ST HELIERS, EASTERN BAYS — AUCKLAND
Full Home Renovation
in St Heliers, Eastern Bays
A dated four-level home brought back to light — three bathrooms, full repaint, kitchen update and deck, all managed under one roof
Completed August 2018
RENOVATION
Project Managed By
Kevin Yang
Managing Director and Project Management
kevin@superiorrenovations.co.nz
0800 199 888
Quick answer: This was a full home renovation in St Heliers — a dark, dated four-level Eastern Bays home given three new bathrooms, a full interior and exterior repaint, a kitchen update and a brought-to-code deck, all project-managed end to end while the family lived on site.
| Location | St Heliers, Eastern Bays, Auckland |
| Completed | August 2018 |
| Scope | Three bathrooms + laundry, full interior and exterior repaint, kitchen update, deck brought to code, full project management |
| Project lead | Kevin Yang, Managing Director |
| Project type | Owner-occupier, later prepared for sale |
Why Todd and His Family Took On a Full Home Renovation in St Heliers
Todd Chandler and his family bought this St Heliers home in the middle of 2018 with one plan: make it the family home. Four levels, high ceilings, and one of the best positions in the Eastern Bays. On paper it had everything. In practice, it had problems the photos didn’t show.
The first thing you noticed wasn’t the view. It was the smell — a musty, damp note coming from one of the bathrooms the moment you walked in the front door. Then the dark. “It’s a pretty terrible day today,” Todd said during filming, “but with that slate floor it’s almost black.” A house with harbour light on three sides, and it still felt closed-in. Dated wallpaper on every wall. Three leaking bathrooms. A deck that didn’t meet code.
Todd had renovated before, on other properties. So he wasn’t going in blind. What he didn’t have this time was the time — a demanding job meant he needed a company that could carry the whole thing, not just swing a hammer and leave him to coordinate the rest. He got quotes from a few firms. The thing that set the decision was simple, and it wasn’t price.
Choosing One Team to Manage the Whole Project
What won the job was responsiveness. Todd’s words, not ours. When he asked for a first meeting, Kevin replied fast. When Kevin said a quote would land that day or the next, it landed — complete and detailed, the way Todd expected it. Small things. They add up to whether you trust someone with your house for several months.
Kevin Yang took the project as manager. The arrangement that followed was the kind that only works when communication is honest both ways. “He would tell me if I don’t make a decision by today, it’s going to hold things up,” Todd recalled. No vague reassurance — clear about what he needed, and when, so the programme kept moving. For a busy client, that candour was worth more than a softer sell.
A renovation on this scale is rarely smooth start to finish, and this one had its moments. The family stayed living in the house the whole way through. That meant the work had to be sequenced around real life — meals, sleep, getting in and out of a four-storey home with trades on site. Keeping disruption down wasn’t a nice-to-have. It was the brief.
What the St Heliers Renovation Covered
This was a whole-house job, not a single-room refresh. Here’s what the work involved, room by room.
Three Bathrooms and the Laundry
The bathrooms were the worst of it — dated, leaking, and the source of that damp smell. We stripped all three back, fixed the leaks and the mould behind them, and rebuilt. One layout changed entirely: a wall came out to turn a bathroom into an ensuite. New vanities, toilets, showers and a freestanding bath went in, with modern black tapware throughout. Full wall tiling in the showers, half-height elsewhere. New waterproofing, new lighting, and LED strips set in front of the mirrors. The laundry was reworked in the same pass.
Full Repaint and Wallpaper Removal
Every wall in the house was wallpapered. On a four-level home with high ceilings, getting it all off was a job in itself — height and access made the strip-out slow going. Once it was down, the whole house was re-plastered and repainted, ceilings included. The kitchen got a new subway-tile splashback and the light fittings throughout were replaced, which is most of what lifted the place out of its 1980s feel.
Deck and Balustrades
The existing deck wasn’t to code. We reworked the structure to bring it up to standard — removing exterior steps between deck joints, replacing balustrades, and making the whole thing structurally sound. The balustrades were re-stained to match the rest of the exterior, so it read as one finish rather than a patch job.
