May 22, 2023 • 28 mins
Renovating is a daunting prospect, with decrepit houses in prime locations going for in excess of a million dollars (yes that really happened), buying an older property is the best many of us can do. So where do you start? How much can you do yourself? When do you need a professional, and how can you cut down on costs in the process? In this episode, Jessica Ricci is joined by interior designer Alison Lewis to answer these questions and so many more, to help you figure out if a reno might be on the cards.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Property Playbook would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians
of the lands of where this podcast is recorded. There
were wondering people of the cooler nations acknowledging the culture,
the history, and the connection to the lands of what
we call home. Let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hello and welcome to The Property Playbook, the podcast where
we take you from the A to V of all
things property. My name is Jessica Ricky, and I'm thinking
about renovating a home. It's about all I can afford
to do right now. But to do that, I need
to lean on the help of some experts help me
figure out whether or not that's actually feasible. So today
I have the wonderful interior designer Alison Lewis. Welcome to
(00:49):
the show.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Thank you for having me. It's great to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
We wanted to talk a little bit about the concept
of renovating just for an owner occupying, because for a
lot of people, with the market the way that it is,
we're looking at buying houses that are a little bit older,
probably a little bit outdated, not the ideal dream home,
which can be fixed with renovation, but it's a very
intimidating kind of scary concept. It is to figure out
(01:14):
whether it's feasible, can I, as a normal person, do it,
and what does that process look like. So today we're
going to try and help you figure out the answers
to some of those questions. So Alison, can you start
with just kind of defining for us a little bit,
how does purchasing a house with the intention of renovating
differ from the concept of purchasing with the intention of flipping.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, it's a really interesting question, this one, because and
I had to think about it, I don't actually think
there's a difference between the two, Okay. I think whether
you're purchasing a house to flip it, you're always looking
to add value. That's where you've got to maximize your
return on investment is adding value. And if you're purchasing
a house, you know for yourself, you might live in
it for two years, five years, ten years, whatever it
(01:56):
might be. If you're going to renovate, in the back
of your mind, you're still always looking to add value.
So you know, while flipping implies quite a fast process,
the best way I guess to get that return on
investment is to add value. So I think either way
you're adding value. The difference being that you know, flipping it,
you're doing it probably a lot quicker. If it's your
(02:17):
own home, you probably have a lot more time to
consider what it is that you want to do, and
it's probably a fair amount more personal to you and
who you are, so they would be the biggest difference.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
That's a really interesting point, the fact that it's more
personal to you, because when going on house inspections sometimes
you see a house and you walk in and you go,
why would they do that? And you just go, it
must have served a really niche purpose for that person,
that's right, their lifestyle. Yes, because I guess when you're
renovating to make your dream home or for your family
(02:48):
home or whatever it is, you know that's something that
you're probably keeping in the back of your mind, right,
is what are your requirements in your functionaly absolutely, rather
than trying to make it generally more applicable in the
way you.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Would that's right. When you're renovating for profit, you know
you don't want to be too polarizing, you want to
appeal to a wider market. But when you had the
luxury of renovating for yourself, you can add in those
personal touches that you really like that are really great
for you, Like sure, outdoor basketball, cook because that's really
amazing for my family. Yeah, put it in, want to know,
why not you know, in the bathroom. If there's something
that you really kind of love, you know, you want
(03:21):
like a really deep vanity or you know, those sorts
of things, you can add them into your own home
because it is your own home. Yeah, and as long
as it's not too polarizing. I guess if you're in
the back of your mind thinking, okay, maybe this is
only the five year house, twenty year house, go for it.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, okay, yeah that makes sense. So let's say you're
like me and you're purchasing a home it's a little
bit older because it's within your means and your budget. Yes,
but that means arguably that you probably don't have a
lot of spare cash flow to then go and rent
in another property while you're renovating. Can you live in
the house while you're doing that, And if so, how
(03:58):
do you go about renovating without meaning that your house
is unlivable? Like, can you work on it in stages? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
One hundred?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Does that look like?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Yeah, working on in stages is a really great way
to approach a renovation. You know, some people don't want
to borrow from a bank to do their renovation. They
may not have serviceability, or they know they want to
save some money and do it in stages. I think
it depends on your financial appetite and your risk appetite
as to how you approach it. But there is no
wrong way. So you can one hundred percent live in
your house as you renovate. I guess it's thinking about
(04:29):
what you need to make it possible. So if you're
going to do if you're updating your kitchen, or you're
building out the back and putting a new kitchen in,
do you need to move all your cabinetry into a
new room designated as the new kitchen.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
If you're doing your bathroom and the bathroom becomes or
you delete the bathroom all together, or do you do
your on suite first that way, when you go to
do the main bathroom, you still got your own suite
to use. So it's just I guess working out the
timelines and the process and doing it in stages that
way can certainly be really helpful financially. I think it's
a great way to do it if you're just starting
(05:02):
out as well.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Is there a correct I guess order to do things
in because I remember someone telling me once that you
would paint your walls, for example, before you did your floors,
because if the paint drops off the walls the floor,
you're gonna replace them anyway, so it doesn't matter. Are
there other little things like that that in an ideal
situation you would do one before the other.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah, there is, Like you know, there's little things, but
I guess it depends on the level of renovating that
you're doing. Generally speaking, there is an order of trades. Yeah,
so you know, any builder will follow that order of
trades and it kind of works through. So you know, paint,
for example, is a great one. Often you'll have your
painter to come in before you install your cabinetree, so
you've got one coat on and they come back after
(05:42):
the cabinetree's done to do your second coat.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I did not know that.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yes, that's a great way to do it. Often they'll
spray the first coat and they'll come back and brush
a second so it's also good cost savor. Spray's cheaper
than brushing.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Oh my gosh, it looks very fun Well, I've seen
people spray their fences and it just looks really enjoyable,
satisfying to see.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yeah, but you're right. Like flooring, particularly especially a timber floor,
if you're doing an engineered board, I guess they're more fragile,
so you don't really want guys walking in, you know,
with their boots and scuffs, and you need to have
proper protection down. But I try to hold off my
flooring installation as long as possible. Same with carpet. Yeah,
you know, and as soon as those things go down,
it's boots off and the boys can only come inside,
(06:21):
or the trades people can only come inside with their
crocs or their slippers or their socks.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Oh my gosh, that's so funny.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I hate crops. But yeah, if you see a tradeing
on site and they're wearing crocs, you know the house
is nearly finished.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Oh my gosh, that's it's so funny. Yeah, I'm just
imagining like these bigs. This is very off topic and irrelevant,
but Victoria had her hands party. It was a tennis
thee and she got little tennis gubbits. Is that what
they call like little decorations that you put on the crocs.
