What matters for plumbing in Turramurra
Houses, mostly owner-occupied
At the 2021 Census, 68.1% of the suburb's occupied homes were separate houses and 27.2% apartments. 39.3% were owned outright (NSW: 31.5%) and 19.2% were rented.
One council, two wards
All of Turramurra is in Ku-ring-gai Council. Parts sit in Comenarra ward with South Turramurra, and parts in Wahroonga ward with North Turramurra.
Four conservation areas
Council lists the Bobbin Head Road, Hillview and Ku-ring-gai Avenue conservation areas under Turramurra, and the Laurel Avenue King Street area under Warrawee and Turramurra.
Heritage trees need an application
Any tree work without an exemption needs a Council application, and Ku-ring-gai says that includes trees on heritage item properties and in conservation areas.
Drainage work in a conservation area
Ku-ring-gai describes a heritage conservation area as one valued for its historical and aesthetic character. The elements it names include the style of buildings, fences, trees and gardens, so the parts of your block a plumber might dig through can matter.
If a new stormwater line or sewer repair would cut through the roots of a tree, raise it with Council before the trench is planned. Relining an existing pipe from the inside can avoid much of the digging. Ask the plumber which option leaves the garden, the fence and the tree alone.
Water coming down the slope
On a hillside block, water arrives from above as run-off and from below ground as seepage. Ku-ring-gai Council puts both on the owner who is affected. You must take steps to protect your property from natural overland flow, and the uphill neighbour isn't responsible for controlling natural seepage.
Your own system is yours too: Council says owners maintain stormwater pipes from the house, garage and other structures down to the kerb and gutter. A plumber can add a surface drain or sub-soil drain to catch the water and carry it to that outlet. Read more on stormwater drains.
Inside the house
The sewer pipe belongs to you up to and including where it meets Sydney Water's system, which may be outside your boundary. On the water side, Sydney Water may repair the service between its main and the meter, up to one metre inside the property, and looks after the meter. Leaks past that point are yours: our Sydney leak detection page explains how they're found.
What we would do
Find out whether your property is a heritage item or inside one of the conservation areas before you approve any drainage plan that involves trenching. Then ask the plumber to price relining against digging. On a sloping block with a soggy lower yard, fix the drainage on your own land first, because Council puts seepage on the downhill owner.