What will it cost to build?
Put in the floor area your block can carry and the sort of thing you want to build. You get the Sydney build cost range for it — by the kind of building and the finish level — before you spend money on anyone.
- Free
- Sydney rates, 2026
- No sign-up
What are you building?
Pick one to load it into the calculator.
Gross floor area across all levels, garages and balconies excluded. Filled in for the type you pick; change it to suit.
Used to show the cost per home.
Shows what houses and units sell for in that postcode.
Filled in with a typical renovation; change the numbers to match yours.
New rooms added on, ground floor or upstairs.
New floors, lighting and joinery in rooms you keep (painting is below).
Floor area of the rooms being painted.
About the size of the house: 130 small, 200 medium, 270 large.
How the number is built
The more storeys, the higher the rate per m²
A house, a duplex or a row of terraces is built light: a timber or steel frame, with a fire wall between homes that sit side by side. Once homes are stacked on top of each other, the building rules ask for much more, and the rate per square metre steps up with it.
- Light build — a house, a duplex or terraces, each home with its own roof. The cheapest per square metre.
- Medium build — homes stacked two high, like a manor house. Fire-rated floors and walls between every home.
- Heavy build — three storeys or more. A concrete structure and full fire protection, and from four storeys up, lifts and usually a basement car park.
The step that catches people out: it is the third storey that tips a building into the heavy category, not the fourth. A three-storey walk-up is built much like an eight-storey block, so going from two storeys to three is a jump in cost, not a gradual rise.
Where the rates come from
The ranges are built off published Sydney cost guides — principally the Rider Levett Bucknall Riders Digest, Sydney edition — cross-checked against current builder pricing on comparable jobs. They are rates for the Sydney metropolitan area and they move with the market.
Finish levels
- Standard — project-home specification. Laminate, tiles, builder's range.
- Mid — stone benches, engineered timber, better joinery and glazing.
- Luxury — architect-detailed, bespoke joinery, high-performance glazing, imported stone.
What's not in the number
This is the build cost — what a builder charges to build the thing. It is not the cost of the project. Not included:
- The land, and stamp duty on it
- GST
- Council and authority contributions (section 7.11, 7.12)
- DA, CDC and certifier fees
- Consultants — survey, geotechnical, planner, architect, engineer, BASIX
- Service upgrades and new connections
- Landscaping beyond the basics, pools, driveways over a normal length
- Finance costs, holding costs and escalation to the day you start
Indicative only. Costs will vary with the survey, the geotechnical report, the ground you find when you dig, access to the site, the council's conditions, how the thing is detailed and what the market is doing on the day you tender. Nobody can price a building from a floor area. This is the range you plan around until somebody prices the drawings.
Want the real number?
Estier designs and builds in Sydney. Send the brief through and you get a fixed price against a drawn scheme, not a rate per square metre.
Your details go to Estier and to no one else.
Sydney build cost guides
What a duplex costs to build · Terraces and townhouses · A knockdown rebuild · A manor house · A granny flat