Vacant renovation sites have become soft targets for thieves and vandals, with one seasoned investor now budgeting for break-ins on every job – and refusing to claim on insurance to protect future cover.
Over the past year, property investor Charles Corby says several of his renovation sites have been hit – from vandalism to outright arson attempts – and it’s reshaping how he runs projects and how he insures them.
“In the past six months alone, I’ve experienced three break-ins. It’s now something I have to account for in every single reno project’s budget,” he says.
“Vacant renovation sites are an easy target because they’re often empty, full of tools or materials, and no one sleeps there at night. That combination attracts opportunistic thieves and vandals.”
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At a fully renovated and staged home in Leopold, Geelong, Corby arrived to find windows smashed and staging furniture hurled into the pool.
“The damage and clean‑up costs set me back $4000,” he says.
“It happened just before I listed the property for sale too, so there was also an opportunity cost. They even threw our brand new TV in.”
Australia’s property investors and renovators are grappling with a silent, costly epidemic on their work sites: break-ins, vandalism, and even arson.
In regional NSW, it escalated.
“I experienced an attempted arson attack at one of my properties in Moree, where intruders tried to burn the timber boarding around the windows. Thankfully, damage on this one was minimal ($650).”
Another Moree job involved forced entry with a crowbar.
“They smashed the internal walls and stole brand new IKEA kitchen cabinets. Fixing the damage set me back over $10,000. Nowadays all openings have to be boarded up from both the inside and the outside.”
The scale of the problem is broader than a few bad nights.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows an estimated 8.5 per cent of households (913,700) experienced break ins or attempted break in last financial year.
Vacant renovation sites are prime targets for opportunistic thieves and vandals. They are often empty, filled with valuable tools and materials, and typically unoccupied overnight.
Despite the mounting costs, Corby refuses to lodge insurance claims – deliberately.
“Every time I take out a new policy, I’m asked whether I’ve made a claim in recent years,” he says.
“If I start ticking yes, premiums increase or cover becomes harder to obtain.
“Because I’m buying and renovating properties regularly, that matters. So instead, I absorb the cost and move on.”
He now budgets for crime as a certainty, not a contingency.
“I build a buffer into every renovation budget specifically for break‑ins – not as a backup, but because I expect them.”
That mindset shift has changed how his sites are run.
He boards up properties internally and externally, sometimes with steel, roofing sheets or corrugated iron.
One of Mr Corby’s property was hit by arsonists.
He brings in temporary fencing and extra physical barriers, tells neighbours what to look out for and leans on passive surveillance where possible.
On higher‑risk sites, he applies fire‑retardant coatings to exposed timber to reduce the chance of an arson attempt taking hold.
A former Detective Leading Senior Constable with 18 years’ experience at Victoria Police, who asked not to be named, says offenders often grab “everything and anything of value”. Ovens, stove tops, dishwashers, airconditioning units and hot water systems are commonly taken.
Bi‑fold doors and windows can be stolen and resold or quietly installed on other projects, while power tools left on site are an obvious temptation.
Copper wiring and pipes also remain prime targets because of their scrap value.
While ferrous scrap, such as mixed steel, fetches around $300 to $600 per tonne, non-ferrous metals are where the real money lies.
A brand new TV was thrown into a pool by thieves.
Copper cable, for instance, can command between $5000 and an eye-watering $17,000 per tonne, while aluminium is valued at approximately $1500 to $3500 per tonne.
But for flippers, the financial pressure isn’t just from thieves.
The Budget’s housing tax changes tighten the screws on established‑stock flips at the same time security risks are rising.
Negative gearing is being phased out for established residential properties, with access retained for new builds that genuinely add to supply.
Mr Corby now installs temporary fencing.
That shifts the dial against buy‑renovate‑sell projects that don’t end up as long‑term rentals, removing the ability to offset holding losses against other income.
Capital gains tax is also being overhauled from July 1, next year, replacing the current 50 per cent discount with an inflation‑based approach and imposing a minimum 30 per cent tax rate on net gains. Transitional rules will apply, but delays from theft or vandalism can push a sale across the line into the new regime, changing the tax maths mid‑flip.
The combined effect is that every avoidable delay or cost blowout on site matters more than it did a year ago.
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