The back yards here were never finished
Winston Hills was built out on generous blocks in an era when a back yard meant a clothesline, a shed and a stretch of lawn. Those blocks are still generous. The way families want to use them has changed completely.
So the most common project we see in suburbs like this is not really a house project at all. It is a block that has a perfectly serviceable house on the front two thirds and a large, flat, entirely unused area behind it.
Turning lawn into living space
A big back yard becomes usable when it gets structure: levels, paving, a covered outdoor room, a pool positioned where it makes sense, planting that gives the space edges, and drainage that means it works in winter as well as summer.
Refined Group started in 2005 as a landscape construction business before it built homes, and that outdoor work is still done by our own team rather than subcontracted. Our Willoughby project is a good example of the whole rear of a property built as a single job: pool, cabana, outdoor bathroom and landscaping together rather than in stages years apart.
What we build in Winston Hills
Pools and outdoor rooms
Concrete pools designed into the garden, with the paving, cabana and planting around them built at the same time. See how we design and build concrete pools.
Gardens and structural landscaping
Levels, retaining, paving, drainage and planting. The work that turns a finished house into a finished property. Gardens and outdoor living.
Knockdown rebuilds
Where the house has reached the end rather than the yard, a rebuild keeps the block and the street and replaces the building. Demolition, site preparation, construction and landscaping under one team.
Custom homes
New homes that make proper use of a generous block, with the relationship between the living areas and the yard designed deliberately rather than left to a later contractor.
Our work nearby
The Seven Hills project is the closest completed build, two distinct family homes on a subdivided block. For a home with landscaping delivered as part of the same contract, the Westmead project, an HIA NSW finalist, is a few minutes further on.
Adding a pool to a finished home
Retrofitting a pool and landscaping into an established property is a different exercise to building alongside a new house. Fencing, paving, lawn and sometimes services are already in place, so the question becomes how machinery reaches the rear and what has to be lifted and reinstated on the way through. Very doable, but the access and reinstatement should be priced honestly at the start rather than discovered once the fence panels are off.
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
How long does the whole process take?
The front end depends on 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. Once there are approved plans you get a construction program with the quote, and we tell you early if something starts tracking off it rather than at the end.
Do you take on landscaping on its own?
Yes. Structural landscaping is where this business began and we still take it on as its own project, particularly retaining, levels, terracing and outdoor living rather than planting alone.
Can you get machinery into an established back yard?
Usually, and where a crane or a large excavator cannot reach we plan around smaller machinery and staged excavation instead. The access plan is worked out before we price, so the number you sign already reflects your block rather than a best case.
Get in touch
Call 02 8014 8962 or email enquiry@refinedgroup.com.au. Or start with a no pressure intro call with our director.
