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We can repair and add to Fairhaven’s beach houses among the trees, and look after holiday and Airbnb homes around their bookings. Fairhaven’s character, fencing and bushfire rules are detailed, so we work them out before anything is drawn.
Fairhaven is a small coastal village across the inlet from Aireys Inlet, with its houses set among the trees.
Our 2 Fairhaven jobs were both door work for commercial clients: a new front office door handle, and large double doors that had slumped so they wouldn’t shut, which we measured up for a new door and jamb. Doors on this coast take wind, salt and big temperature swings, and a door that has dropped needs its hinges and frame looked at, not just the latch.
Most Fairhaven houses are under a neighbourhood character overlay that asks for low, lightweight buildings of natural materials below the tree canopy. It needs a permit to build or extend an outbuilding or a pool, sets a 9 metre front setback and 3 metres to the side and rear, aims for no more than 7.5 metres in height and 30% site coverage, and aims to keep 60% of the site for planting. Separate design overlays need a permit for fences other than post and wire up to 1.5 metres.
Every address in Fairhaven is under the Bushfire Management Overlay, so new habitable work is built to a bushfire attack level. At the 2021 census 69% of homes weren’t lived in full-time, and we can look after holiday and Airbnb homes around their bookings. Above the Great Ocean Road on Lialeeta Road, a landslip from July 2025 is being monitored ahead of state-led repair works.
Looking after the surf club or another building around Fairhaven? That side of our work is on our commercial carpentry page.
Ordered by the work we have done in Fairhaven, then what timber beach houses need.
Door handles fitted; slumped doors assessed and measured.
For holiday and Airbnb homes, worked around bookings.
Decks inside the site-coverage limits.
Weathered decks among the trees.
Verandahs built to the bushfire level.
Timber cladding kept sound.
Extensions that suit the character rules.
A call or a message. Holiday owners can send photos and dates.
Setbacks, height, site coverage, fencing and the bushfire level come first.
Itemised and free, with any permit step set out.
We work to your bookings and send photos when it is finished.
Beyond our expectations, and it was great to work with people who could turn our ideas into something better than we imagined. Couldn’t recommend them highly enough.
Michael worked with our budget and we were so impressed by their diligence and workmanship. They did not cut corners but went the extra mile. So impressed we engaged them again at another property.
Prompt, great communication and a terrific job. Have used JF Maintenance for lots of work over the years and would recommend.
Fairhaven was settled as a surf beach and residential village in 1948, across the inlet from Aireys Inlet. The Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 destroyed 177 houses in Fairhaven. The surf life saving club on the beach patrols on weekends in the warmer months.
The 2021 census counted 390 residents and 549 dwellings, most of them not lived in full-time, on blocks of about 1,000 square metres. Bush blocks, strict character rules and bushfire controls are why the work here is careful and well planned.
Anglesea • Lorne • Torquay • Surf Coast
Fairhaven borders Aireys Inlet and Moggs Creek, with Bass Strait to the south.
Tell us about the house and when it is free, and we will come back with a free estimate.