An elderly homeowner who joined forces with a builder to flip his own home could not believe his eyes when he set foot into his home after an eight-week hiatus.
The newly renovated home at 358 Glenfield Road, in Glenfield, was almost unrecognisable and had been transformed from a dated 1960s home to a light and bright, open-plan house.
The owner Harvey handed his keys over to Simm Projects in October after failing to get a decent offer on his family home, which he recalled paying $112,000 for in 1986.
He told OneRoof he had loved the idea of seeing it transformed rather than selling it to developers, so when Simm Projects director Jared Simm put a completely different offer on the table where he would finance and carry out the renovation Harvey jumped at the chance.
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“I thought it was too good a house to bowl if a developer went in, it would be a shame to bowl a house like that.”
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Harvey, who is now living in a retirement village, visited the property last week for the first time since work began and was blown away with the result.
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. It’s like he’s built a brand-new house.”
The 85-year-old was especially impressed with how the wall between the kitchen and living room had been knocked out to create one light and bright open space and how the laundry had been adapted to create a fourth bedroom.
“I’m thrilled. Like I said to Jared, I would give you 10/10 for this – it’s just so good. I didn’t expect he would do that much in eight weeks – it’s just unbelievable.”
Before: The Glenfield Road property was dated and tired-looking. Photos / Supplied
After: The house looks modern and inviting. Photo / Supplied
Under their partnership agreement, Harvey retains ownership of the home for the duration of the project and Simm funds and carries out the major renovation on the house. They split any additional profit above what they previously agreed the house would have sold for in its original condition.
Harvey is hopeful the price will now be a lot closer to its RV of $1.5 million when it is auctioned on December 14.
Simm said seeing Harvey’s reaction to the renovated home had made squeezing a 16-week renovation week into just eight weeks worthwhile.
“He was blown away and he couldn’t stop saying he was speechless and the family were stoked. It made the hard weeks worth it that’s for sure.”
All the extra overtime meant the project had finished on time and exactly on the $144,000 budget which included all materials and all other tradespeople excluding Simm’s and an additional builder’s own time.
The most expensive part of the job was concreting the long driveway, which had taken up a third of the budget.
“That was quite a big cost that we had to wear, but it couldn’t not be done. The driveway was in pretty bad shape before we came.”
Before: The kitchen was small and not unsuited for modern family living. Photo / Supplied
After: A new kitchen was installed and a wall knocked out between the kitchen and lounge to create a large open-plan living area. Photo / Supplied
Simm said he achieved a lot more than planned especially when some unexpected jobs came up such as replacing part of the roof, fixing the wonky bathroom floor and installing new interior doors.
“There was a lot of extra finishing things I guess, but we just wanted to make it so that it was nice and when you walked in it felt like it was new.
“The canvas itself was wicked to work with. It gave us a lot of opportunity to make it look cool, which I believe we did with the budget that we had. We are pretty stoked with it and so are the owners, which is great.”
Simm is now looking for more homes in bad conditions in Auckland that he can help the owner bring into the 21st century and had Harvey’s full endorsement.
Before: The bathroom was functional but needed improving to bring it up to buyers' expectations. Photo / Supplied
After: The old bathroom was ripped out and replaced with something spectacular. Photo / Supplied
The Glenfield Road property, which is on a 819sqm section, is being auctioned on December 14 and the pair will be wanting north of $1.2m to just break even.
Harcourts listing agent Deb Talbot-King said it would make a perfect family home now that it was a four-bedroom home with a rumpus room and extra toilet downstairs. There was also plenty of parking for several cars, a boat, a trailer or even a caravan.
Feedback from people through the first open homes at the weekend had been positive and even people who had viewed it both before and after the makeover had loved all the improvements, she said.
“It’s just walking in and just that openness and that space – it’s just so light it’s awesome. It’s a real entertainer’s place and has a really good vibe about it.”
The new owners could even be in the home by Christmas day if they moved quickly, she added.
- 358 Glenfield Road, in Glenfield, Auckland, goes to auction on December 14
