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One of Australia’s leading property professionals has lifted the lid on common renovation disasters, warning investors to steer clear of costly traps that can derail projects and destroy returns.
Instead of trying to save a few dollars with do-it-yourself fixes, investors should carefully weigh up the true costs of time, expertise, and opportunity before committing to renovations.
In practice, many overestimate their skills while overlooking the inevitable blowouts that stretch renovation timelines and drain resources.
Australian Property Scout director Sam Gordon, who recently appeared on the Smart Property Investment Show with Liam Garman, said far too many investors underestimate timelines, overestimate their own abilities, and ignore the financial hit when projects go wrong.
“I remember getting zapped on one of my first renovations and it got me good,” he said, warning that costly lessons often come from underestimating personal limitations.
“When I was younger, I wasn’t willing to pay for that amount of advice, experience, and knowledge. At the end of the day, that comes at a cost.”
Gordon revealed one extreme case where a client in southern Perth thought a renovation would take two weeks, but the project dragged on for six months, consuming weekends and cash.
“He thought this renovation was going to take him two weeks. It took him six months,” he said.
“There’s a can of worms behind every wall.
“However long someone thinks a renovation is going to take, double it.”
He cautioned that investors often lose track of opportunity cost when projects drag on, missing out on rental income while sacrificing weeks of wages and holidays in the process.
“You’re gonna be hooked … it undoubtedly blows out and you’re probably not going to do as good a job,” Gordon said.
He urged investors to think strategically about what they can realistically achieve, and when the smarter option is to bring in trades, rather than risk botching jobs or wasting time.
“I’ve had lessons of sitting there for four hours trying to unbolt a bloody toilet and all the water coming out … just squatting in it,” he said.
“Lessons learnt. Never do that again: plumber comes.”
According to Gordon, the key to successful investing is applying realistic timelines, factoring in unexpected hurdles, and paying for knowledge that can shortcut years of wasted time and money.
“The crux of this lesson is realistic time frames … with the DIY, with the flipping, baking in when things go wrong, they will go wrong,” he told the podcast.
He added that the fastest way to avoid mistakes is to “find someone that’s done what you’re trying to do, and then pay for that knowledge”.
“I’ve done those reno’s in a week. But I had done like 10 of them before to get it down to a week time frame,” he said.
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