The Work Behind the Walls: Waterproofing and a Deck Brought to Code
New tiles and black tapware are the part you see. On an older St Heliers home, the work that actually earns its keep is the part you don’t — what goes in behind the walls and under the deck before any of the finishes land.
Three Bathrooms, Rebuilt to Stay Watertight
Leaking bathrooms are rarely just a tiling problem. Once all three were stripped back, the real fix started behind the surface. New Zealand’s Building Code clause E3 Internal Moisture requires wet-area surfaces to be impervious and easily cleaned, and ventilated well enough to clear the moisture a bathroom throws off. Meeting that in a shower or around a bath means a waterproof membrane under the tiles, not grout doing the job on its own: systems specified to AS/NZS 4858 for wet-area membranes go on before a single tile is laid, so water that gets through the grout still can’t reach the framing. That is what stops the damp smell, and the hidden rot behind it, from coming back. New extraction and LED lighting went into each room in the same pass, because under E3 ventilation isn’t optional in an Auckland bathroom. Whether your own bathroom needs a full re-waterproof depends on what sits behind the walls, which is a call for a Licensed Building Practitioner.
Bringing the Deck Up to Code
The existing deck didn’t meet code, which on a multi-level Eastern Bays home is a safety matter, not a cosmetic one. Building Code clause F4 Safety from Falling calls for a barrier wherever someone could fall a metre or more, and that barrier has to be continuous, rigid and strong. We reworked the structure, removed the exterior steps sitting between the deck joints, and replaced the balustrades so the whole thing was sound, then re-stained them to match the exterior so it read as one finish. Where a deck or balustrade needs to be signed off against F4 on your own home, that sits with your LBP or Auckland Council: it is the kind of detail that separates a cosmetic makeover from a full home renovation done properly.
Project Highlights
Full repaint and wallpaper removal
- Dated wallpaper removed throughout the house
- Four levels with high ceilings — height and access made the strip-out a real job
- Full re-plaster and repaint of every wall and ceiling
Three bathrooms + laundry
- Gutted and rebuilt, with leaks and mould fixed at the source
- One wall removed to convert a bathroom into an ensuite
- New vanities, toilets, showers, freestanding bath and black tapware
- New waterproofing, new lighting, LED strips at the mirrors
- Full wall tiling in showers, half-height to the walls
Deck renovation
- Existing deck brought up to code
- Exterior steps between deck joints removed
- Balustrades replaced and the structure made sound
Renovating an Eastern Bays Home Without Moving Out
St Heliers homes carry a particular set of challenges. Many sit on the slope running up from Tāmaki Drive, built across multiple levels to catch the harbour view — which is exactly what makes them hard to work in. Trades are carrying materials up and down several flights. Access is tight. And when the family is still living there, every day’s work has to leave the house functional by evening.
The fix was sequencing, not heroics. Kevin staged the bathrooms so the household was never left without one in use. The site stayed tidy between the entry and the work zones. Decisions were flagged early so nothing stalled waiting on a colour or a fitting. For Todd, juggling a demanding job, that meant the renovation slotted around his life rather than taking it over.
“On a multi-level St Heliers home with the family still in it, the programme matters as much as the finish. Get the sequence right and people barely notice the disruption — they just see the rooms come back better, one by one.”
— Kevin Yang, Managing Director, Superior Renovations
What a Full Home Renovation Like This Costs in Auckland
Every full home renovation is priced to its own scope — the number of rooms, the materials, and how much structural and remedial work hides behind the walls all move the figure. A project like Todd’s, with three bathrooms rebuilt, a whole-house repaint, and a deck brought to code, sits in a very different place to a single-room update. Rather than quote a figure that won’t match your home, use our renovation cost estimate tools to get a realistic Auckland estimate for your own project.
💡 Quick tip: On older homes, the leaking bathrooms aren’t the expensive surprise — it’s what the water’s been doing behind them. Budget for remedial work before you fall in love with the tapware.
What Todd Said
“I’ve already recommended you guys — my experience was that good. Right from the start to the end, the same responsiveness to calls and emails, the same attention to detail, the same respect for me and my family. From start to finish the experience never wavered. It was solid all the way through.”
— Todd Chandler, St Heliers
“Before, you’d walk in and notice a smell coming from one of the bathrooms, and then the darkness in the house.”
