Cheaper than uni: Financial fear driving new breed of renovators

A new breed of workers are making hundreds of thousands off renovation side hustles, driven by dire financial fears and new skills that cost less than half a semester at university. See how.

A new breed of workers are making hundreds of thousands off renovation side hustles, driven by dire financial fears and new skills that cost less than half a semester at university.

An army of women shaken to their core by dire superannuation balances have turned to renovations to make up ground on their finances, many of whom are older with no project management experience when they started.

Aussie grandmother Bernadette Janson trained as a nurse but decided to switch to renovating over 30 years ago for six-figure profits – and now trains a growing number of women keen to fast track their finances.

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Bernadette Janson quit her job in nursing for property investing and now she helps other women find financial freedom through property with her business the School of Renovating. Picture: David Swift.

“In over 30 years of renovating since, I have discovered that you can solve a lot of life’s problems with renovating,” she said. “If you watch property shows on TV every chance you get. If you have stacks of much-loved home magazines all over the place. And if you’d rather shop for wallpaper than shoes, you’re one of us.”

A “smart renovation”, she said, added 25 per cent in equity after costs.

Australian Taxation Office data found the average super balance for females was $150,922 in 2021 – around 20.5 per cent lower than that of men – though Ms Janson’s was just $20,000 when she decided to take on more complex renovations to give herself a boost.

Before renovation: One of Bernadette Janson’s projects was this home on a splitter block in Wynnum West.

After renovation: Bernadette Janson made $70,000 profit off this Wynnum West property.

She had a major advantage kicking off, with a $200,000 mortgage held along with her husband for a home that the bank valued at $900,000 – giving her $700,000 equity.

“I leveraged the equity in our home to do projects. I started with the downsizer model, bought a warehouse conversion as our downsizer home a couple of years before we needed it. It was $1.3m at the time and is now worth over $4m.”

Her years of experience and fierce drive for financial independence struck a chord with listeners of her She Renovates podcast, with around 350 women having also gone through Ms Janson’s School of Renovating – set up around a decade ago.

Before renovation: Bernadette Janson’s Beecroft property was very dated before upgrades.

After renovation: The profit was $200,000 after the Beecroft home was updated.

For about $5,000, they’re put through their paces over how to pull off a successful six figure renovation, starting from developing a plan and strategy to land their first $50k-$100k profit, doing due diligence using benchmarks, budgeting and feasibility analysis, researching suburbs and properties that might be suitable, securing the right property, and how to get maximum profit for minimum renovation effort.

Ms Janson believes that once fledgling renovators have mastered those steps, a whole new world of possibilities opens up.

Before renovation: Bernadette Janson went into this project with her son at Bondi.

After renovation: The project saw $100,000 profit.

It’s a skill set she’s also begun instilling in her children, jumping in with them on renovation projects to “give them a kick along”.

“They get the loan, we put in the cash. They get the first $100,000 profit, we get the rest.”

The profits from ventures with her children range from $155,000 for a two bedder in Redfern, to $100,000 for the same in Bondi, and an expected $300,000 profit from a micro-development in Echuca.

Before renovation: Bernadette Janson's daughter bought this Redfern property which they both then renovated for profit.

After renovation: The Redfern upgrades saw the property deliver $150,000 profit.

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Her top tips for those wanting to pull of profitable renovations were to become super organised including a strict budget with a contingency plan and to be strategic and practical in the renovations themselves – only doing things buyers will want and pay for, not quirky flourishes.

Adopt a champagne look on a prosecco budget rather than buy overpriced products, put in place a system with a clear scope of work to manage trades, and lastly consider teaming up with family or friends in mutually beneficial joint ventures if you don’t have the funds, skills or time to get started.

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Originally published as Cheaper than uni: Financial fear driving new breed of renovators