So I roll my head. I'm just picturing trading with
like these customized crops with like little hammers or something
on them. It's probably not the vibe, but it's making
(06:54):
the gil. How do you go about finding quality trades people,
because I guess that's probably something going to have one
of the biggest impact on that journey. And I'm sure
that there are a lot of amazing people, but probably,
like anything, some not so great ones.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Yeah, one hundred percent. Recommendations are always the first point
to start talking to people. You know, you're at a
social gathering. Oh, I'm going to renovate my house. You
know I'm thinking about doing this. Oh I just renovated,
or my friend just renovated he had a great builder.
Or you know, oh that I've got a great tiler
for you. I use a titleer. We did our kitchen
last year. So having those discussions with friends and getting
those recommendations is a really great way to find good
(07:30):
trades people. It can be difficult, I guess when you're
finding people off websites or trade websites, particularly to know
whether or not they're good. You can work off reviews
but sometimes I'll even call like previous jobs that trade
person has been on.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
How do you find them people?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Yep, Or they might mention that they've done a job
around the corner on this street or whatever, and you
can usually kind of find someone who has dealt with
them before, and I'll just give them a call and
I'd say, hey, this trades person, is he on time
or she on time? Have they got great quality like craftsmanship?
Are they flexible and open to what I want as
a homeowner, because you know this is your house and
(08:13):
you want to be able to have conversations with trades
people that are going to be the best for everyone.
But they need to be open to that as well.
So that's a good, really good way to kind of
find trades people. And then obviously when you do find
some people, kind of building a nice relationship with them,
even though you might want to be here for five years,
you might find a whole day house, or you might
(08:33):
decide to move sooner and you need a trades person again,
So having a great relationship with them, paying them on
time or so it's fully well with trades people makes
them very happy. And then buying them like the occasional
coffee on a Friday. Yeah, you know that. I like
to buy a lot of ticket at the end of
a build. Cue my builder.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I like that.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Yeah, it just kind of it's just a nice little
sweetener at the end. It makes people feel good.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah. I remember my parents renovated their house when I
was a teenager, and it was over the summer, and
we would always we like a fridge outside for the guys.
They could put their drinks in their lunch or whatever
in it, but we'd put like super dupers in there, like, oh,
we've put like an ice cream in there for you.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
And I think even during the process as well. That's
a really good way because in our Flipping episode we
spoke about the fact that things go wrong, yes, and
that's okay, that's right. But if you have a good
relationship with your trade's, I feel like they're a lot
more likely to be able to or be willing to
help you problem solve one to you know, if you're like, oh,
can I just be a little bit of a pain
and do this thing? If you have a good relationship,
(09:31):
it's like anything, people are much more likely to be
prepared to help you out right.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Absolutely, it's all about the relationships. That's actually what it's
all about. It's having good relationships with people and approaching
things with humor and being really respectful of the trades
as well, Like this is what they do. The probably
the biggest thing is, you know, don't rely on the
trade to give you interior design advice.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, that's not what they do.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
That's not what they do. Just let them stick to
their strengths. They do love to give it to you,
and that's fine. You know, you don't have to listen
to what their suggestions are in that regard. But you know,
just being respectful and having those good relationships goes a
really long way.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
How do you go about costing the change? If you've
got no experience, it's like you've got literally zero idea,
Where do you start?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
I would start, you know, if you do have no
idea and you've already purchased the house, yep, I would
engage a builder to come in and walk through it
with me and just say, okay, this is what I'm
thinking about doing. These are my ideas. You know, I
want to move that wall. They can tell you if
it's structural or not structural wall is going to cost
you more? Money to move than a nonstructural wall. I
(10:34):
would walk through a home with a builder, you know,
and often I would pay them for their time to
do this.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I was going to say, is it expensive to have
someone come through and.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Do Normally you could just pay them their hourly rate. Yeah,
some will do it for free knowing that there's a
potential job. But you know some will charge for it
as well, and I think that's completely fine. So yeah,
I would often walk through the house with them and
talk about what I'm looking to do. And they usually
have a pretty good ballpark that's handy, yeah figure.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
The only thing they probably are not so well burst
on is depending on the level of finishes. So you know,
you had a bill to come through, and they're more
likely to quote or give you our ballpark figures based
on the builder's range, because that's that's usually what they
work off. But if you're doing mid to high end,
you need to add a bit of fat onto that, yeah,
(11:17):
because that's more realistic.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, and it's like anything, right, I would assume that
you want to make sure that you've got a little
bit of an emergency buffer there.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Well, yeah, because as we've said, things generally can go
wrong a little bit. Contingency contingency area is what you
called it.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
It's really like everyone needs to have a contingency one
hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Is there like a percentage that you would ideally recommend?
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah, you're usually fifteen to twenty percent. Okay, yeah for contingency,
unless you're done it a thousand times, then you know
you might look at a reduced contingency. But if you're
starting out, particularly, fifteen to twenty percent is really really good.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, amazing. Now, if you're looking to renovate and you've
engaged your trades person, you figured that out, but you
don't have an eye for interiors. You like, I'm really
good at saying I like this thing on Pinterest, but
I think sometimes like the things that I like don't
go together or it can be a little bit hard
when you're you know, if that's not what you do,
(12:14):
if that's not your mindset figuring out, oh, well, is
that carpet going to look good with those strapes? Can
I still renovate if I'm not good at that stuff?
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yeah, I think you can definitely still renovate. I guess
it's just knowing your strengths, like if you know that
that's not one of your strengths, there's nothing wrong with
getting a professional or engaging someone to help you through
that process, which is exactly why I started doing consultations
for that very reason. Yeah, you know, I found people
just don't want to engage someone from end to end.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
It's expensive and interior designers are so talented, but to
get involved, yeah, absolutely, But if you're if you're renovating
and you're on a bit of a tight budget, I
can understand why that's one of the places people go, well, oh,
don't really know if I can hate the fund So
tell me more about the consultation.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Yeah, so basically, you know, consultations are great way to
sit down with a professional interior designer. So in my case,
I do them an hour and a half online, so
you can be anyway. I've done an international consultations before,
you can be anywhere in the world country. If you're
done America, oh and Sweden sweet, Yeah, yeah, that's sick.
So you know, they're just a great way to get validation.
