RENOVATION

GANG HOUSE COMES GOOD

Wayne Dickson’s renovation project was ambitious. It was worth the effort, though, with a potential $100,000 in added equity. By Diana Clement.

roperty investor Wayne East Parkdale Drive, was probably worth Dickson lived in the same street ‘The meth turned $75,000 to $80,000. However, at the as an infamous gang house. eleventh hour, he contacted the bank and He watched the house moved out to be the least was pre-approved for $150,000 finance Ponto the section, a decade or so back, of our worries’ to cover the purchase and renovation, BEFORE: The ex-gang house was purchased for $92,000 and and commented to himself: “what a tip”. should he be successful. the total cost of renovating was $105,000. Never did he expect to own it. WAYNE DICKSON On auction day Dickson was on his But, a few years after the house arrived way to Ayers Rock, Australia for a holiday in town, the gang fell behind with mortgage and left his dad, Tom, in charge of bidding payments. The methamphetamine buyers traipsed through the open home. with a budget of $90,000. Dickson senior on the home. If it burned down before home from the Auckland suburb of Herne contaminated Tokoroa home was At this stage Dickson was not too ended up spending $92,000 and had settlement then Dickson would have Bay. “It was quite a big place.” eventually repossessed by the bank, interested in the place. He was put off by the locks changed that day to prevent been left out of pocket. At some point, after the home arrived decontaminated, a huge amount of rubbish the fact it had been meth contaminated, undesirables moving in. The house had more than a few quirks. in Tokoroa, the occupants had removed removed, and put up for mortgagee sale. and he thought it would sell for more The property was settled as fast The gang transported the home from a number of structural walls, which the It was very definitely the worst house than he was prepared to pay. as possible because the insurance Auckland just over a decade ago. It is, South District Council were in a good street and a lot of potential He estimated that the section alone, in company wasn’t able to give full cover Dickson thinks, the top floor of a 1950s unhappy about. “The council had been

