‘We take on risk, saving owners stress’: Renovations with a difference

The shock of being made redundant while on maternity leave was brutal for Kate Mahoney – but rather than wallow in self-pity, she got busy with a hammer and paintbrush.

Kate Mahoney, owner of ETS Projects. Photo: Steve Pohlner.

The shock of being made redundant while on maternity leave was brutal for Kate Mahoney – but rather than wallow in self-pity, she got busy with a hammer and paintbrush.

A month later, she flipped her grandmother’s home in Brisbane’s north-west for $1.21m – an uplift of $410,000 on the predicted sale price.

Revamping the deceased estate – for less than $40,000 – was all the impetus Ms Mahoney and her partner Jeremy Smith needed to start a house renovation business with a difference.

Estate to Sale runs as a joint venture with the beneficiaries of an inherited property, with the couple funding and carrying out the makeover and managing the sale process.

Using bank valuations and real estate appraisals to gauge the un-renovated sale price, the pair then shares in the profit uplift.

A property on South Pine Road developed by ETS project Picture Supplied

“I loved my senior marketing job so there was a huge sense of loss after I was told four weeks before I was due to return from maternity leave that I was no longer needed,” Ms Mahoney, 31, said.

“When you’re postpartum your hormones are going wild; it was a really tough time.”

That was February this year, four months after her maternal grandmother died, leaving her Enogerra home to Ms Mahoney’s mother and uncle.

“Mum was grief stricken from the whole thing; Nan had a very bad fall in the house,” Ms Mahoney said.

“She and her brother didn’t want to take the house on – they were thinking of selling it as is and were told they’d get $800,000 but my partner and I said we’d do it up and we agreed to split the difference in the profit.”

Mr Smith, 26, works in construction management and grew up helping his father with home maintenance.

Inside a South Pine Road home redeveloped by ETS project Picture Supplied

Ms Mahoney came from a family of serial renovators – so between them they had the skills.

The pair, who met when they lived in opposite townhouses five years ago, have had success flipping a number of their own properties.

“One was a split-level penthouse in Paddington we bought in 2022 for $700,000 and sold a year later for $1m after spending $50,000 on new flooring, ensuite and kitchen cabinetry,” Ms Mahoney said.

The couple plans to extend their business to help people who are downsizing or moving into retirement villages.

“Our main thing is helping people maximise their money rather than how much we make from it,” Ms Mahoney said.

“We take on all the risk, and save people the stress.”

Originally published as ‘We take on risk, saving owners stress’: Renovations with a difference