(13:20):
You know, lots of people want to walk through their
floor plans, but they want a designer edge at the
floor planned stage. So it's talking about, you know, some
architectural changes they can make. They don't know where to
start to put together, Like you said, a color palette, carpets,
does this go with that? Does that? You know? So
I often draw on my interior's library during a consultation
to talk about materials and tell them where you can
go and get samples from. He's the best person. What
(13:41):
ballpark figures are you looking at for the level of
finish that they like? Often people go, oh, I love
this tile, but don't know it's one hundred and eighty
dollars a square meter. Yeah, Or I love a stone
and they don't know if it's a thousand dollars a
square meter. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yah.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
So, being able to have those conversations and then be
able to provide those solutions for a more affordable product
that's still going to have the same impact.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, because they're There are a lot of things nowadays
that you can get the look that you want for
a more affordable price. Like I've seen engineered stone for example,
versus you know, a natural stone, And there are lots
of options like that now on the market that the
average person like myself just wouldn't necessarily know even an option.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Although I will say that some natural stone is more
affordable than engineered ston't sure you do your research.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
There you go, and that's why you need sometimes an
expert to tell you what's going on in terms of
finding inspiration, whether you're doing it by yourself or whether
you're going to have a consultation with a designer and
kind of show them what you like. What kind of
resources can people look at to kind of figure out
what they do and don't like, or what kind of
style or vibe they might go for.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
I mean, I think just starting a Pinterest board YEP
is amazing. It is, It's awesome, and you know it's
got that great algorithm that knowes what you've already looked at.
Similar thing. I often tell people, you know, when I'm
doing a full into your design brief, I will show
people images and they would tell me what they do
and don't like about them. But if you're doing it
yourself and you don't go down that road putting together
(15:06):
different Pinterest boards, so I like to separate them into
different areas. I've got my bathroom, I've got my kitchen,
I've got my outdoors. But I think it can equally
get quite overwhelming when there's so much out there to
look at. I often tell people to cull, so, you know,
once you've created your board for your kitchen, I can
always see some sort of repetition when people show me
(15:27):
their Pinterests board. They're like, oh, I like too much.
I can actually see a ribbon of this, like I know, yeah,
I know actually what they like based on their Pinterest board.
So but I always do recommend people kind of cut
every so often, just cut it down a little bit,
get rid of the ones that no longer are relevant
to you, and your your taste will kind of evolve
over a little bit of time. But once you have
(15:49):
kind of decided, stick to it yeah, okay, yeah, which
is easier said than done.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And be like, oh I want the pink and.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
It would be guite costly exercise to redo it.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
And then when you do feel really overwhelmed and you
get to design fatigue, which happens it's real, go back
to your Pinterest board, go back to your mood board
with that curated six to twelve images, and it will
just bring you back to where you need to be. Yeah,
and you can just make sure you're on track and
you know, usually alleviates a lot of stress.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Amazing. Alrighty, well, how about we head to a quick
break because I have a lot more questions to ask
you don't go anywhere already, guys, We're back and today
I'm chatting with interior designer Alison Lewis all about renovating properties,
which is very exciting and very fun, but also very overwhelming.
And so we've had a little bit of a chat
about the how and the where. But I want to
(16:42):
ask you if I am going to hire a professional,
because you know, sometimes it is just better to handball
it to an experts rather than try and figure it
out yourself. What does that costing look like? And you know,
how much of the workload can they take from me?
Because from the conversations that we've had, I'm seeing that
(17:02):
the elements of renovating or flipping they're a lot broader
than what you you know, you kind of go, oh,
I need someone to take out a wall or put
in tile, But then there's you know, managing the trades,
finding the trades people, you know, managing the site. There
seems like there are a lot of other little elements
in there that can either sit with you or potentially
(17:23):
go to somebody else.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yes, I think when you're doing interior design, like how
much is it going to cost? As a million dollar question.
I think, like with most services, you don't know until.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
You have the specific.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
You have the specific, so I often do like a
paid initial consultation. I'll either do it online or I'll
go and walk through the house. And this is the
opportunity to literally go through every single room and list
out everything that you need to be done, so every
activity becomes a task, which is then you know, you
pop that into a spreadsheet and that kind of dictates
(17:55):
how big the job is so you can give an
accurate fee estimate for that. So I think you know
there is a lot involved, But interior designers are that
conduit between your vision and your reality, and most interior designers,
when you do full service, they like to have control
of that. So you need to be okay to hand
it over and you will have touch points as you go.
(18:16):
You work with an interior designer for feedback and obviously
briefing and to talk about what it is you like,
but they can do a lot. So generally speaking, an
interior designer will start with like an initial consultation and
they'll work in stages, so then they'll do your brief.
They'll start kind of working through what it is you
like and you don't some schematic drawings which are like sketches,
(18:38):
some concepting, so they'll put together a mood board for
you as well based on what you've discussed, and then
they kind of work into design development, which is a
really granular side of interior design. It's the nitty gritty.
It's the picking the tap where it's picking the tower rails,
it's picking a tile, the stone, designing joinery, so making
sure the joinery is functional and has good flow with circulation.
(19:01):
So they'll often do all of that, and as part
of that they'll draw up two D and three D
drawings and then you can, you know, they'll put together
I guess what it's called Tinder documentation, so you can
engage an interior designer up to that point and then
they will give you that Tinder documentation and you can
take that to your builder and they'll price it for
you based on everything together. Yeah, and part of that
(19:22):
process and that design development process, it's not just specifying
the nice things. It's also about working with the client's
budget and their timelines, so they're just as important as
the design element of things. And then, like you said,
there's also a lot of interior designers, like architects, will
actually go through the entire construction period with you. So
(19:44):
they'll often have set time like two hours a week
on site and they'll be very much involved in the
build process. They will recommend trades, they might have a
preferred tiler, they might recommend for the job. Doesn't mean
the builder has to use them, but they'll often you know,
put them forward. And then it's a builder's job to
run those trades and to run that process. But the
(20:06):
interior designer can very much be part of you know,
if anything comes up where you need to make that change,
they can be involved in that process for you. So
some people literally have to do once they've decided on
the design look and feel, they don't have to do
anything else, and that works really well for them. They
might work full time, or they just don't have the
time or the energy or the inclination. There is multitude
of ways you can work with them. But I guess
(20:27):
it's also trusting the process, yeah, and trusting who you
have engaged as a designer to do their role. And
to do I guess what it is that you want
and get the outcomes you want.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
On the other end of the spectrum, people who are
maybe looking to do things on a really tight budget.
If you're really skin and you're wanting to kind of
do the best that you can with what you've got. Firstly,
off the back of what you just said, can you
do it without? I suppose the builder, like could you
hire or contract out to independent trades people? If you said, oh,
I want to put in a tile and I want
(21:00):
to put in flooring, is it possible for someone to
just go directly to a tyler and a floor person
to do that, and is that a more affordable option?