40 NZ PROPERTY INVESTOR // APRIL 2018 RENOVATION

rewire of the property. Previous owners windows with double glazing.” had been creative with the electrics As the work started to near the and it seemed best to start from February 2018 completion date Dickson scratch. Once the connections were in started to be door-knocked by potential place the entire electrical bill amounted tenants who could see it would be as to just under $8,000. Don Garner, of good as new once finished. Plumbing Services (Tokoroa), Tokoroa has been undergoing a bit of a did the plumbing work. renaissance economically in recent years, The kitchen was bought from says Dickson. The cost of living in nearby Bunnings Warehouse locally. Homewares towns such as Tauranga, Hamilton and were ordered online from Danik Rotorua has pushed people further afield TIMELINE Homeware (danikhomeware.co.nz) to towns such as Tokoroa. which Dickson has found, from Dickson’s wife Fiona owns LATE JULY 2017: auction experience, to provide good-quality RentAssured Property Management in EARLY AUGUST: settlement and The property was converted from a two bedroom/one bathroom products and a professional service. Tokoroa and has stopped advertising draughtsman began plans to a four-bedroom/two bathroom rental. The tiles were bought from Tile Max for tenants because word of mouth is EARLY SEPTEMBER: applied for permit, Warehouse in Tauranga and the carpet enough in such a hot market. removed deck, removed wall and several came from a local contact. “She gets five to 10 people ringing up ceiling linings plus remedial plaster work A big problem was finding a GIB every week for houses. She doesn’t even OCTOBER: electrician re-wired the stopper. Tradespeople in the South advertise them now. Word of mouth is property Waikato, and neighbouring areas, have how she rents them.” OCTOBER/NOVEMBER: replaced more than enough work thanks to the Not many renovations stay within windows, cleaned moss-covered roof, ‘The council aftermath of floods in nearby Edgecumbe, budget and that was the case for this painted exterior, completed fencing and plus the Tokoroa building boom, which is build, which went $15,000 over budget painted fence, replaced 70 roof tiles had been on site picking up by the day, says Dickson. to $105,000. One timber deck had to LATE OCTOBER/EARLY NOVEMBER: because the gang GIB stoppers, in particular, are “as be replaced and another unexpected permit issued, additional piles placed and rare as hen’s teeth” in Tokoroa and expense was the addition of a concrete permitted work signed off, replacement ripped out the surrounds. “We eventually found a friend pad. Dickson says $90,000 of the GIB work completed and eight weeks of of a friend who was a full time worker renovation cost was covered by the weekend plastering work supporting walls’ and could only come to our home on the mortgage and the remainder has come JANUARY 2018: interior painting, WAYNE DICKSON weekends.” In normal circumstances from the couple’s cash flow. garage foundation the work would have taken two Dickson has yet to have the house FEBRUARY: tiling of kitchen and weeks. But, because it was part time, valued. But expects, from his own bathrooms, fitting bathrooms, kitchen, on site because the gang ripped out the ceiling. The current building code meant who does most of his building work it stretched the renovation out from knowledge of house prices in carpets, heatpump. supporting walls,” says Dickson. that additional piles had to be installed, trading as Wow Renovations, was able to mid-November to mid-January. Tokoroa, that it will be worth around The gang’s “remodelling” of the beneath some of the new walls, for get on with some of the demolition work. The next problem was the scotia. “It $300,000, which means he has structure of the home was, in part, a bit weight distribution. This included the removal of old fibrous was a mission getting new scotia,” says added $100,000 equity. of a godsend for Dickson, even though it Incredibly, Gawn was able to turn plaster wall claddings and most of the Dickson. “The walls had been pulled out “A similar sized house, in the same COSTS was a compliance nightmare. It gave him a front doorway and hallway into a ceilings. The purpose of this work was with a crowbar [by the gang] and the area, sold for $309,000 [recently].” $3,500 permit, draughtsman more or less a blank canvas to redesign. bedroom and a big bathroom plus to modernise the home. It was not done scotia damaged.” He expects to let the property for $15,000 windows and ranchslider How to go about the redesign was the a wardrobe into two bathrooms. because of meth contamination, which at One piece of good news was that the $380 a week from a two-income couple $10,000 kitchen cabinets, appliances question. The home Dickson bought was The renovation did encounter problems 0.25ug after cleaning was not an issue. exterior had been re-clad, by the gang, or a large family. Local employers such $10,000 two bathrooms quite different from what existed on the along the way. “The meth turned out to Only the large ceiling in one of the in Shadowclad plywood cladding, which as the Pulp & Paper , and $10,000 garage council file, which created certain issues be the least of our worries,” says Dickson. bedrooms was kept which Tom cleaned, was largely in good condition. There Fonterra’s Lichfield Cheese Factory are $8,000 electrician for draughtsman Graham Gawn of Compliance, and finding specialist pigment sealed and painted. For safety, was some damage, as a result of a both good payers. $6,500 plumber Mace Design. tradespeople in Tokoroa, proved to be far the ceilings were held up with props until truck hitting the house, during the This means there is always a supply $2,000 fencing “We had to work out how to more of a problem due to a local building the structural work could be done. clean-up before the mortgagee sale. of potential tenants, who can afford $3,500 painting reconfigure it, and get it compliant,” boom and the rebuilding in towns nearby. Once the renovation was permitted The gang had also insulated the home, higher than average rents, for a decent $5,000 deck says Dickson. “The house was 120m2 Getting the plans through council was it took two weeks to do the structural extensively, when it was first brought home. Tokoroa, he says, is becoming $5,500 plasterer [but] it was a strange setup with two an issue, although the South Waikato work. A licenced builder was employed down from Auckland. more desirable as a place to live and the $2,000 heatpump bedrooms. We knew we needed to District Council did bend over backwards to do the ceiling beams required for Dickson budgeted to replace some council’s planned CBD upgrade is going $4,500 flooring make it four bedrooms.” to be helpful, says Dickson. Consent was the permit. of the windows with aluminium double to accelerate that trend. $15,000 labour (approx). Gawn’s new design involved moving granted in October, around 12 weeks Then, before Dickson senior began glazing, but in the end replaced all the Fiona and Wayne own five investment some walls, reinstating others and after settlement. the task of replacing all the GIB, Ecurb windows in the house. “When we priced properties in Tokoroa, buying their first adding reinforcing beams above the In the meantime dad, Tom Dickson, Electrical came in and did a complete them up we decided to replace all the property in 1998. ■

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