help with renovating in sydney

Hi jer29e where are you living now? how far is it from Sydney?

get your property manager to do it for you

Hi,

Agree with all previous answers and suggest you go to the property and write down everything you want to do. In order to get accurate quotes and then ultimately the renovation job you want – without any miscommunications or muck-ups, you need to be able to articulate exactly what it is you want from your tradies.

Often people 'wing it' because they're not sure of the exact specifications they want/need and then leave it up to the trades-person in question to fill in the gaps.

In my experience this is the super-highway to going over budget and not really getting the result you want.

Control is key. I guess then, knowledge is key.

As much as you can, identify and articulate exactly what you want done (including colours, materials, details/dimensions, suppliers etc) and then get someone else in to manage it for you (as Shahin, Matthew and 'Rental profits' have suggested).

Keep in mind that whoever co-ordinates your reno for you is going to charge. Depending on the size and scope of the job this may be as much as 15-20% (a lot!). For instance if your proposed reno costs $15,000 (paying direct to trades-people) then a project manager (builder, property manager etc.) will add a fee on top for their assistance in appointing and co-ordinating the various trades. On a $15,000 job, even a 15% fee only adds up to $2250 so that is still not a lot of income for the amount of work that a PM would do.

If you have a property manager, my suggestion is to use them since they will have plenty of reliable tradies on tap and will be able to get the job done quickly. Its also in their interest to have the property re-leased out asap. Just make sure they/you get fixed quotes up front and then ask for notification any time there may be any variation from that quote (ie for unexpected works – not because they took too long or spent too much on materials – their fault!).

It's do-able and certainly if you do the right things and have the right property in the first place, profitable. Just be sure to do your numbers first.

Good luck!