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Yeah. So generally builders will have a margin built into
their costings and that that covers them for a multitude
of things. It's warranties, insurances, they've got to come back
for the next seven years and fix anything, and there's
always something. There might be a leak. No build is
ever one hundred percent full proof, so you know, and
they'll have their own trades and their own tilers and
that sort of thing. But it depends on what you're
(21:32):
doing the level of Yeah, so there are regulations in
place that you have to adhere to. If you need
a building permit, you must use a registered builder. Yes,
there's things you can't do yourself. Yeah. And there's things
where you can't just bring in a trade and do
that for you. If you need to have the council
requires certificates or a building surveyor needs to be involved.
But if you are doing some small things that don't
(21:52):
require those things, and yes, you can go direct to
a tyler, go direct to a cabinet maker. It'll save
you a lot of money. Yeah, yeah, one dred percent.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
What are the things that you shouldn't or can't do yourself?
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Are you electricals?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Yeah, I don't recommend you do your plastering class terms
very hard. Really could not store the plasters. It's very
difficult those sorts of services that tiling. Yes, some people.
It depends on the tile. Little small mosaics are much
more fiddlier than like a six hundred by three hundred
millimeter tile.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
I've laid subway towels before. I've watched youtubes. You know
it is possible. Yeah, And I guess it just depends
on your aptitude for doing it. Like, are you creative?
Are you handy? You know, is that what you want
to do? So there are things you can do, yeah,
and there are things that you just one hundred percent
they to leave to professionals.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, and money well spent, I think
sometimes as well, you know, depending on what it is you.
I watch a lot of renovation YouTube. I find it
very interesting and would love to do it one day.
But yeah, it's always funny watching people. The common thread
that I see a lot of the time is people
will try something themselves there because of the time myself,
(23:04):
have you ever had that experience you'll look like your
life yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
But I guess it's all in the learning, right, you know.
When we were starting out, we had the drive to
do all those things ourselves. Yeah, and we wanted to
and it was a labor of love. And I think
as you kind of get experience and you learn the processes,
often you'll find that that labor of love could have
been a hell of a lot cheaper and faster, or
stuart by somebody else.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
But it's kind of fun to see that.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Well exactly exactly. My husband spent four months sanding beams
to get them back to the original Oregon color yeah,
and it was so worth it, but it probably wasn't
worth it, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (23:41):
A thousand percent. Another question that I have is around
volume building. So again a lot of the time, going
back to the example of me, when you don't have
a big budget and you're looking at buying houses, a
lot of them these days just look the same because
they're built by volume builders. The floor plans all very similar,
the fixtures are all very similar. Can you cosmetically renovate
(24:03):
a volume build in a way that makes it look
unique and beautiful? Like? Is it possible to take something
that looks like everything else and turn it into something
that's cool and different without spending a small body fortune.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
It depends on I guess if you're engaging a volume
builder to build that, for you to do a variation
like that will cost you thousands.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yeah, they have a process in place, and which is
why they can build so affordably.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
You know, they'll have guys that or you know, a
team that will come in and they'll do the flooring,
and they have the team for the carpentry, and then
they have the team for the plastering, and they all
kind of have this set process and then they move
on to the next house, so there's very little movement
during lexibilities.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
If you purchase a volume built property, so it's already established,
but obviously it's just been pumped out. It looks like
every other house on the street. Yep.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
So you've purchased it already and it's finished.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
In this example, yes, yeah, I wish I had. I
can't say that I have, but you know, a of
when I've been looking a lot of houses that are
on the market right now, particularly in the area that
I'm looking at, they are They're all kind of the
same floorplan, the same finishes, tiles on the floor. You know.
Can you take something like that and turn it into
something really beautiful but without having to invest in shifting.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
All of your walls? Hundred percent? Yeah, yeah, yeah. If
you've already got the basic envelope or the basic structure
that you really like, You like the flow, you like
howney bedrooms, there are you like the positioning of your bathroom,
your kitchen, your laundry. It's just the cosmetic renovation, yeah,
one hundred percent. And if you've got the means and
the funds to do it, yeah, absolutely, you make that
your own incredible.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
And the last kind of question I have for you
is what are the impacts that renovating can have on
your property and the value of it, because in these
instance we're talking about renovating an owner occupier property. We
spoke like we said about flipping previously, and if you
want to learn more, definitely head batch that episode. But
you know, ultimately you're going to sell your home at
some point, whether that's because it's your first home and
(26:00):
you've outgrown it, or whether that's been closed, you're downsizing,
or one day we all leave this earth and at
that point the property GRoWES to somebody else. Is it
something you kind of keep in the back of your mind,
the value and you know the impacts that will have
long term, even if that's not your intention.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
I don't think anyone wants to overcapitalize on their property.
So having that in the back of your mind as
you're going I don't think it's a bad thing. I
think it's it's a good thing to kind of rain
yourself back. Sometimes it can get quite exciting, is you know,
And sometimes it can be you know, a good opportunity
to kind of go hang on a second, take a breather,
what am I doing? Is this going to add value?
(26:40):
If it adds value to your family life one hundred percent.
You know, it doesn't always have to add value financially
when you look to sell, so but if it adds
value to your family life, or it adds value to
the way you live, I think that's a really great thing.
And I think kind of considering at that time, I
guess some people go, oh, am I silly not to
put an on in now I'm doing this? Yeah, yes, probably, yeah,
(27:04):
because I know in five, ten, fifteen years, the demand
for people having on suites is still going to be there.
It's not something that just some people suddenly go, I
don't need an on sweet anymore. It's just something that
people want. So I guess it's looking at how you
can add value to that property while you're going that
even though you're going to be there for a little while,
is still going to be valuable to somebody else who
(27:25):
comes in when you go to sell.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Yeah, yeah, okay, that makes a lot of sense. Thank
you so much for sharing your insight. It has been
my pleasure, really really interesting. If people want to learn more,
if they maybe want to get a consultation with you,
where do they find you?
Speaker 3 (27:38):
They can find me at www dot Alisonloisinteriors dot com
dot au or on Instagram at Allison Lewis Interiors.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Lots of beautiful pictures I findw you. It's stunning and guys,
if you want to join us, we are on the
socials as well, so you can find us on Instagram
or on Facebook as well. We have a group talking
all things property, from renovating to flipping to buying their
first home. Looking for a community of black minded people.
I cannot recommend it highly enough, but just before we
head off, let's quickly wrap the boring but important stuff.
(28:07):
The advice shared on the Property Playbook is generally in
nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. The Property
Playbook exists purely for educational purposes and should not be
relied upon to make an investment or a financial decision.
