Building in Westleigh
Westleigh is a small, leafy pocket on the edge of Berowra Valley, and it behaves differently to the rest of the Hills. Brand new homes rarely come up here. Most of the housing stock went in decades ago, the streets are established and quiet, and the blocks back onto or look towards bushland. People move to Westleigh and stay, which means the homes that do get built are built to be lived in for a long time.
It also means most blocks here fall. Sometimes gently, often not. That single fact shapes the cost, the engineering and the finished feel of a home in this suburb more than any other, and it is where a lot of builders come unstuck.
The home we built here
Our Westleigh project is the clearest answer to what we do in this suburb. Five bedrooms, four metre ceilings through the main living spaces, a Miele kitchen set in 40mm stone with a full butlers pantry, a ground floor guest suite and a parents retreat with district views. Solar and EV charging. Nothing on that job was value engineered out at the end.
The part worth understanding is underneath it. The block falls more than five metres from front to back. Rather than cut and flatten it, the home steps across three splits that follow the land, and those splits are exactly what produce the four metre ceilings. The slope was not a problem to be solved. It was the reason that home feels the way it does.
The same thinking runs outside: terraced retaining walls holding the fall, and a level lawn carved out of a block that did not have one.
What we build in Westleigh
Custom homes
New homes on Westleigh blocks, built around the fall of the land rather than against it. Where a block has real slope we would rather work the levels into the floor plan than pay for a flat platform in excavation and retaining that nobody ever sees.
Knockdown rebuilds
Most of Westleigh was built decades ago on blocks that are worth more than the houses standing on them. A knockdown rebuild keeps the street, the bushland outlook and the neighbours, and replaces a tired house with a home built for the next thirty years. We manage demolition, site preparation, construction and the landscaping that finishes it.
Pools
A pool on a sloping Westleigh block is an engineering job before it is a design one. Get the levels, retaining and access sorted early and the pool sits into the garden as though the land was always that shape. See how we design and build concrete pools.
Gardens and retaining
Structural landscaping is where Refined Group started, and on a falling block it is not decoration. Retaining, drainage and levels are what make the outside of a Westleigh home usable. Gardens, retaining and outdoor rooms under the same contract as the house.
Why the fall of your block matters
On a sloping block the two things that quietly decide your budget are how much you excavate and how much you retain. Fighting the fall means big cuts, big fill and walls holding back everything the design refused to deal with. Working with it means splits through the floor plan and drop edge beams that let the slab follow the land.
Because the home, the pool and the garden sit in one contract with us, the levels in the house and the retaining in the garden get resolved together instead of each being solved in isolation. That is the single biggest practical advantage of a one contract build in a suburb like this one.
How a build works with us
Start with a conversation. An intro call, then a site visit. We look at your block, listen to the brief and give you a straight early read on scope and budget.
Design and approvals. We do not draw the plans or lodge the approvals, but we stay involved through that stage so what comes out of it is something we can actually build to budget.
A detailed, fixed quote. Inclusions spelt out line by line. We price what is documented and flag the gaps other builders price around, so the number you sign is the number you build to.
The build. Our director runs the site from start to handover, and you deal with him throughout. We limit how many projects we take on each year, which is why we can promise that.
Why a director led boutique builder?
- The person who quoted your project is the person running the site
- Home, pool and landscaping under one contract, one point of responsibility
- HIA NSW Finalists 2018, 2019 & 2023
- 20+ years building across Sydney, with a 5 star Google rating
Common questions
Is a sloping block more expensive to build on?
Usually, yes, but how much more depends entirely on whether the design works with the slope or against it. Excavation, retaining and drainage are the variables. We would rather look at your block early and tell you what the fall really means for your budget than have it surface as a variation later.
How much does a new home in Westleigh cost?
Custom home builds with us generally start from $1 million, with pools and landscaping scoped as part of the same contract. Every block is different, and on a falling block the site works can move the number meaningfully, which is why we look before we quote.
Can you keep the bushland outlook?
It is usually the whole point. Orientation, window placement and where the living level sits are what protect an outlook, and they are decisions made early. Protected trees and bushfire requirements also apply in parts of Westleigh, and both are far cheaper to design around than to discover later.
Get in touch
Call 02 8014 8962 or email enquiry@refinedgroup.com.au. Or start with a no pressure intro call with our director.
