"reno for profit" who actually does the work?

There a few forumisers around that diy their reno's but for others that are time poor or don't have the skills who do you engage?

Looking at cherie barber and her huge following surely all these students aren't out there actually doing the work. Is she just making bucket loads talking about it and only a few are actually doing it?
Or do a lot of people sign up to learn, then pay someone else?

There seems to be a lot of social media reno news but little in the way of who gets their hands dirty? It's not really cost effective for investors to have time off work to do a reno that will take twice as long as a professional. Plus not having the buying power, tools and knowledge

I looked on the three birds pages for ages trying to work out what they were doing or selling theyre just chicks on social media taking photos and flogging off gear to help furnish their reno's

Are people spending heaps on the courses and education but few follow through? Or is it more for investors to learn the reno process and know what they'll be up against with their properties to keep things under control?

 

I think it's more of the later. I think (in my noob opinion) reno for profit has a lot to do with the planning and designing (what to buy, how much, what to do, who to find, etc) than it is with actually doing the tiles etc yourself. Most of the ones on TV emphasise on design and I don't think the bulk amount of planning work is shown

 

I don't have time to do the work but I'm project managing our current reno. I look at CB's reno's and think there's no way in hell they've done it that cheap unless they've done a fair bit of it themselves. But then again, paint is cheap, and even if they do all their own painting that's a huge cost that's saved.

 

True. The planning is skipped to a few shots of some diy action to make it look easy

 

I'm planning on doing some renos when I purchase a property. I will be doing most of the work myself as I have the skills and knowledge to do so. I wouldn't pay someone to do a job job that I can do myself.

 

We have a few projects on the go at the moment. Weve been doing a lot of the work ourselves and getting tradies to do the bits we cant. All of our projects have been cosmetic - carpets, curtains, paint, new kitchen, basic landscaping etc.

 

My wife and I have always done the painting and I'm cluey enough to do general carpentry and such. Things that require a ticketed tradey, we get the tradey. Given I have a background in electronics I've also done house wiring with a sparky mate double checking and certifying my work. He's happy to let me crawl into the claustrophobic spaces and pull cable TV & Audio cabling is easy.

Wife is also quite the amateur landscape designer and green thumb, I just dig holes and move stuff.

We're also just about to reno her office new flooring and a paint job.

 

I always do little cosmetic touch up's myself as my handyman skills are quite limited. I've had plenty of interstate renovations done all by tradies. The key is to get plenty of quotes, have a trusted PM overseeing it and working out the best order to get the renovations done so they don't interfere with each others work if multiple trades are required.

 

It can be hard to line up the tradies in order for the small jobs, especially to even do the small jobs in the first place. Fine if you have plenty of time and delays won't bother you. Cherie Barber has the whole team ready to go.

 

From first hand experience I can tell you CB was using paint obtained free and no English speaking cheap labour on a property I purchased for clients who appeared on TV.

To be fair, the clients were also put to work and garden plants repurposed in a different layout.

If not, the numbers quoted do not stack.

 

Sounds about right.
You can get some pretty good workers (possibly some communications issues) if you don't need to see licences or anything.
Lots of cheap with no receipt.

 

I did her course. She teaches you how to plan and project manage a Reno. I did a few complete home renos in a 5-6 week period using her program and getting trades to do all the work. It's all about lining up the trades and ordering materials before settlement. Of course there are a few that let you down at the last minute or refuse to do some of the short cuts Cherie recommends to save money but it is possible to get away with a cheapish Reno in a short time frame

 

ive done a fair few cheap renos,
so i think Im qualifed to give my 2c

most of the reno projects advertrised as a "huge equity gain deal" are either fudged figures or market movement or both.

paying the going on the books rate of $30-$85 per hour for tradies or working within a budget type of approach eg. provide all the materials and tell them they have 2 weeks to complete it , which they usually quote much higher to cover for themselves, wont work

the only way I think it cane be done is to either hire cheap labour on cash or students for jobs such as painting . or to DIY in which you can paint a house in say a week for $300 in paint plus your time

 

lining up trades and ordering materials before settlement only shortens the project time frame, which is holding costs, which isnt a huge figure.

What does she actually teach??

edit: i I have tremendous respect for her

 

How much can she actually be teaching?

How to organise a tradesperson?
Buy stainless steal appliances?
Paint kitchen instead of replace?

Probably a good course for somebody that has absolutely no idea about the process of a Reno. But unless the market is moving or you bought it at BMV the numbers won't add up to make profit.

Also these days everyone wants to be a builder/renovator/block head so good deals are harder to come by.

 

ive learnt heaps through research, trial and error and listening from other experienced reno ers
however I suspect you could easily extend it to 2 week educational course

 

What CB had also said was to buy a 2 Br house in an area and convert it to 4 - in areas where the house prices for a 2 Br to 4 br vary greatly. So there's also structural renos to consider doing too.

 

I was looking around in Melbourne in 2011 and 2012 and I noticed something that doesn't get talked about on the TV and I have not noticed mentioned on PC until now.

The CB type "renos for a quick profit" will work in places like Melbourne where there were thousands of properties in poor condition (unloved) and where, at the time, there was a huge price difference between properties in the same suburb according to what condition the properties were in. Here in Brisbane the price differential was so tiny that i could not see much potential to make a true profit from renovating. I was seriously looking for a property for myself in Brisbane but there just weren't that many available in poor condition. I used to joke that the Reno Kings had already bought them all and there were none left for the rest of us.

 

I was watching a US flip show on TV yesterday and I find it frustrating that in the States they can start laying foundations to extend while the paperwork is in council and they get the approval almost immediately. They built a huge extension in two weeks. Here it would take the council a month to approve something. You have to get approval to sneeze on site here. Or would the producers of the TV show do all that earlier and the presenter makes it look like it was a last minute decision to extend out the back, including the roof conversion?

 

I believe it's much easier to turn a profit in the US as well. We get stung on Stamp Duty here! That takes a serious amount of any potential profit.