March 2009

James (a reader) asked me recently: “What adds more value, joinery or blinds? I’m trying to add additional wardrobe space to an inner city apartment in Melbourne because it is so cramped. But budget-wise, with permits, building surveyor etc, I’m trying to decide what are the most important ones to do.”
This morning I went looking [...]

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David (the reader mentioned below) also asked me this other question recently: Also what work do you have to be licensed for? What are the implications if I do wiring for example and I don’t have a compliance certificate?
Well, the first answer to this question is that you shouldn’t be doing the wiring yourself - [...]

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David (a reader) asked me recently: “Is there an easy, concise way to find out exactly what you need permits for - structural is highly likely but what about just changing windows, installing new kitchens and bathrooms, wiring new lights etc?”
Well, the answer is yes, and no. There’s no one central place to find [...]

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Last week Barbra (a reader) wrote in to ask me this: “I need to know how to get rid of the mould in my old terrace house.” Here’s what I can suggest:
In the section of my book called Building and Battling, in the chapter called Look out for trouble, I said that mould (and other [...]

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Ok. I admit it. It takes a little more than 4 minutes to learn how to renovate for profit. If time is short though (and you don’t have my book yet - why not I ask??) then you could watch this A Current Affair report on what to do to make money renovating and of [...]

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