Whether the parcel is inside one of the thirteen landscape conservation areas, because that governs the ground and the trees before it governs the house. Then whether the house is itself one of the 491 items. Then the zone — R2, R3 and R4 produce very different expectations here. Then the lot band, which decides whether the holding can be divided.
What you are dealing with in Hunters Hill
Six things a builder prices differently. This is the suburb-level picture — which of them reaches your block is an address check.
- Bushfire Mapped BAL assessment; glazing, decking and screening spec.
- Flood Not checked Held in each council's own Flood Planning Map rather than in a statewide layer
- Heritage 505 records Impact statement; limits demolition, form and materials.
- Slope Not checked Published by individual councils rather than as a statewide layer
- Soil Acid sulfate Below trigger depth: management plan, treatment, disposal.
- Density controls 3 zones · 8.5m · 0.5:1 What may be built, and how much. Set parcel by parcel.
What is mapped in Hunters Hill
Read from NSW ePlanning Spatial Viewer, not a summary of it.
- Council
- Hunters Hill Council
- Planning scheme
- Hunters Hill Local Environmental Plan 2012
- Overlays mapped here
- Heritage — Item - General · Heritage — Conservation Area - Landscape · Heritage — Conservation Area - General
- Residential zones mapped
- R2 Low Density Residential
R3 Medium Density Residential
R4 High Density Residential - Bushfire-prone land
- Mapped in this suburb
- Mine subsidence district
- Not in one
- Heritage items mapped
- 505
- Minimum lot size
- 700-749 m² minimum (most common of 3 minimum-lot-size bands mapped in the suburb)
- Typical height limit
- 8.5m
- Floor space ratio
- 0.5:1
- Acid sulfate soils
- Mapped in this suburb
Planning data from NSW ePlanning Spatial Viewer (CC BY 4.0), read 2026-09-20. Suburb-level, not a report on your block — check your address on the NSW Planning Portal.
Bushfire categories mapped here
Worth knowing before you budget
- Building height
The most common maximum building height mapped here is 8.5m (112 of 119 mapped parcels). Other controls that apply to a meaningful number of parcels run up to 11m — generally centres and larger sites, not a house block.
- Floor space ratio
A floor space ratio of 0.5:1 applies to most of the mapped parcels here (112 of 148). On an 800 m² block that is about 400 m² of floor area, every level counted.
The mechanism
The Four-Point Builder Check™
Every one of them is something you could do yourself. What we sell is that it has been done, dated and published — and repeated on a schedule, because a check that happened once is worth nothing.
- 01 · Licence
Looked up on NSW Fair Trading's own public register — number, class and status, with the date we looked recorded.
- 02 · Insurance
Public liability plus whatever warranty or indemnity cover NSW requires. Sighted by us, not self-declared on a form.
- 03 · Still trading
Solvency re-checked on a schedule. A licence stays current right up until the day a company fails.
- 04 · Works in Hunters Hill
Confirmed with the builder against the suburbs they genuinely service — not a radius drawn on a map.
How this works
- 01Tell us about the build
Six questions, about three minutes.
- 02We match it against Hunters Hill
Against the 3 residential zones mapped here, 3 overlay families, bushfire-prone land, 505 heritage records — and against which builders hold the right licence class for it, have done it before, and actually work under Hunters Hill Council.
- 03One recommendation, with the reasoning
Not six quotes to sift. We negotiate on your behalf; you deal with the builder directly. Builders pay us, only once you sign.
What you get, and what it costs you
- One builder, not a list
We read your brief against what is actually mapped in Hunters Hill — 3 residential zones, 3 overlay families, 505 heritage records — and against which builders hold the right licence class, have built under these constraints before, and genuinely work under Hunters Hill Council. You get one name and the reasoning in writing.
- Or a straight no
The same business day you get one of two things: our recommendation, with the reasons — or a plain email saying we have not got a builder in Hunters Hill we would put our name to yet, and what we are doing about it. No drip campaign, no being passed around.
- It costs you nothing, ever
The builder pays us, and only if you sign with them. You are never charged, and you are never under any obligation to use the builder we name. How the fee works.
