For some it is more than just a bit of Saturday fun, it’s a passion, a livelihood. Enter Peter Egglestone, a travel professional, and Andrew Bousie, a corporate executive. For the past several years, the couple have been snapping up property, renovating it, before selling it again across the lower north shore.

“Property has always been a passion. I remember in my early 20s buying my first apartment in Roseville, which I flipped. This was a great opportunity to make good money and get on the property ladder,” Mr Bousie said.

For Mr Egglestone, it was his father’s knack for renovating and building that set him towards a destiny with the tools.

“He was all self-taught, I learnt skills from just watching him as a young boy. My first real property was only a few years ago at Kurraba Point. This was a complete revamp with no surface left untouched,” he said.

In the past several years, the pair have transformed five properties across the lower north shore from Mosman to Kurraba Point, an area they describe as “their patch”. Their current project is a three-bedroom two-storey apartment in Cremorne Point with harbour views that cost them $3.625 million last year.

While it is a lot fun for the couple, it is also serious business, with weekends set a side to look for property and opportunities.

“We’ll probably look at 30 properties every year and put offers in for at least one or two, especially when there is an opportunity that we see at the right price point,” Mr Bousie said.

When they are not looking at property or renovating, you’ll most likely find the couple discussing layouts. “We’ve had Saturdays where we spend the whole day moving furniture around. Moving that couch there, that table here, to find the best layout of the room,” Mr Egglestone said.

As seasoned professionals, the pair will tell you that not every home on the market is cut out for property flippers. “Homes with really strong bones are important, but we also look for opportunities that people can’t see, like how a property is presented and how we can do it,” Mr Egglestone said.

Like love at first sight, they know right away if it is a yes or a no. And this is how they landed their current property. “We didn’t say a word to one another, we walked around and looked at the property and within 10 minutes we walked out and at the same time said, ‘we’re buying this place’,” Mr Egglestone said.

The pair also use a very detailed spreadsheet — with different costs per square metre — as a key indicator to determining whether the property is right for them. “We know how much we need to spend, and then how much we need to sell it for to work out a return on investment,” Mr Bousie said.

This is especially important when they will spend anywhere between $200,000 and $500,000 on a typical renovation.

“There are two ways to flip a property — there is the cosmetic or the full duck guts, as we call it, of a bigger investment,” Mr Bousie said.

When it comes to setting a budget, Pete and Andrew say you should always budget an extra 50 per cent as something unexpected will always pop out of the woodwork. “If you spend more in the bathroom. that means you have to spend less on the kitchen. You have to be disciplined about it,” Mr Egglestone said.

The end goal for Pete and Andrew is about making the preopery irresistible to the next buyer. “We’re trying to create a dream for someone else. Pete and I are not emotionally connected to it. We buy for the right reasons, and we will sell just as easily,” Mr Bousie said.

Belle Property Neutral Bay principal Matthew Smythe has been involved in three of the couple’s transactions and said that the work they do is of the highest quality.

“The way they develop and renovate is to the highest standard,” he said. “They know who will buy their property, and they tailor their projects to suit them.”

While renovating may not be for everyone, the pair said it can through up some interesting ways of living. “I remember nights sleeping out as we had no roof on our Kurraba Point project, and we would just spend nights watching the stars from above,” Mr Egglestone said.

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