Stop Dreaming and Start Renovating for Profit E-Book

Rebeka Morgan

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 431

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Turn your passion for renovating and home design into profit

Do you love the idea of renovating and flipping houses, but you’re scared to take the plunge? Stop Dreaming and Start Renovating for Profit is an inspiring, practical how-to guide for creating financial independence by renovating and reselling residential properties. Registered builder and successful developer Rebeka Morgan has helped thousands of women buy, renovate and sell properties for profit. In this book, she shares her tried-and-tested advice for harnessing your unique strengths to strategically improve a property’s value — and build your wealth quickly.

You’ll grow your skills as a planner, decision maker and developer, learning how to be creative and find the gains that add up to thousands of dollars in profit. And you’ll discover how renovating can be a flexible, profitable business that fits into your busy life. Whether you’re caring for your family, rethinking your career or simply looking to boost your income, this book will empower you to take action and grow your earnings.

Inside, you’ll find:

• Practical tools and case studies to help you see the big picture, find your vision and seize the courage to get started
• Strategies for analysing feasibility and designing profitable projects
• Hands-on, step-by-step guidance for managing the design and build process
• Advice that will help you avoid time-consuming and costly mistakes
• Tips for marketing and selling your property once the renovations are done

Renovating property is not a guaranteed shortcut to quick profits. Getting a return on your investment is about seeing a home’s potential and then taking smart steps to realise that potential. Whether you’re just getting started or you’re looking to build a business flipping homes, Stop Dreaming and Start Renovating for Profit is a can’t-miss resource.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

About the author

Introduction

1 Building courage: it's all about mindset

Goals and financial planning

Being a Master BuildHer or DevelopHer

Creating your development plan

Building your community

Your secret sauce

2 The feasibility: your key to success

Feasibility fundamentals

Budgeting for a renovation

Budgeting for an extension or new build

Resources for getting your numbers right

Quantifying the cost

The cost of action vs inaction

Decisions and values

3 Your vision: doing your due diligence

Sense checking your idea

Justifying your value proposition

Choosing your moment

4 Financing and funding: the basics

Funding the purchase of your build

Using collaboration to build profitable joint ventures

5 Buying the right property: practical tips

The value of the property

Purchasing property

Negotiating terms when purchasing property

Due diligence

The value of your property based on comparative sales

Building and design codes

6 Renovation: managing the design and build

1. The design process

2. The planning and approval process

3. The tendering and budgeting process

4. The construction process

5. The handover process

Your design team

Choosing a building method

How to choose the best builder and trades for you

It is your project: keep yourself involved and stay organised

The building and renovating process

7 Selling your property: an overview of the sales process

Prepare your property for sale

Market and sell your property

Common sales strategies and processes

Market conditions

Look at your competition on the market

Goals and time frames

Critical review: compare your property with others

Select and work with an agent

Style your property for success

Market your recently completed project

Video content

8 Putting it all together

Seven cash‐sucking money pits to avoid!

Mitigating your optimism or pessimism

Big things often have small beginnings

Conclusion

Build up your knowledge

Find a deal

Create a clean and clear process

Build up your documentation

Understand your borrowing potential

Acknowledgements

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Tables

Chapter 2

Table 2.1: An example of the scope of works items based on the High St Examp...

Table 2.2: An example of a scope with the budgets spreadsheet

Table 2.3: Design and permit costs associated with an extension or new build

Table 2.4: Changing the cost of the tiles (@ $60/m2) and installation (@ $80...

Table 2.5: Changing the cost of the tiles ($150/m2) and installation ($120/m...

Table 2.6: Changing the quantity of the tiles

Chapter 4

Table 4.1: The pros and cons of doing a property‐first JV

Table 4.2: The pros and cons of doing a group‐first JV

Table 4.3: Questions to ask yourself before embarking on a JV

Chapter 5

Table 5.1: Comparable properties analysis spreadsheet.

Table 5.2: You can see from this completed table that I enter details, sizin...

Chapter 6

Table 6.1: The pros and cons of being an owner‐builder

Table 6.2: The pros and cons of being a blended builder

Table 6.3: The pros and cons of choosing a design and construct builder

Table 6.4: The pros and cons of choosing a volume builder

Table 6.5: The pros and cons of using the design team and tender method

Chapter 7

Table 7.1: Spreadsheet for comparing properties

Table 7.2: Average agents' fees across Australia

List of Illustrations

Chapter 2

Figure 2.1: Sample feasibility template Visit www.buildhercollective.com.au/...