I think it's about time we skid out off for today.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Thanks for having me, Thanks for having me. It's been great, amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
We'll see you guys in the next episode. Bye.
The Property Playbook would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians
of the lands of where this podcast is recorded. There
were wondering people of the cooler nations acknowledging the culture,
the history, and the connection to the lands of what
we call home. Let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hello and welcome to The Property Playbook, the podcast where
we take you from the A to V of all
things property. My name is Jessica Ricky, and I'm thinking
about renovating a home. It's about all I can afford
to do right now. But to do that, I need
to lean on the help of some experts help me
figure out whether or not that's actually feasible. So today
I have the wonderful interior designer Alison Lewis. Welcome to
(00:49):
the show.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Thank you for having me. It's great to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
We wanted to talk a little bit about the concept
of renovating just for an owner occupying, because for a
lot of people, with the market the way that it is,
we're looking at buying houses that are a little bit older,
probably a little bit outdated, not the ideal dream home,
which can be fixed with renovation, but it's a very
intimidating kind of scary concept. It is to figure out
(01:14):
whether it's feasible, can I, as a normal person, do it,
and what does that process look like. So today we're
going to try and help you figure out the answers
to some of those questions. So Alison, can you start
with just kind of defining for us a little bit,
how does purchasing a house with the intention of renovating
differ from the concept of purchasing with the intention of flipping.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, it's a really interesting question, this one, because and
I had to think about it, I don't actually think
there's a difference between the two, Okay. I think whether
you're purchasing a house to flip it, you're always looking
to add value. That's where you've got to maximize your
return on investment is adding value. And if you're purchasing
a house, you know for yourself, you might live in
it for two years, five years, ten years, whatever it
(01:56):
might be. If you're going to renovate, in the back
of your mind, you're still always looking to add value.
So you know, while flipping implies quite a fast process,
the best way I guess to get that return on
investment is to add value. So I think either way
you're adding value. The difference being that you know, flipping it,
you're doing it probably a lot quicker. If it's your
(02:17):
own home, you probably have a lot more time to
consider what it is that you want to do, and
it's probably a fair amount more personal to you and
who you are, so they would be the biggest difference.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
That's a really interesting point, the fact that it's more
personal to you, because when going on house inspections sometimes
you see a house and you walk in and you go,
why would they do that? And you just go, it
must have served a really niche purpose for that person,
that's right, their lifestyle. Yes, because I guess when you're
renovating to make your dream home or for your family
(02:48):
home or whatever it is, you know that's something that
you're probably keeping in the back of your mind, right,
is what are your requirements in your functionaly absolutely, rather
than trying to make it generally more applicable in the
way you.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Would that's right. When you're renovating for profit, you know
you don't want to be too polarizing, you want to
appeal to a wider market. But when you had the
luxury of renovating for yourself, you can add in those
personal touches that you really like that are really great
for you, Like sure, outdoor basketball, cook because that's really
amazing for my family. Yeah, put it in, want to know,
why not you know, in the bathroom. If there's something
that you really kind of love, you know, you want
(03:21):
like a really deep vanity or you know, those sorts
of things, you can add them into your own home
because it is your own home. Yeah, and as long
as it's not too polarizing. I guess if you're in
the back of your mind thinking, okay, maybe this is
only the five year house, twenty year house, go for it.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, okay, yeah that makes sense. So let's say you're
like me and you're purchasing a home it's a little
bit older because it's within your means and your budget. Yes,
but that means arguably that you probably don't have a
lot of spare cash flow to then go and rent
in another property while you're renovating. Can you live in
the house while you're doing that, And if so, how
(03:58):
do you go about renovating without meaning that your house
is unlivable? Like, can you work on it in stages? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
One hundred?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Does that look like?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Yeah, working on in stages is a really great way
to approach a renovation. You know, some people don't want
to borrow from a bank to do their renovation. They
may not have serviceability, or they know they want to
save some money and do it in stages. I think
it depends on your financial appetite and your risk appetite
as to how you approach it. But there is no
wrong way. So you can one hundred percent live in
your house as you renovate. I guess it's thinking about
(04:29):
what you need to make it possible. So if you're
going to do if you're updating your kitchen, or you're
building out the back and putting a new kitchen in,
do you need to move all your cabinetry into a
new room designated as the new kitchen.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
If you're doing your bathroom and the bathroom becomes or
you delete the bathroom all together, or do you do
your on suite first that way, when you go to
do the main bathroom, you still got your own suite
to use. So it's just I guess working out the
timelines and the process and doing it in stages that
way can certainly be really helpful financially. I think it's
a great way to do it if you're just starting
(05:02):
out as well.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Is there a correct I guess order to do things
in because I remember someone telling me once that you
would paint your walls, for example, before you did your floors,
because if the paint drops off the walls the floor,
you're gonna replace them anyway, so it doesn't matter. Are
there other little things like that that in an ideal
situation you would do one before the other.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah, there is, Like you know, there's little things, but
I guess it depends on the level of renovating that
you're doing. Generally speaking, there is an order of trades. Yeah,
so you know, any builder will follow that order of
trades and it kind of works through. So you know, paint,
for example, is a great one. Often you'll have your
painter to come in before you install your cabinetree, so
you've got one coat on and they come back after
(05:42):
the cabinetree's done to do your second coat.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I did not know that.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yes, that's a great way to do it. Often they'll
spray the first coat and they'll come back and brush
a second so it's also good cost savor. Spray's cheaper
than brushing.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Oh my gosh, it looks very fun Well, I've seen
people spray their fences and it just looks really enjoyable,
satisfying to see.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yeah, but you're right. Like flooring, particularly especially a timber floor,
if you're doing an engineered board, I guess they're more fragile,
so you don't really want guys walking in, you know,
with their boots and scuffs, and you need to have
proper protection down. But I try to hold off my
flooring installation as long as possible. Same with carpet. Yeah,
you know, and as soon as those things go down,
it's boots off and the boys can only come inside,
(06:21):
or the trades people can only come inside with their
crocs or their slippers or their socks.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Oh my gosh, that's so funny.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I hate crops. But yeah, if you see a tradeing
on site and they're wearing crocs, you know the house
is nearly finished.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Oh my gosh, that's it's so funny. Yeah, I'm just
imagining like these bigs. This is very off topic and irrelevant,
but Victoria had her hands party. It was a tennis
thee and she got little tennis gubbits. Is that what
they call like little decorations that you put on the crocs.
