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We repair the weatherboards, verandahs, windows and fretwork on South Geelong’s 1850s to 1920s cottages and terraces, and help owners hold on to them as three- and four-storey housing goes up nearby. Since 2025 a lot more of the suburb sits inside the heritage overlay, which changes how that work is done.
South Geelong is one of Geelong’s oldest suburbs, small and tight, and it is about to get busier.
In August 2025 council added about 193 more properties to the City South residential heritage area, whose houses date from the 1850s to the 1920s. For those owners, external changes now generally need a permit. That makes like-for-like repair the default: weatherboards cut out and matched, verandahs and fretwork restored, timber sashes repaired rather than swapped for aluminium.
Almost a third of South Geelong’s homes are semi-detached, row or terrace houses, including the listed Austin Terraces on Carr and Mundy Streets. Shared walls and narrow lots mean tight access, materials carried through the house, and repairs that cannot disturb the neighbour’s side. We plan the access before we plan the job.
The same 2025 amendment brought in zones allowing three and four storeys, and the Barwon Water site on Lonsdale Street has been rezoned for 4 to 7 storeys, with sales planned from 2027. A draft plan for the West Fyans and Fyans Street area proposes 1,500 to 2,550 more homes across South Geelong and Newtown. For cottage owners staying put, building next door often means a new dividing fence, privacy screening, and finally getting to the rear addition.
Looking after a building on Moorabool Street or near the stadium? The commercial side of our work is on the commercial carpentry page for South Geelong.
Doors and locks have been most of our 11 South Geelong jobs. The rest is what heritage cottages and terraces need under the wider overlay.
Doors, locks and frames that have moved, the most common job we have done here.
Like-for-like repairs inside the heritage area.
Boards matched to 19th and early 20th century profiles.
Timber sashes repaired, not replaced.
Verandah and fretwork restoration on cottages and terraces.
Boundary fences where new building goes in next door.
Rear additions designed to suit the heritage rules.
A call or a message. Photos of the front help us check the heritage position.
Whether the house is in the heritage area, and whether the work touches the outside.
Itemised and free, with any permit step set out.
The same crew start to finish, and neighbours told before work starts on a shared wall.
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.
Prompt, great communication and a terrific job. Have used JF Maintenance for lots of work over the years and would recommend.
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.
In late 1836 David Fisher built what he called the first home in Geelong worthy of the name, from weatherboards of Van Diemen’s Land timber, on the north bank of the Barwon at what became Barwon Terrace. Barwon Rowing Club has been on the river since 1870, and the post office opened as South Geelong in 1921.
The 2021 census counted just 1,014 residents, and close to a third of its homes are terraces or semis. One of Geelong’s oldest housing stocks, now under a wider heritage overlay and with new infill planned around it, is why the work here is careful repair first and new building second.
South Geelong borders Geelong, East Geelong, Newtown, Belmont, Breakwater and Thomson.
Tell us about the house and whether it is in the heritage area, and we will come back with a free estimate.