Renewable Homes: Jo Veneman relocates unwanted houses and saves customers thousands

For a fraction of the cost of a new build a truckie will sell you a classic Queenslander and have it delivered to you. See how they do it.

Would you recycle a home?

A Queensland truck driver is rescuing houses slated for landfill and selling them for less than half the price of a new build — delivered right to you.

Jo Venemen of Renewable Homes believes that houses that are no longer required should leave on the back of a truck, not demolished in pieces inside of one.

Because they’re destined for demolition, she can sell a small house for as little as $65,000, delivered, or up to $250,000 for renovated three bedroom homes featuring airconditioning.

Compare that to a cost of a new build in a regional Queensland city like Mackay, where local construction company Fergus Builders quotes between $450,000 to $650,000, a reflection of the rise in the cost of materials.

Jo Veneman and Kevin Nolan of Renewable Homes in front of the old St Andrew's church they relocated from Hughenden to their storage yard in Roseneath, Townsville.

Magnetic Island resident Jane Farquare saved hundreds of thousands relocating her dream Queenslander to her empty block — after cutting it in half.

She said she spent around $100,000 all up on buying the house, having it relocated, hiring a barge to carry the house to the island a short ferry ride from Townsville before it was restumped and renovated.

“I love the idea of saving houses from landfill,” Ms Farquare said.

“The features you get in them and the detail, you can’t match it.

“I’m considering doing it again for my son to live in.”

The Renewable Homes crew rescuing an 1800s Queensland timber house from a Mareeba property and relocating it to a Bowen property in May 2025.

For first-home buyers looking to get into the market, you can also qualify for the Queensland First Home Buyers Grant, a tidy $30,000.

When asked if relocated homes qualify, Queensland treasurer David Janetzki noted the recent budget extended the grant and abolishment of stamp duty for first home buyers on all new builds.

But the house has be to be restumped before it’s considered a ‘new build’, where the foundations are replaced to ensure structural integrity.

The Mareeba home was relocated within eight weeks before the developer began works on a new car park.

That makes it harder for businesses like Ms Veneman’s, as customers can’t rely on the funds until after the home is delivered, but her team loves a challenge.

They recently rescued a 1800s timber Queenslander from Mareeba, west of Cairns, which found itself in the way of a developer’s plan to lay out a parking lot.

“The owner basically didn’t want to demolish the home but would’ve had to if we couldn’t relocate her in the timeframes he required,” Ms Veneman said.

“So, we saved time by reducing the widths of the entire house for transportation purposes and it was cut into four sections so as to avoid dealing with a lot of Government bureaucratic red tape.

“If we hadn’t done this, the house would be in landfill now.”

Jo Veneman and Kev Nolan on a 1800s Queenslander from Mareeba which was taken to a Bowen property in May 2025.

Ms Veneman and her team trucked the over 100 year old home 600 km through six different council shires to a Bowen property which recently lost its own piece of pioneering history to a house fire.

“By shoving them in landfill is another slap in the face to the environment,” she said.

It’s one of about 30 to 40 homes Ms Veneman’s business rescues every year.

Ms Veneman said relocating houses could be a gateway to filling a housing gap in the regions that need it most.

“A lot of our housing goes to remote areas where you can’t get builders,” she said.

“If you were to get a builder the cost would just be astronomical.”

While housing approvals in Mackay and the Whitsundays increased by more than 100 per cent from last year, industry leaders said a bottleneck of projects, often waiting for a final paint job or tiling, have been sitting dormant due to a longer than usual wet season tied in with a workforce shortage.

But for Ms Veneman, saving these homes is more than just about providing an affordable option to struggling families.

It’s also about saving a piece of history that she said is too precious to leave behind.

“Not only are they built from precious materials that are now extinct, but they represent our past of Australian pioneering history. The iconic architecture is a reminder of our past, soldiers came back to these homes after WWI and WWII.

“They are a keystone to Australia’s architectural identity, a reminder of how far we’ve come, not only in tools and technology, but how society is catapulting into the next new trend, or thing.”