A condo unit with a staircase, a void and a roof terrace needs a different plan. Here is what changes.
A duplex or penthouse is a condo unit with a house's problems: an internal staircase, a void or double-height living room, bathrooms upstairs above the living space, and often a private roof terrace. Plan it as two floors: waterproof the upstairs wet areas properly, budget access for the high ceiling, decide early what happens to the stair and the terrace, and get the management's approval for anything that touches the structure, the facade or the roof. ClickBina's condo guide puts a mid-range renovation at RM90 – RM150 per sq ft (indicative 2026, Klang Valley); the stair, the void and the terrace add to that.
A standard condo renovation deals with one floor, one set of wet areas and a ceiling you can reach from a ladder. A duplex unit adds a second floor inside the same strata parcel, joined by a private staircase. Penthouses often add a double-height living room, very large windows and a roof terrace that is yours to use but still part of the building's roof.
Each of those features changes the job: how materials reach the upper floor, where water can leak to, how high the scaffolding has to go, and which parts belong to you and which to the building. A plan that treats the unit as a large apartment usually misses them.
| Feature | What it changes | Plan for |
|---|---|---|
| Internal staircase | Materials go upstairs by hand; the stair is structural | Access, protection and management approval for changes |
| Void / double-height room | High walls, lights and windows | Scaffolding, reachable fittings, aircon sized for the volume |
| Upstairs bathrooms | Leaks land on your own living room | Full waterproofing and a ponding test |
| Roof terrace | Waterproofing protects the unit below too | Membrane, drainage, load and facade rules |
Everything in a strata building starts with the management. ClickBina's guide to condo renovation hours and permits covers the renovation permit, the working hours and the deposit. For a two-level unit, expect more questions than usual about:
ClickBina's condo cost guide notes that a renovation deposit is usually RM1,000–RM5,000, refundable if no common area is damaged.
The service lift reaches your front door, but in most duplex units the second floor is only reachable by the internal staircase. Long boards, stone tops, bathroom fittings and wardrobes all have to be carried up it. Measure the stair's turns and headroom before ordering large items, and plan carpentry that can be built in sections upstairs. Protect the stair treads and handrail before work starts; they are the surfaces most likely to be damaged.
The stair is usually the first thing people want to change. ClickBina's staircase renovation guide separates three levels of work: a cosmetic refresh (cladding the treads, repainting, repairing the balustrade), a full replacement, and a bespoke design. In a condo, anything beyond a cosmetic refresh touches the structure and the floor opening, so the management and an engineer are involved.
A popular upgrade is replacing a dated balustrade with glass. ClickBina's glass railing guide explains that the glass and fixings must be designed for the loads, not just chosen for looks. With children in the house, check the gaps in any balustrade and the edge of the upper landing before anything else.
A double-height living room is the selling point of many penthouses, and the hardest space to work in. Painting the upper walls, changing a high light fitting or hanging curtains over tall windows needs scaffolding or a tower, so plan those jobs together and do them once. Choose light fittings you can reach or lower for maintenance, and consider motorised curtains for the tall glass; ClickBina's smart curtain guide covers the options.
Some owners want to close the void to gain a room. That means building a new floor across the opening, which is structural work that needs an engineer's design and the management's approval, not a carpentry job.
In a duplex, the upstairs bathrooms usually sit above your own living room, dining area or kitchen. A leak there stains your own ceiling rather than a neighbour's, but it is just as disruptive to fix. ClickBina's guide to upstairs bathroom leaks explains how they happen. If you are renovating the upstairs bathrooms, redo the waterproofing properly, with the membrane turned up the walls and a ponding test before tiling, rather than tiling over the old floor.
A private roof terrace is usually built over the unit below or over the building's roof slab, so its waterproofing protects more than your own home. ClickBina's rooftop terrace waterproofing guide covers the membrane system, the screed and tiles on top, and the details that fail first: upstands, thresholds and outlets.
A double-height room holds a lot of air, and warm air collects at the top, so aircon sized for a normal ceiling struggles. Size the living-room units for the real volume and consider a ceiling fan high in the void to mix the air. Plan the aircon piping routes to the fixed outdoor ledges before the ceilings close.
For power and lighting, plan by floor: switching at the top and bottom of the stair, enough sockets on the upper landing, and circuits that let you switch off one floor without the other.
These are ClickBina's published figures (indicative 2026, Klang Valley). A duplex costs more per sq ft than a single-level unit mainly because of the stair, the high spaces and the terrace.
| Item | Indicative price | Source guide |
|---|---|---|
| Condo renovation, light refresh (paint, flooring, minor) | RM50 – RM90 per sq ft | Condo renovation cost guide |
| Condo renovation, mid-range (kitchen, bathrooms, built-ins) | RM90 – RM150 per sq ft | Condo renovation cost guide |
| Condo renovation, premium / designer | RM150 – RM220 per sq ft and up | Condo renovation cost guide |
| Staircase cosmetic refresh (treads, railing paint, balustrade repair) | RM5,000 – RM12,000 | Staircase renovation guide |
| Structural glass balustrade, staircase | RM800 – RM1,800 per running metre | Glass railing guide |
| Roof terrace membrane system | RM8 – RM20 per sq ft | Rooftop terrace waterproofing guide |
WhatsApp us your job details for a quote — we reply within the hour.
💬 WhatsApp for a quoteThe terrace membrane price excludes the screed and finishes on top, which are priced separately.
WhatsApp us your job details for a quote: the building, the unit layout on both floors, and what you want to change. ClickBina is an experienced KL & Selangor contractor for whole-house refurbishment and trade coordination, so the stair, the upstairs wet areas, the high spaces and the terrace can be planned and sequenced as one job around the management's rules. We reply within the hour, and the price we agree is a flat price with no hidden charges. A site visit is RM150, waived if you go ahead.
How we estimated prices: every RM figure on this page is quoted unchanged from the ClickBina guides named above; they are indicative Klang Valley ranges for 2026.
WhatsApp us your job details for a quote — we reply within the hour.
💬 WhatsApp for a quoteTell us what you need — we reply within the hour.