A kitchen you can cook in together. A bathroom that works at the morning rush. A laundry with somewhere for the baskets.
If you’re planning a kitchen, bathroom or laundry renovation in Glen Iris, start with those daily problems, the connected building work and the checks your particular property needs. This guide helps you turn them into a clear scope before comparing quotes or choosing finishes.
Check the address before the design
Glen Iris properties sit within more than one council area. Depending on the address, the responsible council may be the City of Stonnington or the City of Boroondara. Do not assume the rules from a nearby project apply to yours.
Start with a Victorian Planning Property Report. It identifies the planning zone and overlays affecting a specific parcel, with links to the relevant provisions.
Then confirm with the responsible council whether the proposed work needs a planning permit. Planning controls can affect external alterations, additions, demolition, trees, flood-related conditions and other site matters. A suburb name alone cannot answer that question.
A planning permit and a building permit are different approvals. Victorian Government guidance says a planning permit controls the use or development of land, while a building permit relates to the construction work. Some renovations need one, both or neither. If a planning permit is required, it generally comes first.
Treat heritage as an address-specific constraint
Glen Iris contains established homes of different periods, but age or appearance does not prove that a property is protected. Check the actual overlay and grading.
The City of Stonnington says properties within a Heritage Overlay may require a planning permit for work including partial demolition, exterior changes, new windows and doors, visible services, garages, verandahs and some decks. It also notes that internal alterations are generally exempt unless the overlay specifies otherwise.
The City of Boroondara likewise advises checking VicPlan before demolition, construction or alteration work and explains that significant, contributory and non-contributory properties are assessed differently.
If heritage controls apply, do not begin by asking how much of the old house can be hidden. Identify what gives the place its street presence, which parts can change and where new work can sit without weakening the original composition. A capable designer or planner can resolve that early; trying to repair the planning logic after drawings are complete wastes time.
Find the household bottleneck
Walk through an ordinary weekday before drawing the new room. Look for the problems the renovation needs to solve:
- Can two people prepare food without blocking the fridge, sink or dishwasher?
- Where do bags, shoes, towels, baskets and cleaning equipment wait?
- Can the toilet, basin and shower be used with the privacy your household needs?
- Which doors clash, and where do people squeeze past each other?
These answers help distinguish a storage problem from a doorway, plumbing or wider layout problem.
Plan connected rooms together
A kitchen, bathroom and laundry may be separate rooms, but services, structure and finishes can connect the work. A moved doorway can change cabinetry; a widened opening can affect flooring and structure.
Map those connections before ordering joinery. If the kitchen and laundry share services or flooring, compare the combined scope before committing to separate stages. Start with Bluestone’s complete kitchen renovation approach, or explore bathroom and laundry renovations.
Design for daily pressure, not display
Kitchen circulation
Test the fridge, oven, dishwasher and drawers with their doors open. An island only earns its space if people can still pass comfortably; a peninsula, table or simpler cabinetry run may work better.
Storage where you use it
Put everyday plates near the dishwasher, lunch containers near preparation space and baskets where laundry actually waits. Count the vacuum, bulk supplies and other awkward items before drawing cupboard interiors.
Bathroom privacy
Test who needs the basin, toilet and shower at the same time. A layout change still has to resolve waterproofing, ventilation and service access.
Finishes at the wear points
Check benchtop edges, cabinet handles, shower thresholds and floor junctions. Ask how each finish is cleaned, repaired and replaced.
Decide whether staging genuinely helps
Staging can keep more of the house usable, but may repeat demolition, protection, trade visits and making good. Compare the connected scope first.
If the work must be staged, document future floor heights, electrical capacity, plumbing routes, door openings and finish junctions now. Read the guide to renovating in stages before deciding.
Compare the complete scope
A low quotation can simply contain less work.
Before comparing totals, check whether each proposal includes the same demolition, structural work, protection, disposal, licensed trades, cabinetry, benchtops, fixtures, waterproofing, painting, flooring, permits and final making good.
Consumer Affairs Victoria advises putting the required work into the plans and specifications before signing, because later changes can be expensive and may require a permit amendment. The contract should also make clear who is responsible for any planning and building permits.
Ask these questions before choosing a builder:
What assumptions have been made about the existing structure and services?
Which parts of the price are fixed, provisional or excluded?
Who coordinates the designer, surveyor, permits and licensed trades?
How will occupied areas be separated from dust and site traffic?
What decisions must be made before work starts?
What happens if concealed conditions change the scope?
How will variations be described, priced and approved?
Define the project before making selections
Before spending time on tapware, cabinet colours or feature tiles, write a one-page project brief:
the rooms and connected work included
the three daily problems the renovation must solve
what must remain
the planning or heritage checks still required
the budget range, including contingency
whether the household intends to live at home during construction
the decisions that cannot be deferred
That brief gives every later conversation a useful test: does this choice solve the agreed problem, or is it adding cost without improving the home?
Where Bluestone fits
Bluestone plans and manages complete kitchen, bathroom and laundry renovations, including the connected building work those rooms need. Aaron coordinates the trades and site work from the first conversation to handover.
Start with the rooms, your Glen Iris location and what is not working. See how Bluestone works, and use the builder questions guide to compare the answers you receive.