Figure 2.2: Checklist of factors that affect renovation projects

Figure 2.3: Example of the bathroom drawn to scale

Figure 2.4: Example of the bathroom with fixtures and fittings drawn on the ...

Figure 2.5: An example of the wall elevation with a ceiling of 2.7m

Figure 2.6: An example of how you can map the fixtures and finishes from the...

Figure 2.7: An example of how the elevation will look with the fixtures draw...

Figure 2.8: Materials board

Figure 2.9: Materials costing schedule

Figure 2.10: An example of the extent of tiling when tiling to 2.1m high

Figure 2.11: An example of the extent of tiling when tiling to 2.7m high

Chapter 3

Figure 3.1: Estimated development costs for the Brunswick property

Figure 3.2: Saving $7585 per year for 10 years adds up

Figure 3.3: Saving your profits five times in 10 years adds up

Chapter 5

Figure 5.1: This is the sun rise and set during winter and summer on a house...

Guide

Cover Page

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

About the author

Introduction

Begin Reading

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Stop Dreaming and Start Renovating for Profit

Index

End User License Agreement

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First published 2025 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

© John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2025

All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial intelligence technologies or similar technologies. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review) no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

The right of Rebeka Morgan to be identified as the author of Stop Dreaming and Start Renovating for Profit has been asserted in accordance with law.

ISBN: 978‐1‐394‐27129‐0

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About the author

Rebeka Morgan is a dedicated mother, experienced renovator, registered builder and seasoned property developer. She is the founder of BuildHer Collective, a business designed to empower and support women in the building industry — whether they are constructing their own homes or developing for profit.

With a background in quantity surveying (specialising in cost management), project management and commercial construction, Rebeka brings a wealth of expertise to the residential property development space. She made the decision to leave her role as general manager of a commercial building company to spend more time with her family and create her own path in residential development.

For over a decade, renovating for profit and managing projects has been central to Rebeka's career. She has successfully completed a diverse range of projects, including new builds, renovations, subdivisions, vineyard refurbishments and joint ventures. Her extensive experience spans various property styles and project types, demonstrating her adaptability and expertise in transforming spaces for both residential and investment purposes.

Introduction

Renovating houses, buying and selling has been an amazing gift for me and my family. We, our family, have had immense benefits from playing and operating in this space. With seven children, we have been able to navigate the many changes of life and time constraints, and have had the gift of flexibility in playing in a non‐traditional space. While my first renovations were completed when I was working fulltime, since then we have been able to focus on building a business alongside building houses, first working for people and then moving to doing our own projects.

I work alongside my wonderful, generous and handsome partner John, whom I met on one of my first renovations, when I hired him to do some work for me. Now we both work on projects together and separately. He is my rock and safe place — he is generally the voice of reason when I have another crazy idea or want to take on another project that we don't have time for. We have found our rhythm together over the years, built trust and an ease about the work we do. We still have moments for sure (every project has a nib wall we don't agree on) but as a whole we challenge each other, making the process less lonely and way more fun.

I do not have a get‐rich‐quick program for you — a pathway to making money without effort — but throughout this book you will find the systems, processes and theory that I have been honing while building and renovating. I have helped countless people renovate and build personally and through my BuildHer Collective community and I want you to keep in mind that this will be a journey, both physically and emotionally. Rarely will people buy, renovate and sell without having to overcome challenges, without having moments of doubt, without occasionally getting overwhelmed. If it were easy and straightforward you wouldn't need a book and everyone would be doing it, but then there probably wouldn't be any profit in it either.

BuildHer Collective is a business I created to help women renovate their own homes. At the time I was building houses with my partner John and we were being contacted by many friends and friends of friends who had issues in their build. Many times (most times) the problems that were causing so much grief and angst were avoidable. There were simple steps that could have led to a much better outcome, and the problem wasn't always with the builder, but there was always an element of miscommunication involved. With the right training or help in the beginning these were avoidable. The other thing that kept coming up was that people didn't know what they didn't know, so they were making decisions without a complete understanding of the process or what impact the decisions were making further down the track. However, it was no one person's job to help someone, there were no rules or independent places you could go to get advice or learn how to manage the process properly. And when you are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, and your life savings, this is craziness. This prompted the idea of BuildHer Collective, which helps women build.