We are not a builder, we do not manage your build, and we do not hold your money.
Fair questions before you send anything
- You have no builders listed in Hunters Hill yet. What use is that?
A fair question, and the honest answer is that a list is not what we do. We do not publish a builder until the licence is checked, the insurance is sighted and we have confirmed they are still trading — so an empty list here means we have not finished that work in Hunters Hill, not that we cannot help. Send the brief and we go and find one for your block. If we cannot, you get told that, the same day, rather than being added to a mailing list.
- Why not just get three quotes myself?
You can, and for a simple job you probably should. The difficulty on a block in Hunters Hill is that quotes are only comparable when they assume the same things — and with 3 residential zones mapped here, two builders can price the same house against different assumptions about the site and both be quoting honestly. Sorting that out is the part we do.
Builders serving Hunters Hill
Questions about building in Hunters Hill
What is a landscape conservation area?
A heritage control over the setting rather than the buildings — topography, mature trees, garden setting, sightlines. Thirteen are mapped in Hunters Hill, against a single general conservation area.
What does it stop me doing?
It reaches work involving no building at all: removing a tree, regrading for a level lawn, cutting a driveway, a pool, a retaining wall, clearing to open a view. The landscape plan becomes part of the application rather than something settled after approval.
My house isn't listed — does heritage still apply?
Possibly. 491 general items are mapped, so the listing question is worth clearing, but clearing it does not clear the site: an unlisted house inside a landscape conservation area is constrained through its grounds.
What zones are mapped?
R2 Low Density Residential is dominant, with R3 Medium Density Residential and R4 High Density Residential also present in 3.63 km². R4 anticipates apartment scale alongside a heritage layer oriented to retention, so the zone alone is a poor guide to what will be approved.
What are the height and floor space controls?
Height is 8.5 m on 112 of 119 mapped parcels, running to 11 m on larger sites; floor space ratio is 0.5:1 on 112 of 148.
What are the lot sizes?
Substantial: 700–749 m² on 69 parcels, 900–999 m² on 41 and 1000–1999 m² on 36.
What to ask a builder about a block in Hunters Hill
Each one is here because of something mapped in Hunters Hill. Take them to whoever quotes.
- 01
Which of the 3 residential zones mapped in Hunters Hill covers this address, and what does that one permit that the others do not?
- 02
What bushfire attack level have you built to in Hunters Hill before, and what did it change in the glazing, decking and screening?
- 03
Have you had an application through Hunters Hill Council where a heritage control applied, and how long did the assessment take?
- 04
What height control is mapped at this address? It is set block by block in Hunters Hill, not suburb-wide.
Local landmarks in Hunters Hill
- Boronia Park Reserve
- Buffalo Creek Reserve
- St Johns Park
- Remains of Bath
- Harry Shelley Memorial Playground
- Murray-Prior Reserve
- Fig Tree Park
- Heydon Park
No catch
What you are agreeing to
- Nothing. There is no contract with us, no account to create, no card, and nothing to cancel.
- No obligation to use whoever we recommend. Take the name and the reasoning and do what you like with it, including nothing.
- No phone number needed to start. Give us one if you want to be called; otherwise we write.
- One builder contacts you, not six. And only after you have seen the brief and said yes.
- Your details go to that builder and nobody else. Never sold, never auctioned, never shared with a panel.
- If we have nobody in Hunters Hill, we say so. That is a real answer we give, and the empty builder list above is the proof we mean it.
Building in Hunters Hill?
Licence checked with NSW Fair Trading, insurance sighted, still trading, genuinely working in Hunters Hill. If we cannot find one worth recommending, we will say so.
Find my builder — free →Free · about 3 minutes · no obligation · your details are never sold
Named watercourses in Hunters Hill
3 named watercourses are mapped in Hunters Hill. On any individual block the question is which of them is nearest, because that is what the setback is offset from and what the flow path follows.
- Brickmakers Creek
- Buffalo Creek
- Tarban Creek
Read from the NSW Water Theme, which maps gazetted watercourses only. A constructed channel or a stormwater drain is not in this list and can still carry water across a block.