So I roll my head. I'm just picturing trading with
like these customized crops with like little hammers or something
on them. It's probably not the vibe, but it's making
(06:54):
the gil. How do you go about finding quality trades people,
because I guess that's probably something going to have one
of the biggest impact on that journey. And I'm sure
that there are a lot of amazing people, but probably,
like anything, some not so great ones.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Yeah, one hundred percent. Recommendations are always the first point
to start talking to people. You know, you're at a
social gathering. Oh, I'm going to renovate my house. You
know I'm thinking about doing this. Oh I just renovated,
or my friend just renovated he had a great builder.
Or you know, oh that I've got a great tiler
for you. I use a titleer. We did our kitchen
last year. So having those discussions with friends and getting
those recommendations is a really great way to find good
(07:30):
trades people. It can be difficult, I guess when you're
finding people off websites or trade websites, particularly to know
whether or not they're good. You can work off reviews
but sometimes I'll even call like previous jobs that trade
person has been on.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
How do you find them people?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Yep, Or they might mention that they've done a job
around the corner on this street or whatever, and you
can usually kind of find someone who has dealt with
them before, and I'll just give them a call and
I'd say, hey, this trades person, is he on time
or she on time? Have they got great quality like craftsmanship?
Are they flexible and open to what I want as
a homeowner, because you know this is your house and
(08:13):
you want to be able to have conversations with trades
people that are going to be the best for everyone.
But they need to be open to that as well.
So that's a good, really good way to kind of
find trades people. And then obviously when you do find
some people, kind of building a nice relationship with them,
even though you might want to be here for five years,
you might find a whole day house, or you might
(08:33):
decide to move sooner and you need a trades person again,
So having a great relationship with them, paying them on
time or so it's fully well with trades people makes
them very happy. And then buying them like the occasional
coffee on a Friday. Yeah, you know that. I like
to buy a lot of ticket at the end of
a build. Cue my builder.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I like that.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Yeah, it just kind of it's just a nice little
sweetener at the end. It makes people feel good.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah. I remember my parents renovated their house when I
was a teenager, and it was over the summer, and
we would always we like a fridge outside for the guys.
They could put their drinks in their lunch or whatever
in it, but we'd put like super dupers in there, like, oh,
we've put like an ice cream in there for you.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
And I think even during the process as well. That's
a really good way because in our Flipping episode we
spoke about the fact that things go wrong, yes, and
that's okay, that's right. But if you have a good
relationship with your trade's, I feel like they're a lot
more likely to be able to or be willing to
help you problem solve one to you know, if you're like, oh,
can I just be a little bit of a pain
and do this thing? If you have a good relationship,
(09:31):
it's like anything, people are much more likely to be
prepared to help you out right.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Absolutely, it's all about the relationships. That's actually what it's
all about. It's having good relationships with people and approaching
things with humor and being really respectful of the trades
as well, Like this is what they do. The probably
the biggest thing is, you know, don't rely on the
trade to give you interior design advice.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, that's not what they do.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
That's not what they do. Just let them stick to
their strengths. They do love to give it to you,
and that's fine. You know, you don't have to listen
to what their suggestions are in that regard. But you know,
just being respectful and having those good relationships goes a
really long way.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
How do you go about costing the change? If you've
got no experience, it's like you've got literally zero idea,
Where do you start?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
I would start, you know, if you do have no
idea and you've already purchased the house, yep, I would
engage a builder to come in and walk through it
with me and just say, okay, this is what I'm
thinking about doing. These are my ideas. You know, I
want to move that wall. They can tell you if
it's structural or not structural wall is going to cost
you more? Money to move than a nonstructural wall. I
(10:34):
would walk through a home with a builder, you know,
and often I would pay them for their time to
do this.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I was going to say, is it expensive to have
someone come through and.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Do Normally you could just pay them their hourly rate. Yeah,
some will do it for free knowing that there's a
potential job. But you know some will charge for it
as well, and I think that's completely fine. So yeah,
I would often walk through the house with them and
talk about what I'm looking to do. And they usually
have a pretty good ballpark that's handy, yeah figure.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
The only thing they probably are not so well burst
on is depending on the level of finishes. So you know,
you had a bill to come through, and they're more
likely to quote or give you our ballpark figures based
on the builder's range, because that's that's usually what they
work off. But if you're doing mid to high end,
you need to add a bit of fat onto that, yeah,
(11:17):
because that's more realistic.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Yeah, and it's like anything, right, I would assume that
you want to make sure that you've got a little
bit of an emergency buffer there.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Well, yeah, because as we've said, things generally can go
wrong a little bit. Contingency contingency area is what you
called it.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
It's really like everyone needs to have a contingency one
hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Is there like a percentage that you would ideally recommend?
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah, you're usually fifteen to twenty percent. Okay, yeah for contingency,
unless you're done it a thousand times, then you know
you might look at a reduced contingency. But if you're
starting out, particularly, fifteen to twenty percent is really really good.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, amazing. Now, if you're looking to renovate and you've
engaged your trades person, you figured that out, but you
don't have an eye for interiors. You like, I'm really
good at saying I like this thing on Pinterest, but
I think sometimes like the things that I like don't
go together or it can be a little bit hard
when you're you know, if that's not what you do,
(12:14):
if that's not your mindset figuring out, oh, well, is
that carpet going to look good with those strapes? Can
I still renovate if I'm not good at that stuff?
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yeah, I think you can definitely still renovate. I guess
it's just knowing your strengths, like if you know that
that's not one of your strengths, there's nothing wrong with
getting a professional or engaging someone to help you through
that process, which is exactly why I started doing consultations
for that very reason. Yeah, you know, I found people
just don't want to engage someone from end to end.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
It's expensive and interior designers are so talented, but to
get involved, yeah, absolutely, But if you're if you're renovating
and you're on a bit of a tight budget, I
can understand why that's one of the places people go, well, oh,
don't really know if I can hate the fund So
tell me more about the consultation.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Yeah, so basically, you know, consultations are great way to
sit down with a professional interior designer. So in my case,
I do them an hour and a half online, so
you can be anyway. I've done an international consultations before,
you can be anywhere in the world country. If you're
done America, oh and Sweden sweet, Yeah, yeah, that's sick.
So you know, they're just a great way to get validation.
