$500k or your life: Tradie’s dangerous act to flip a house

A tradie has risked his life in the pursuit of the perfect house to flip: what he did to determine its worth will have you scratching your head.

All thoughts about safety went out the window for the qualified tradie Jimmy Hall when he took out a ladder to climb on top of the decaying roof of a run-down 1916 house at Manly on Brisbane’s bayside.

A ladder and a disregard for his own safety is all Mr Hall needed to confirm he should spend more than half a million dollars in bringing the pre-war eyesore back to life.

It was listed for sale in early 2020, with a decaying roof, peeling exterior paint, dirt-stained VJs and grubby pressed ceilings. The backyard had been taken over by a mulberry tree.

Jimmy Hall up his ladder and ready for work on his 1916 home in Manly. Picture: Liam Kidston

In his search for his fourth property to flip, Mr Hall thought the house at 69 Gordon Parade would sell in the mid $800,000 range.

Given its dilapidated state, it was slightly more than he was willing to pay.

He had not given it much more thought, until an estate agent called to ask if he would like to make an offer for the home on an 810sq m block.

Risking life and limb, he took a ladder and climbed on top of a chicken house in the back yard to access the roof, and what he saw was enough for him to purchase the property – for a mere $730,000.

“It kind of fell in my lap,” Mr Hall explained.

“It was listed for sale a few weeks before our first lockdown but as we got closer to lockdown it was as though interest in the house dropped off.

“I took a ladder and climbed on top of a chicken house and put the ladder on the coop to climb on to the house. I could have killed myself, but I wanted to see the view.

View from deck of 69 Gordon St, Manly – about as high as when he climbed with a ladder on the chicken coop. Picture: Bayside Properties.

“When I climbed up to the height that I could raise the house to, this vision of the bay erupted in front of me and I could see Straddie, Moreton and even around to Wellington Point.”

Even though there was a lot of trash talk about the property market as the pandemic swept the state, Mr Hall was unperturbed.

The challenge for the former plasterer and carpenter was too big to ignore.

The run down front of 69 Gordon Parade Manly when it was on the market in 2020. Picture: ReMax

The new street front of 69 Gordon St, Manly. Picture: Bayside Property Agents

He had successfully flipped three houses but not one with a Brisbane City Council traditional character overlay building restriction on it.

“I know it was a risk because there was so much work and there was uncertainty and projections were that the housing market would be a bloodbath,” he said.

“But it was such a brilliant view I had to have it because you couldn‘t go wrong fixing it up.”

Mr Hall estimates more than half a million dollars in renovation costs have been poured into hauling the house into the 21st century and adhering to BCC overlay regulations.

While it’s obvious it has been raised, refurbished and repainted, many original aspects of the house have been salvaged.

Original door hinges, knobs and locks, breezeways, hoop pine floors and pressed ceilings, where possible, have been retained, he said.

The dated interior of 69 Gordon Parade Manly when it was on the market in 2020. Picture: ReMax

Living area of69 Gordon St, Manly. Picture: Bayside Property Agents.

“I believe you have to recycle as much as you can and it’s amazing how much was salvageable,” Mr Hall said.

“I stripped all the old weatherboards off and put insulation in the walls and then put all the weatherboards back.

“I have reused the old doors and the hinges, which were made in the late 1800s, and the double sash windows.”

The final product makes it one of the premier homes in the area, says real estate agent David Pearce.

“It’s one of the biggest renovations in recent times in Manly and makes it a superior house for the area,” the Bayside Property Agents principal said.

Originally published as $500k or your life: Tradie’s dangerous act to flip a house