NDIS and Aged Care Home Modifications in Australia: Funding and Limits

What are home modifications?

Home modifications are physical changes to a house, such as grab rails, ramps, wider doorways, or bathroom conversions, made to reduce fall risk and support independent living. NDIS lists them under the Home Modifications capital support category (NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27), while older Australians access equivalent work through Support at Home’s Assistive Technology and Home Modifications Scheme (Department of Health and Aged Care, 2025). Both pathways require an occupational therapist assessment before work is approved and funded. The work ranges from a single rail to a full bathroom rebuild.

Modifications or maintenance: which service do you need?

Modifications change the fabric of the house; maintenance keeps it working as it is. Fitting a ramp, widening a doorway or converting a bathroom is a modification, and it needs an occupational therapist’s report before funding is approved. Fixing a leaking tap, replacing light globes, clearing gutters or securing a loose step is maintenance, delivered as a routine service without a therapist report. The distinction decides which budget pays and how long approval takes, so name the right one when you enquire. For the maintenance side, see the minor repairs and home maintenance section further down this page. Some organisations on the list above do both.

How to choose a provider for this service

The list above is ranked using the criteria explained in the methodology above it. For home modifications specifically, four checks matter most.

Registration and trade credentials. Building work needs a licensed tradesperson, so confirm current builder’s licence, insurance, and, for NDIS-funded jobs, an NDIS Worker Screening Check, rather than relying on the provider’s own claims.

Carevo measures whether a provider accepts an enquiry, not when care starts or a practitioner contacts you. Confirm current capacity and a start date directly. How Carevo measures enquiry acceptance.

Pricing transparency. Ask for a written, itemised quote after the assessment, since modification costs vary widely by scope and a verbal estimate is not enough for funding approval.

Coverage. Confirm the provider works in your area and can coordinate with your occupational therapist, since building trades cover fewer suburbs than personal care services do.

What do home modifications for elderly people cost?

There is no fixed national price list, because every job is quoted on scope: a single grab rail is a small trades job, while a step-free shower conversion involves demolition, waterproofing, tiling and plumbing. Funders approve against an itemised written quote, so insist on one after the assessment. On the assessment side, NDIS plans cap occupational therapy at 193.99 an hour, with provider travel billable at an agreed travel charge where your service agreement allows it; under Support at Home, allied health assessments sit in the clinical stream with no participant contribution (Department of Health and Aged Care, 2025). Be wary of quotes that bundle the assessment fee into the build cost.

Which funding stream pays for home modifications, and who qualifies?

Support at Home participants access home modifications through the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications Scheme, a needs-based budget separate from their everyday classification budget, available since the program replaced Home Care Packages on 1 November 2025 (Department of Health and Aged Care, 2025). Eligibility follows the Support at Home age rules: 65 and over, or 50 and over for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The scheme has three tiers with different annual caps and approval requirements; the AT-HM Scheme guide sets out the tier caps and the claim window. NDIS participants under 65 with a home modifications need in their plan use the Home Modifications capital support category, which typically requires a therapist report and formal quotes before Capital Supports funding is released (NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27). Minor safety modifications can also fall under CHSP for people not yet assessed for Support at Home. Eligible veterans can use DVA-funded home care arrangements instead.

Why does an occupational therapy assessment come first?

Because the OT report defines the scope funders will pay for. An occupational therapist watches how the person actually moves through the house, then writes a report specifying rail positions, ramp gradient and shower layout, so the builder prices a defined job instead of guessing. Both pathways rely on it for anything beyond basic items: NDIS releases Capital Supports funding against a therapist report plus quotes, and the AT-HM Scheme’s higher tiers need an OT assessment before approval (Department of Health and Aged Care, 2025). Book the occupational therapy assessment before you order any trades; work done ahead of the report is often not fundable and can end up being redone.

What are the most common home modifications for older people?

Bathrooms come first, because the bathroom is the highest fall-risk room in the house. Grab rails beside the toilet and in the shower, a step-free or low-threshold shower, non-slip flooring, a handheld shower rose and a raised toilet seat cover most funded bathroom modifications for elderly residents. Entrances are next: ramps and rails installation at the front and back doors, threshold ramps over door steps, a rail on every set of stairs, and better lighting on paths. Inside the house, common jobs include doorway widening for a walker or wheelchair, rails on both sides of internal stairs, and lever-style taps and door handles for arthritic hands. A good OT report sequences the list by risk, so the bathroom and entry work happens before the nice-to-haves.

Can you modify a home you rent?

Yes, with the owner’s written consent before work starts, and strata approval as well where an apartment’s common property is affected. Providers and occupational therapists prepare this documentation routinely, including drawings and a make-good position, so ask for help with the landlord conversation rather than skipping the modification. Where consent is refused or the tenancy is short, an OT can often reach part of the same outcome with equipment instead: freestanding rails, portable ramps and bathing equipment need no consent and travel with you when you move. An assistive technology review covers those options.

Where home modifications providers are available

Carevo measures whether a provider accepts an enquiry, not when care starts or a practitioner contacts you. Confirm current capacity and a start date directly. How Carevo measures enquiry acceptance.

Get matched with home modifications

Minor repairs and home maintenance

Alongside modifications such as ramps, rails and bathroom changes, this page covers the smaller maintenance jobs that keep a home safe: replacing tap washers and light globes, fixing loose steps and handrails, clearing gutters, securing loose flooring and adjusting doors.

Under Support at Home these sit in the home adjustments and maintenance category and do not need an occupational therapy assessment the way structural modifications do. That distinction matters for wait times: a handyman job can usually be booked directly, while a modification needs an assessment, a quote and approval first.

How My Aged Care funds home modifications

Home modifications for older Australians run through the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications Scheme, which sits alongside your Support at Home quarterly budget rather than inside it. Spending on a bathroom conversion does not reduce the budget paying for your care hours (Department of Health and Aged Care, 2025).

Funding is tiered, and the tier decides how much evidence is needed:

Two rules catch people out. Funding is available for around 12 months from approval with a 60-day claim window afterwards, so unused amounts lapse rather than accumulate. And splitting one job across tiers or purchases to stay under a threshold is not permitted.

For entry-level needs before Support at Home, the Commonwealth Home Support Programme funds smaller home maintenance and minor modifications with a client contribution.

The OT assessment, and why nothing happens without it

For anything above the low tier, the occupational therapist report is the document that unlocks the money, and its quality decides what gets approved.

The assessment is free for Support at Home participants, because occupational therapy is a clinical support carrying no participant contribution once approved in a care plan. That is worth knowing before paying privately for one.

A useful report does three things: names the specific task that is unsafe and why, specifies the modification rather than describing a general need, and explains why equipment alone will not resolve it. “Client requires bathroom modification” is weaker than “client cannot step over a 150mm hob to enter the shower and has fallen twice doing so; recommend hobless shower with linear drain”.

Have everything assessed in one visit. Rails, ramps, bathroom and any equipment should be covered together, because a second assessment for a problem you already had is a second fee and another wait.

For NDIS participants under 65, home modifications are funded from Capital Supports instead, with no equivalent annual ceiling. See assistive technology assessment for how that pathway works.

How this page is compiled

The provider rankings and figures on this page come from Carevo platform records, including provider registrations, measured response times and coverage, together with the cited official sources. Carevo is an Australian platform that connects families with NDIS and aged care providers. Carevo does not deliver care itself.

Funding sources and checks

Check the current NDIA pricing arrangements and Support at Home program rules for the proposed service. Funding depends on the approved support and available budget; a Carevo listing is not approval. Confirm availability and a start date directly with the provider.