The façade cost will depend upon the materials you pick and site specs (sloping blocks are a bit more challenging) and labour costs ( just make sure that you check your trades licenses, insurances and references for everyone who works on your house) - once you're structurally sound then the rest is straight forward (it's also been my experience with my builders - who are awesome - that they can come up with some amazing ideas that are cost effective and have a real wow factor). If it were me I'd ask around the neighbourhood for builders that can be recommended - they should be able to do it all at the same time and save you some money. On the materials - I'd be tempted to go with natural timber that will weather naturally without needing maintenance - personally I'd lean towards a Japanese technique of charring the timber so that you don't need to do a lot of upkeep - called Shou-sugi-ban - the reason being that the dark colour will tone in with your window frames.

Hello, depending on the colour schemes you like. I suggest spraying the roof (probably charcoal colour) painting the gutters and fascists to match. Paint the bricks a light to medium colour. Windows and boards in white/light to contrast. As a neutral beige time selection I would recommend the following (without the fan deck in front on me). Roof, gutters & fascias - Colorbond Woodland Grey Bricks - darker then Dulux Beige Royal (Linseed is probably a little green but the right depth of colour) Windows & boards - Dulux Beige Royal half Keep the roof line as it is, the colour change will be amazing.

Yes you are right, oskuee, the cost of this renovation was commensurate with its location in a prestige suburb of Sydney. Having said that, the budget was not limitless, so we chose to retain and enhance the bones and style of the original house by making 'simple' changes, rather than reinventing the whole house's look & layout, which would require more extensive and costly changes. This is how I usually approach renovations, to get the most out of the client's budget, no matter what the size or cost of the project is.

having owned and rented out a house for over 20 years before recently moving in our experience includes..you do not have rights to access property while the tenants are in residence and don't add anything that would need to be looked after by tenants...Talk to your accountant about the difference between capital works, repairs and maintenance especially about the best timing for anything for your own aesthetics (like rendering) and doesn't effect the safety and rentability of the house, make sure all electrical and plumbing is in cleaned excellent working order including air conditioning, heaters, exhaust fans, power points, light fittings, hot water service, taps (inside and out) gutters, downpipes, sewerage and drainage so you will know the condition of the home before the tenants move in and better identify any subsequent damage (compared to normal wear and tear) and also helps avoid expensive emergency repairs..Improvements worth considering include adding security screen doors, repairing and/or replacing hinges, knobs handles and locks every cabinet and door, replacing old fences and anything not in good working order. Have at least two sets of keys for every lock and a written means of identifying every key for every lock, clean exhaust fans and chimneys and ensure there are enough required smoke alarms, including in the garage. Talk to your insurance company about Landlords insurance and ask about anything you can do to reduce their premiums..We had many happy years with happy tenants because we made sure the house worked properly, when we wanted to do major improvements we made specific changes to the lease and tenants received rent discount in return..So many essential boring things to think about before there needs to be any cosmetic changes to what looks like a really good house.