(13:20):
You know, lots of people want to walk through their
floor plans, but they want a designer edge at the
floor planned stage. So it's talking about, you know, some
architectural changes they can make. They don't know where to
start to put together, Like you said, a color palette, carpets,
does this go with that? Does that? You know? So
I often draw on my interior's library during a consultation
to talk about materials and tell them where you can
go and get samples from. He's the best person. What
(13:41):
ballpark figures are you looking at for the level of
finish that they like? Often people go, oh, I love
this tile, but don't know it's one hundred and eighty
dollars a square meter. Yeah, Or I love a stone
and they don't know if it's a thousand dollars a
square meter. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yah.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
So, being able to have those conversations and then be
able to provide those solutions for a more affordable product
that's still going to have the same impact.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, because they're There are a lot of things nowadays
that you can get the look that you want for
a more affordable price. Like I've seen engineered stone for example,
versus you know, a natural stone, And there are lots
of options like that now on the market that the
average person like myself just wouldn't necessarily know even an option.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Although I will say that some natural stone is more
affordable than engineered ston't sure you do your research.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
There you go, and that's why you need sometimes an
expert to tell you what's going on in terms of
finding inspiration, whether you're doing it by yourself or whether
you're going to have a consultation with a designer and
kind of show them what you like. What kind of
resources can people look at to kind of figure out
what they do and don't like, or what kind of
style or vibe they might go for.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
I mean, I think just starting a Pinterest board YEP
is amazing. It is, It's awesome, and you know it's
got that great algorithm that knowes what you've already looked at.
Similar thing. I often tell people, you know, when I'm
doing a full into your design brief, I will show
people images and they would tell me what they do
and don't like about them. But if you're doing it
yourself and you don't go down that road putting together
(15:06):
different Pinterest boards, so I like to separate them into
different areas. I've got my bathroom, I've got my kitchen,
I've got my outdoors. But I think it can equally
get quite overwhelming when there's so much out there to
look at. I often tell people to cull, so, you know,
once you've created your board for your kitchen, I can
always see some sort of repetition when people show me
(15:27):
their Pinterests board. They're like, oh, I like too much.
I can actually see a ribbon of this, like I know, yeah,
I know actually what they like based on their Pinterest board.
So but I always do recommend people kind of cut
every so often, just cut it down a little bit,
get rid of the ones that no longer are relevant
to you, and your your taste will kind of evolve
over a little bit of time. But once you have
(15:49):
kind of decided, stick to it yeah, okay, yeah, which
is easier said than done.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And be like, oh I want the pink and.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
It would be guite costly exercise to redo it.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
And then when you do feel really overwhelmed and you
get to design fatigue, which happens it's real, go back
to your Pinterest board, go back to your mood board
with that curated six to twelve images, and it will
just bring you back to where you need to be. Yeah,
and you can just make sure you're on track and
you know, usually alleviates a lot of stress.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Amazing. Alrighty, well, how about we head to a quick
break because I have a lot more questions to ask
you don't go anywhere already, guys, We're back and today
I'm chatting with interior designer Alison Lewis all about renovating properties,
which is very exciting and very fun, but also very overwhelming.
And so we've had a little bit of a chat
about the how and the where. But I want to
(16:42):
ask you if I am going to hire a professional,
because you know, sometimes it is just better to handball
it to an experts rather than try and figure it
out yourself. What does that costing look like? And you know,
how much of the workload can they take from me?
Because from the conversations that we've had, I'm seeing that
(17:02):
the elements of renovating or flipping they're a lot broader
than what you you know, you kind of go, oh,
I need someone to take out a wall or put
in tile, But then there's you know, managing the trades,
finding the trades people, you know, managing the site. There
seems like there are a lot of other little elements
in there that can either sit with you or potentially
(17:23):
go to somebody else.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Yes, I think when you're doing interior design, like how
much is it going to cost? As a million dollar question.
I think, like with most services, you don't know until.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
You have the specific.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
You have the specific, so I often do like a
paid initial consultation. I'll either do it online or I'll
go and walk through the house. And this is the
opportunity to literally go through every single room and list
out everything that you need to be done, so every
activity becomes a task, which is then you know, you
pop that into a spreadsheet and that kind of dictates
(17:55):
how big the job is so you can give an
accurate fee estimate for that. So I think you know
there is a lot involved, But interior designers are that
conduit between your vision and your reality, and most interior designers,
when you do full service, they like to have control
of that. So you need to be okay to hand
it over and you will have touch points as you go.
(18:16):
You work with an interior designer for feedback and obviously
briefing and to talk about what it is you like,
but they can do a lot. So generally speaking, an
interior designer will start with like an initial consultation and
they'll work in stages, so then they'll do your brief.
They'll start kind of working through what it is you
like and you don't some schematic drawings which are like sketches,
(18:38):
some concepting, so they'll put together a mood board for
you as well based on what you've discussed, and then
they kind of work into design development, which is a
really granular side of interior design. It's the nitty gritty.
It's the picking the tap where it's picking the tower rails,
it's picking a tile, the stone, designing joinery, so making
sure the joinery is functional and has good flow with circulation.
(19:01):
So they'll often do all of that, and as part
of that they'll draw up two D and three D
drawings and then you can, you know, they'll put together
I guess what it's called Tinder documentation, so you can
engage an interior designer up to that point and then
they will give you that Tinder documentation and you can
take that to your builder and they'll price it for
you based on everything together. Yeah, and part of that
(19:22):
process and that design development process, it's not just specifying
the nice things. It's also about working with the client's
budget and their timelines, so they're just as important as
the design element of things. And then, like you said,
there's also a lot of interior designers, like architects, will
actually go through the entire construction period with you. So
(19:44):
they'll often have set time like two hours a week
on site and they'll be very much involved in the
build process. They will recommend trades, they might have a
preferred tiler, they might recommend for the job. Doesn't mean
the builder has to use them, but they'll often you know,
put them forward. And then it's a builder's job to
run those trades and to run that process. But the
(20:06):
interior designer can very much be part of you know,
if anything comes up where you need to make that change,
they can be involved in that process for you. So
some people literally have to do once they've decided on
the design look and feel, they don't have to do
anything else, and that works really well for them. They
might work full time, or they just don't have the
time or the energy or the inclination. There is multitude
of ways you can work with them. But I guess
(20:27):
it's also trusting the process, yeah, and trusting who you
have engaged as a designer to do their role. And
to do I guess what it is that you want
and get the outcomes you want.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
On the other end of the spectrum, people who are
maybe looking to do things on a really tight budget.
If you're really skin and you're wanting to kind of
do the best that you can with what you've got. Firstly,
off the back of what you just said, can you
do it without? I suppose the builder, like could you
hire or contract out to independent trades people? If you said, oh,
I want to put in a tile and I want
(21:00):
to put in flooring, is it possible for someone to
just go directly to a tyler and a floor person
to do that, and is that a more affordable option?