The second thing that BuildHer is now known for, again, stemmed from people asking for help. As John and I were renovating for profit and had tested a number of ways to do this, we were getting questions and asks about how other people could renovate and sell for a profit too. Now, I never wanted to have a business or any relationship with ‘flipping houses' or ‘developing' as they always felt cheap — it felt somehow dirty and like it wasn't ethical. But I began to realise that the ‘want' to renovate for profit or flip houses is not actually about this. It is about creating something that someone else will live in, it's about creating an income that is physical and tangible in a world where it can feel like we are just pushing about paper and emails, and it is about creating a life and lifestyle that fits in with your values. This I could get behind. This did not feel slimy or sleazy or like we were making money at the expense of the purchaser. This was the beginning of the DevelopHer Masterclass.

Throughout this book my focus will be to develop your skills in all areas of the build — there are many — and to support your forecasted profitable feasibility, turning it into realised profit. Building is really fun. Being creative and making a profit on your projects is really fun (way more fun than taking a loss!), but it requires skills and nuance.

Rising markets have given many renovators a false sense of security. They may have completed a renovation and increased the value of their property, but if land value rose by that same amount then they could have also done nothing and made the same return — which would have taken way less effort! We have all heard of someone that brought for x and sold for $1m more and the assumption was they made a million dollars. We are here to teach you that this is not the case. But if you do your numbers correctly and follow the guides, by the end of this book you will have a better understanding of capital improvement vs home improvement vs actual bankable profit.

I will teach you in this book how to look for areas where you can manufacture profit, how to put together a feasibility before you purchase — this will be your blueprint to making money — and how to then realise your profits by taking up the little 1 per cent gains that can add up to tens of thousands — if not hundreds of thousands — of dollars along the way!

I want you to know that while each project has its challenges, rarely do people get to the end without having fun, without a massive sense of accomplishment and without learning a lot about themselves and the process. This is a game where you will always be learning. In the start you might be learning the process, but then it will be the nuance, the systems and the structures that make this game so fun. I love the creativity of the process, from finding a new project, to exploring and designing a new home with different finishes, ideas and designs. What a gift to be able to create a home that someone will get to live in and share with their family and friends.

When you master the art of renovating for profit you will be able to adjust the types of projects you do around your life and lifestyle, depending on what this season brings you: a quick internal renovation one year and a larger dual occupancy the rest. I have liked to run a number of projects at one time and then take a break. We have had six‐month breaks between projects where, as a family, we have been able to travel and live in our own little bubble. We are always learning and adjusting what serves to do and what suits us at the time. Our family changes and has different needs as they grow which can be factored into our lifestyle and, as we build we learn and adapt along the way.

In the past few years, we have had so many successful stories from our BuildHer Collective students — too many to mention — but here are just a few that come to mind as I write this:

Taeler made $230 000 on her first renovation in 10 months while on maternity leave and has not had to return to work as she is moving from project to project.

Joni made a healthy amount selling her single‐fronted Victorian house in Brunswick and went all in on the next house, making $2 million from this one project.

Anna made $500 000 on a knock‐down rebuild while having babies.

Mel made $57 000 on an apartment renovation that took just 6 weeks.

Elise made $880 000 on a home that she renovated in stages while working fulltime.

Hannah sold her attached home for a whopping profit, moving into the dream mid‐century home that would never have been on the horizon for her, sparking a change of career.

Tyler was able to quit her job and start her own business from the sale of her renovated passive house property, moving into a gorgeous 1950s heritage home.

Rachel renovated and sold homes quickly using a seller joint‐venture model, one of which took $50 000 of work to create $450 000 of profits and is on her 4th project now.

Everyone's story is unique to them in the way they use their projects to align with their life goals, values and interests. I am so excited and privileged to be working with so many incredible women and hope I get to share in some of your adventures and wins too. Our whole team would love to hear about your wins if you email us at [email protected].

I always loved property, but never thought I would be able to make a living this way. I am still surprised and grateful that we took the plunge and made the decision to give it a go. Those turning‐point moments — the sliding doors moments — are still so clear in my mind. We have had a huge amount of freedom afforded to us, along with a complete adventure through embarking on this journey. I don't know what your journey will hold for you, but I hope it will be as amazing and as fun as ours has been.