“Now you walk in and the house is impressive. It’s a lovely space to be in. Everybody who comes here is impressed and enjoys it — but it still feels like a home.”
One Team, Start to Finish
A dark, leaking, wallpapered four-level home became a bright, sound, modern one — without the family ever moving out, and finished to a standard that held up when the house later went to market. That’s what managing every trade under one roof buys you: one point of contact, one accountable team, and a result that reads as a whole rather than a series of patched-up jobs.
If you’re weighing up a full home renovation here in East Auckland — or a multi-bathroom job like this one — we’d be glad to walk through what’s possible in your home.
➡ Book your free in-home consultation with Superior Renovations
➡ See our bathroom renovations across East Auckland
➡ Request a free feasibility report for your project
Full Home Renovation in St Heliers — FAQ
How long did the full home renovation in St Heliers take?
The project completed in August 2018. A whole-house renovation on this scale — three bathrooms rebuilt, the entire house re-plastered and repainted, plus deck work — typically runs over several months on site. Because the family stayed living in the home, the work was sequenced room by room to keep the house usable throughout, which shapes the timeline as much as the build itself.
Can you renovate a home while the family is still living in it?
Yes — Todd and his family lived in this St Heliers home for the whole renovation. The key is sequencing. We staged the three bathrooms so one was always usable, kept the site tidy between the entry and the work zones, and flagged decisions early so nothing stalled. On a multi-level Eastern Bays home, that planning matters as much as the finishes.
What was involved in renovating the three bathrooms?
All three bathrooms were gutted back to the framing. We fixed the leaks and mould at the source, then rebuilt with new vanities, toilets, showers and a freestanding bath, finished with modern black tapware. One wall was removed to convert a bathroom into an ensuite. New waterproofing and lighting went in, including LED strips in front of the mirrors, with full wall tiling in the showers.
Why was the deck part of the renovation?
The existing deck didn't meet code. We reworked the structure to bring it up to standard — removing exterior steps between the deck joints, replacing the balustrades, and making the whole thing structurally sound. The balustrades were re-stained to match the rest of the exterior so the finish read as one piece.
How much does a full home renovation in St Heliers cost?
It depends entirely on scope — the number of rooms, the materials, and how much remedial work sits behind the walls. A whole-house project like Todd's costs considerably more than a single-room update. Rather than guess, use our renovation cost estimate tools for a realistic Auckland figure based on your own home and the work you're planning.
Do you handle multi-level homes like those in the Eastern Bays?
Yes. Many St Heliers and Eastern Bays homes are built across several levels to catch the harbour view, which makes access and trade logistics harder. This home was four levels with high ceilings. We plan the build around that — material handling, trade sequencing, and keeping a lived-in house functional day to day.
What made an old home feel so dark, and how was it fixed?
The combination of dated dark flooring, wallpapered walls throughout, and tired lighting closed the house in, despite its position. Stripping the wallpaper, re-plastering and repainting every surface, and replacing the light fittings did most of the work. Todd's own words afterwards: the house went from almost black underfoot to a lovely space that still feels like a home.
How do you stop a renovated bathroom from leaking again?
The leaks here were fixed at the source, not tiled over. Under New Zealand's Building Code clause E3, wet-area surfaces have to be impervious and properly ventilated. In practice a waterproof membrane goes on behind the tiles before they are laid, so any water getting through the grout still can't reach the framing. New extraction was fitted in each bathroom too, because ventilation is as much a part of staying watertight as the membrane itself.
Why did the deck need to be brought up to code?
The existing deck didn't meet the current standard. Building Code clause F4 requires a barrier wherever a person could fall a metre or more, and it has to be continuous, rigid and strong. We reworked the structure, removed the exterior steps between the deck joints and replaced the balustrades so the deck was sound, then re-stained them to match the exterior. Whether a deck on your own home needs the same work is a question for your LBP or Auckland Council.
Further Resources
- More completed Auckland renovation projects
- Real client stories from across Auckland
Claim Your Free No Obligation Consultation With Our Design Team In The Comfort Of Your Own Home
Simply fill in the form below to take the first step towards living like new by renovating the old!