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Yeah. So generally builders will have a margin built into
their costings and that that covers them for a multitude
of things. It's warranties, insurances, they've got to come back
for the next seven years and fix anything, and there's
always something. There might be a leak. No build is
ever one hundred percent full proof, so you know, and
they'll have their own trades and their own tilers and
that sort of thing. But it depends on what you're
(21:32):
doing the level of Yeah, so there are regulations in
place that you have to adhere to. If you need
a building permit, you must use a registered builder. Yes,
there's things you can't do yourself. Yeah. And there's things
where you can't just bring in a trade and do
that for you. If you need to have the council
requires certificates or a building surveyor needs to be involved.
But if you are doing some small things that don't
(21:52):
require those things, and yes, you can go direct to
a tyler, go direct to a cabinet maker. It'll save
you a lot of money. Yeah, yeah, one dred percent.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
What are the things that you shouldn't or can't do yourself?
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Are you electricals?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Yeah, I don't recommend you do your plastering class terms
very hard. Really could not store the plasters. It's very
difficult those sorts of services that tiling. Yes, some people.
It depends on the tile. Little small mosaics are much
more fiddlier than like a six hundred by three hundred
millimeter tile.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
I've laid subway towels before. I've watched youtubes. You know
it is possible. Yeah, And I guess it just depends
on your aptitude for doing it. Like, are you creative?
Are you handy? You know, is that what you want
to do? So there are things you can do, yeah,
and there are things that you just one hundred percent
they to leave to professionals.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, and money well spent, I think
sometimes as well, you know, depending on what it is you.
I watch a lot of renovation YouTube. I find it
very interesting and would love to do it one day.
But yeah, it's always funny watching people. The common thread
that I see a lot of the time is people
will try something themselves there because of the time myself,
(23:04):
have you ever had that experience you'll look like your
life yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
But I guess it's all in the learning, right, you know.
When we were starting out, we had the drive to
do all those things ourselves. Yeah, and we wanted to
and it was a labor of love. And I think
as you kind of get experience and you learn the processes,
often you'll find that that labor of love could have
been a hell of a lot cheaper and faster, or
stuart by somebody else.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
But it's kind of fun to see that.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Well exactly exactly. My husband spent four months sanding beams
to get them back to the original Oregon color yeah,
and it was so worth it, but it probably wasn't
worth it, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (23:41):
A thousand percent. Another question that I have is around
volume building. So again a lot of the time, going
back to the example of me, when you don't have
a big budget and you're looking at buying houses, a
lot of them these days just look the same because
they're built by volume builders. The floor plans all very similar,
the fixtures are all very similar. Can you cosmetically renovate
(24:03):
a volume build in a way that makes it look
unique and beautiful? Like? Is it possible to take something
that looks like everything else and turn it into something
that's cool and different without spending a small body fortune.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
It depends on I guess if you're engaging a volume
builder to build that, for you to do a variation
like that will cost you thousands.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yeah, they have a process in place, and which is
why they can build so affordably.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
You know, they'll have guys that or you know, a
team that will come in and they'll do the flooring,
and they have the team for the carpentry, and then
they have the team for the plastering, and they all
kind of have this set process and then they move
on to the next house, so there's very little movement
during lexibilities.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
If you purchase a volume built property, so it's already established,
but obviously it's just been pumped out. It looks like
every other house on the street. Yep.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
So you've purchased it already and it's finished.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
In this example, yes, yeah, I wish I had. I
can't say that I have, but you know, a of
when I've been looking a lot of houses that are
on the market right now, particularly in the area that
I'm looking at, they are They're all kind of the
same floorplan, the same finishes, tiles on the floor. You know.
Can you take something like that and turn it into
something really beautiful but without having to invest in shifting.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
All of your walls? Hundred percent? Yeah, yeah, yeah. If
you've already got the basic envelope or the basic structure
that you really like, You like the flow, you like
howney bedrooms, there are you like the positioning of your bathroom,
your kitchen, your laundry. It's just the cosmetic renovation, yeah,
one hundred percent. And if you've got the means and
the funds to do it, yeah, absolutely, you make that
your own incredible.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
And the last kind of question I have for you
is what are the impacts that renovating can have on
your property and the value of it, because in these
instance we're talking about renovating an owner occupier property. We
spoke like we said about flipping previously, and if you
want to learn more, definitely head batch that episode. But
you know, ultimately you're going to sell your home at
some point, whether that's because it's your first home and
(26:00):
you've outgrown it, or whether that's been closed, you're downsizing,
or one day we all leave this earth and at
that point the property GRoWES to somebody else. Is it
something you kind of keep in the back of your mind,
the value and you know the impacts that will have
long term, even if that's not your intention.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
I don't think anyone wants to overcapitalize on their property.
So having that in the back of your mind as
you're going I don't think it's a bad thing. I
think it's it's a good thing to kind of rain
yourself back. Sometimes it can get quite exciting, is you know,
And sometimes it can be you know, a good opportunity
to kind of go hang on a second, take a breather,
what am I doing? Is this going to add value?
(26:40):
If it adds value to your family life one hundred percent.
You know, it doesn't always have to add value financially
when you look to sell, so but if it adds
value to your family life, or it adds value to
the way you live, I think that's a really great thing.
And I think kind of considering at that time, I
guess some people go, oh, am I silly not to
put an on in now I'm doing this? Yeah, yes, probably, yeah,
(27:04):
because I know in five, ten, fifteen years, the demand
for people having on suites is still going to be there.
It's not something that just some people suddenly go, I
don't need an on sweet anymore. It's just something that
people want. So I guess it's looking at how you
can add value to that property while you're going that
even though you're going to be there for a little while,
is still going to be valuable to somebody else who
(27:25):
comes in when you go to sell.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Yeah, yeah, okay, that makes a lot of sense. Thank
you so much for sharing your insight. It has been
my pleasure, really really interesting. If people want to learn more,
if they maybe want to get a consultation with you,
where do they find you?
Speaker 3 (27:38):
They can find me at www dot Alisonloisinteriors dot com
dot au or on Instagram at Allison Lewis Interiors.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Lots of beautiful pictures I findw you. It's stunning and guys,
if you want to join us, we are on the
socials as well, so you can find us on Instagram
or on Facebook as well. We have a group talking
all things property, from renovating to flipping to buying their
first home. Looking for a community of black minded people.
I cannot recommend it highly enough, but just before we
head off, let's quickly wrap the boring but important stuff.
(28:07):
The advice shared on the Property Playbook is generally in
nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. The Property
Playbook exists purely for educational purposes and should not be
relied upon to make an investment or a financial decision.
I think it's about time we skid out off for today.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Thanks for having me, Thanks for having me. It's been great, amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
We'll see you guys in the next episode. Bye.
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