Renovation Contractor
in Ara Damansara

Local facts last reviewed 29 September 2026. Sources are listed at the end of the page.

Sime Darby’s Ara Damansara was launched as a freehold township in 1999 and filled in over the following two decades with link and semi-detached houses, bungalows and high-rise condominiums. The developer still describes it as sitting on some of the last freehold parcels in Petaling Jaya, and its recent launches — Andara semi-detached homes, the Ara Bloc serviced apartments, Cantara Residences and Triara Residences — are all freehold as well. Oasis Damansara, the commercial hub, sits alongside the landed precincts, with the Ara Damansara LRT station on the Kelana Jaya Line nearby.

Most houses here are therefore somewhere between ten and twenty-five years old. That is an awkward age: too new for a full services overhaul, old enough for the first failed shower tray, the first stained ceiling under a balcony and the first owner who wants the back yard roofed over. MBPJ’s own draft local plan lists Ara Damansara as one of five tourism zones in the city, with Ara Damansara Park as its recreation draw — a reminder that this is a settled, owner-occupied place where neighbours notice a messy site.

Ara Damansara in brief

MBPJ approvals, and why PJU 1A is different

Standard house add-ons in Petaling Jaya — a typical rear kitchen, a car-porch roof, a back-yard extension built to one of the council’s standard drawings — go through MBPJ’s pelan setara application, form PB.B04. You buy the standard plan set from the council (RM200 a set), fill in three copies, and every registered owner has to sign both the form and the plans in original ink. The checklist then asks for the title or sale agreement, paid assessment and quit-rent receipts, owners’ IC copies, a sworn declaration and colour site photos showing three angles of every floor that is affected.

Item 10 of that checklist is the one that matters here. For “housing on former mining land and rubbish-disposal sites such as PJS, SS 7 and PJU 1A (Kelana Idaman)” MBPJ asks for a structural plan on A1 linen and reinforced-concrete calculations, plus Form A. In practice that means an engineer is part of even a modest PJU 1A extension, and the foundation design should be settled before anyone quotes you a finished price. It is also sensible to check any existing cracks in floor slabs and boundary walls on these streets before planning new loads on them.

If a RORO bin is hired through the council, MBPJ also holds a refundable deposit against it. Getting that deposit back later is its own checklist — the original deposit receipt (or a sworn declaration if it is lost), a copy of Form F for an addition-and-alteration job, a bank statement and dated colour photos of the site from three angles. Keep the receipt somewhere safe from day one.

Ara Damansara homes by type

• Link houses in PJU 1 and PJU 1A. The usual brief is a wet kitchen at the back, a covered yard and new wardrobes. On PJU 1A streets, add the engineer described above; on the rest of PJU 1 the standard pelan setara route usually fits.
• Semi-detached houses and bungalows. Larger lots invite bigger ideas — a first-floor extension over the porch, a garden room, a pool. Anything beyond the standard drawings is a full building-plan submission prepared by an architect, engineer or registered draughtsman.
• Condominiums and serviced apartments around Oasis Damansara and the LRT: interior work under the management’s house rules, with the JMB’s or management corporation’s letter in hand before MBPJ will look at a minor-works application.

Because the township is young, owners are often fixing builder shortcuts rather than old age: hollow-sounding floor tiles, a balcony that falls the wrong way, or a shower screen sealed straight onto tiles with no membrane beneath. Those are worth diagnosing properly before a cosmetic refresh, since re-tiling over a leak only hides it for a season.

Low roads near Kampung Cempaka

The Selangor Drainage and Irrigation Department’s flood reports for 2016–2022 list very few locations inside MBPJ, which makes the ones that do appear worth noting. MBPJ’s draft local plan reproduces them: Jalan PJU 1/4, Jalan PJU 1/4A and Kampung Cempaka in 2019, with water recorded at about 0.9m, and Kampung Cempaka again in 2020. On 18 July 2026 Kampung Chempaka was among the villages hit by flash floods and a landslide, the third incident there in under three months, and the area’s MP called an urgent meeting of agencies.

If your house is on or near those roads, the renovation choices that pay back are unglamorous: a slightly higher threshold at the porch, ground-floor sockets moved up the wall during any rewiring, tiled rather than plasterboard skirting zones, and a clear, uncovered drain at the front. For the rest of the township, the bigger water risk is overhead — blocked gutters and flat roofs over extensions.

Ara Damansara jobs worth reading up on

We have no Ara Damansara-specific cost guide yet, so these national guides cover the jobs owners here ask about most:

• Bathroom waterproofing — the first failed shower membranes in 2000s-era houses and condos.
• Renovation permits in Malaysia — how minor works, pelan setara and full building plans differ.
• Terrace house renovation — rear kitchens, covered yards and layout changes for link houses.
• Popped floor tiles — hollow or lifting tiles, a common defect in younger houses.
• Drain unclogging — keeping front and yard drains clear on low-lying streets.

Ara Damansara on the map

Our Ara Damansara work covers PJU 1, PJU 1A and Kelana Idaman, Taman Mayang Emas and the Oasis Damansara area.

Next to Ara Damansara

Neighbouring areas with their own pages:

• Kelana Jaya — SS4–SS7 across the LRT line, including ex-mining SS 7.
• Subang Jaya — MBSJ’s area to the south, with a different permit.
• SS2 — one of PJ’s 1970s SS neighbourhoods to the east.
• Tropicana — gated landed estates to the north.
• Petaling Jaya — the MBPJ overview for the whole city.

Sources & official references

The local facts on this page were checked against the sources below on 29 September 2026. Council procedures, forms and fees change — confirm the current position with the council before you start work:

• MBPJ — Form PB.B04 (pelan setara) — PJU 1A / Kelana Idaman ex-mining and landfill rule, documents, fees.
• MBPJ — deposit refund checklist — documents to reclaim the deposit.
• MBPJ — Building Control Department forms — form index.
• MBPJ — Draft Petaling Jaya Local Plan (Replacement), preliminary proposals — JPS flood locations 2016–2022; tourism zones incl. Ara Damansara Park.
• Sime Darby Property — Ara Damansara — freehold parcels; Andara, Ara Bloc, Cantara and Triara.
• Malay Mail — PJ flash floods (Jul 2026) — Kampung Chempaka flood and landslide.