Exclusive tips from The Block’s Frank Valentic

We have always been firm believers in the power that renovating your kitchen and/or bathroom has to add value to your home. But a recent report by the Real Estate Institute of Victoria actually puts a price on it – around six figures in some locations.

In fact, in areas like Bayside, Mornington Peninsula, and Moonee Valley, the addition of a second bathroom is adding up to $170k to the price of a family home, with the additional bathroom being highly sought after by buyers.

If anyone knows about the potential for a renovation to improve the value of a home, it’s Frank Valentic from Advantage Property Consulting, a regular face on Channel Nine’s The Block. In this, the first of three special articles, we asked Frank one simple question: Do you think it’s important to use a professional to undertake your renovation? Frank couldn’t have been clearer with his opinion…

Frank Valentic

I’d always use professionals whenever I’m renovating or doing a new build to help make those major decisions. I use interior designers and experienced people who do it for a living. I think it’s important to tap into professionals as they give advice on functionality, floorplans and how to perfectly finish off your bathroom and kitchen.

I would recommend investing the money to get the proper professional advice before you go ahead and spend a lot of money on a renovation, only to find it might not functionally work. Sometimes it’s hard to work out the size of a kitchen, for example. Just having the opinion of a professional who does it week in, week out before you start making these decisions is really important.

One of the things we often see on The Block is contestants making decisions without getting the right advice. We come in at the end and we can see that functionally something doesn’t work or it doesn’t have the right floorplan or layout. But it’s all too late – they can’t go back and redo it!

If you go ahead and invest $35k into the kitchen and the same in the bathroom and it doesn’t functionally work, then it’s not going to add the value to the property in the future. Functionality and the right floorplan is everything, and if you don’t get professional advice and you get it wrong, there’s nothing you can do about it.

People often try to skimp on professionals’ fees and attempt to become a DIY renovator instead. But they can often make mistakes, particularly if it’s their first renovation and they don’t have the experience or expertise. I’m a firm believer in paying people to get professional advice.

It’s an expensive thing to spend $30k-$35k on a kitchen, and you want to get it right first time to make sure that it actually adds that extra $100k+. If you get it wrong, it won’t. If you don’t have enough storage, if the new bathroom is not located in the right area of the house, if the floorplan isn’t functional, all of these things will stop your renovation adding the potential value that it could.

To speak with one of our experts about a bathroom or kitchen renovation, or request a free in-home consultation, simply get in touch. Call us today on 1300 662 838.