With Brisbane build prices set to dramatically rise once again, one family counts themselves lucky they were able to renovate before the hikes.
Homeowners Georgina and Ravi Nath purchased their Camp Hill home in 2018, and at the time felt it was “the worst house on the street”.
Georgina Nath and her son Jaden in their Camp Hill home: which they once called “the worst house on the street” before they managed to renovate it. Picture: Steve Pohlner
Today, the renovations they made could cost much more than the deposit they spent, according to the home’s agent.
“We were getting outbid by developers at the time,” Ms Nath said, “and we found this fixer-upper, that was a pre-war home that couldn’t be demolished at the time.”
“The footings weren’t connected, the water was coming out brown … we would run through the house with our dog, and the house would actually shake.”
But when the expecting couple discovered they could get a beautiful city view with the right alterations, they chose to renovate and turn the house into their dream family home.
“By the window, we kind of knew there was a city view,” Ms Nath said. “We made sure that [the house] could grow with us.”
The family was lucky to fix up their home before build prices skyrocketed at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with more hikes expected to come. Picture: Steve Pohlner
Research from the Mobile Skips National Clutter report found Queensland had the third highest percentage of renovation waste in Australia at 51 per cent – with Brisbane seeing one of the strongest national growth trajectories, at 7,393 skip bin bookings between 2021 and 2025.
The report said despite rising prices after Covid, renovation activity had remained high across Brisbane, “with little difference between inner and outer suburbs”.
“We locked in a lot of our prices before Covid, so we were one of the lucky ones,” Ms Nath said, with Mr Nath adding they still needed to keep a tight budget.
”We kept to the original layout as much as possible … any deviation of the layout would have significantly added to the build cost [by 20 per cent].”
Despite prices continuing to jump, home improvement in Queensland continues to stay high, with Brisbane seeing one of the strongest skip bin booking rates in the nation.
“We kept to the original layout as much as possible,” he said. “We kept one of the original bathrooms, we kept some of the existing features of the rooms … extending the existing timber flooring as opposed to completely starting from scratch again.”
“Any deviation of the layout would have significantly added to the build cost [by 20 per cent].”
Now with a five year-old son and needing to move closer to family, the Naths are selling their home at 78 Carranya St with Place Camp Hill.
Place Camp Hill agent Shane Hicks said a renovation like the Nath family’s could now cost “a lot more” than the deposit for that same home. Picture: Steve Pohlner
Agent Shane Hicks the house had received positive attention for the quality of its renovation, which would not be anywhere near as affordable in 2026.
“Georgina and Ravi did this four years ago,” he said. “It was much more common to do then than it is today. The big difference between four years ago and today is the cost of the renovation … if you tried to achieve that same thing today, it could be a lot more than what you’d end up buying the house for.
“Builders are in such big demand, and all of their suppliers … most families go down the path of exploring the cost, and come back saying they’ll sell.”
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