27 Evans Street, Bronte
New build
Knockdown rebuild. Master Builders Award winner.
Master Builders award winning custom homes.
Custom homes and knockdown rebuilds on Sydney's harder blocks.
Big-project discipline, at a residential scale.
Piper Moss brings together Stephen's 40 years of building, with estimating and risk-control expertise gained through major NSW infrastructure projects.
Constrained sites, difficult access and steep blocks are normal work for us. You deal with the people who run the job, not an account manager between you and the site.
What we build.
Ground up residential and commercial work across Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, Inner West and Lower North Shore.
Knockdown rebuild
Demolition through to handover on your existing block, managed as one contract.
Custom homes
Ground up construction to your architect's documentation, or to ours.
Design and construct
Delivered lump sum or as design and construct with our own consultants.
Apartment buildings
Class 2 work, delivered by a builder licensed and registered to do it.
Commercial
Offices, hospitality and mixed use, including staged work in occupied buildings.
Difficult sites
Constrained access, steep blocks and heritage constraints are normal work for us.
Lump sum, or design and construct.
On a lump sum contract you bring documentation and we price it line by line. On design and construct we carry the consultants, so one party is answerable for both the drawing and the building of it.
Either way the estimate states its assumptions. Provisional items are named and capped rather than buried in a total that quietly moves once the job starts.
On tight eastern suburbs blocks the constraints are usually access, neighbours and levels rather than the build itself. That is planning work, and it happens before a price is issued rather than after.
Before the drawings
Try facade materials in 3D before design starts.
Cladding, roof colour and window frames decide how a new home looks from the street, so they are worth trying early. Our free Material Studio lets you put exterior cladding, COLORBOND® roof colours, decking, paving and window frames on a 3D model and see each one in year ten.
The Studio models a single-storey Sydney extension, so use it to explore exterior materials and finishes, not to price a new home. A new build is priced from the drawings or the brief, after we visit the site.
Cladding and roofing
Hardwood, fibre cement, steel and render cladding, under corrugated COLORBOND® steel in Monument, Woodland Grey or Surfmist, or terracotta or concrete tile.
Year ten, not just day one
An indicative look at how each finish weathers, and the upkeep it asks for, before it goes on the drawings.
Bushfire and coastal notes
Mark bushfire-prone land or a site within 1 km of the sea for our builder's notes on every material. Your BAL comes from a bushfire assessment, not from the Studio.
Four palettes
Bushland, Coastal, Heritage and Urban: four palettes we would build ourselves, each with the kind of block it suits best.
Working with us.
01
Inspect and scope
We attend site, establish what is actually wrong and put the scope in writing before anyone talks about price.
02
Estimate and de-risk
Priced line by line with the assumptions stated. Provisional items are named and capped, never buried in the total.
03
Build and hand over
Supervised on site, reported weekly, and handed over with documentation, warranties and a defects period we answer.
Related work.
New build and commercial work across Sydney.
122 Hopetoun Avenue, Vaucluse
Renovation & extension
Whole home renovation and extension.
Licensed, insured and accountable.
- NSW Builder Licence 497435C, Class 2. Building practitioner registration BUP4255006.
- Master Builders Association NSW Excellence in Housing winner, 2019, Stephen J. Auld, for a Bronte design and construct.
- Eligible for HBCF (icare) builder cover.
- Public liability and workers compensation in force.
- Work across residential, commercial and heritage building classes.
Common questions.
The five that come up on nearly every new build, and one on choosing materials.
Should we renovate, or knock down and rebuild?
It usually comes down to how much of the existing house you would actually keep. Where the footings, the slab and the structure are sound and the layout you want fits inside the existing envelope, renovating is the cheaper path. Where you are retaining a facade or a single wall to preserve a planning position, the retention itself becomes the expensive part, because everything has to be propped, worked around and tied back into fabric whose condition you cannot fully verify until it is open. We will tell you which one your site is, and we will tell you if it is the one that earns us less.
Do I need a DA, or can a rebuild go through as complying development?
Either is possible. Where the proposal meets the standards in the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008, known as the Codes SEPP, a council or a registered certifier can issue a Complying Development Certificate, which is the faster path. Where it does not, it is a Development Application to the council. Demolition needs its own approval in both cases. Which path you are on depends on the lot, the zoning and the design, so it is worth establishing before the drawings are finished rather than after.
Who is responsible if something goes wrong after handover?
We are, and it is not a matter of goodwill. Under the Home Building Act 1989 (NSW) the statutory warranty runs six years for a defect in a major element and two years for any other defect, measured from completion of the work. Separately, residential building work over $20,000 including GST must carry Home Building Compensation Fund cover through icare, which is the protection that sits behind the builder. Piper Moss is eligible for that cover.
Do you build apartment buildings, and what does Class 2 mean?
Class 2 is the National Construction Code's classification for a building containing two or more separate dwellings, which in practice means apartment buildings. Under the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW), building work on a Class 2 building has to be carried out by a registered building practitioner, so it is not work an ordinary residential licence covers. Piper Moss holds NSW Builder Licence 497435C and building practitioner registration BUP4255006.
What do you need from me before you can price the job?
For a lump sum price we need the architectural drawings and any engineering, because that is what makes a line by line estimate possible. For design and construct, a site and a clear brief is enough to begin. Either way we attend the site before issuing a price. On paperwork, in NSW a written contract is required for residential building work over $5,000 including GST, and above $20,000 the contract has to carry considerably more detail, so a build of this size runs on a proper contract as a matter of law rather than preference.
Can I see exterior materials and finishes before the design is done?
Yes. Our free Material Studio lets you try cladding, COLORBOND® roof colours, decking, paving and window frames in 3D, switch between day one and year ten to see indicative ageing, and read our builder's notes for bushfire-prone and coastal sites. It models a single-storey extension, so it is a way to explore facade materials and settle on a palette, not a price for a new home. Bring what you like to the first meeting, or send it to us from the Studio.
Tell us about the site and the scope.
[email protected]
0478 183 300
Mon to Fri 7am to 6pm, Sat 8am to 2pm