We love renovating and we’ve done some rippers over the years. Just like your own home needs regular upgrades and improvements, rental properties need some attention at least every ten years. Whether it be a lick of paint, new flooring or a bigger job such as a new kitchen or bathroom it all helps to keep your property marketable and earning the best possible rental income.

As you can imagine, we always have multiple projects on the go across our portfolio. Most of our clients want to stick to a tight budget so we have a selection of affordable tradespeople we have continued to use over the years who also provide a quality finish. Here are a few examples of renovations on a budget to inspire you. 

Exteriors

A lick of paint and an exterior face lift makes a huge difference. Check out the transformation we completed on this 1950’s red brick house. First, we painted the brick with two coats of self-priming paint, had the roof sprayed black, added new spouting, painted the concrete patio, stained the fences black and did some minor landscaping with new plants and fresh bark on the gardens. The property now looks modern and fresh and has real street appeal. Did you notice we missed the chimney? It’s since been painted! Estimated cost for this was approximately $10,000.

Kitchens

Tenants love a new kitchen and the trick to keeping within a budget is to keep it simple. Go for cupboards instead of drawers and choose a cheaper colour range for your cupboards, benchtops and fittings. Most kitchens average $10,000 which includes removal of the old kitchen and installation of the new (including plumber and electrician), cabinetry, benchtop and appliances.

Consider adding an upstand to the benchtop which protects the wall behind the sink/taps – this is also a cheaper option than tiling the wall. Bunnings has readymade glass splashbacks for the wall behind the hobs in various colours ranging from $79. Beware of kitset kitchens, they are time consuming to assemble and often end up costing more in labour over just sourcing one from a kitchen company.

Bathrooms

A quick and easy way to modernise a bathroom and really open it up is to remove built in showers and showers over baths and add a two or three sided glass shower. Consider installing a wall hung vanity in smaller bathrooms to give a sense of more space – but beware, the plumbing will need to be changed which will add slightly more to the cost.

Heated towel rails are a must, especially if you are replacing wall linings – a sparky can easily run a new cable for this. Shower domes are a great option to prevent moisture damage to paintwork over the long term.

It’s a must to use a good quality enamel paint and if the window sill lends itself to storage of bottles and other liquid containers consider running a row of tiles along to prevent water damage to the sill. Keeping the shower, vanity and toilet in the same position is the cheapest way for a plumber to re install so keep your plans simple to avoid unnecessary costs.

Whatever you decide to do, give us a call and we can help arrange recommended tradespeople at great rates to help complete your project. If you’d like to discuss your ideas in the first instance and what impact renovating will have on your existing tenants and potential rental income, we can help.

Need more inspiration? Click here for more cheap and easy renovation ideas to attract quality tenants.