The simple home renovation job that spiked by $30,000 after the pandemic

Georgia and Peter Wallace ordered a huge renovation on their Woolloongabba home before the pandemic — but when they decided to do a smaller bathroom renovation two months ago, they saw the price spike by tens of thousands of dollars.

“It significantly exceeded a bathroom renovation that would have been done 7 years ago,” Ms Wallace said, with the cost in the upper end of $60,000.

The interior designer, who now had experience in renovations, estimated this to be around double a pre-Covid quote.

Georgia and Peter Wallace renovated most of their home before 2020 – but found even a small renovation in 2025 has seen a massive jump in cost. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“With Covid, everyone was staying at home and not going on vacations,” she said. “A lot of people moved their attention towards their homes, and putting their excess or surplus money into renovating [them], and I think it’s really taken off.”

The family are selling their home at 2 Buranda St at a time when renovated homes are in high demand with limited supply. New ABS data collected by the Housing Industry Association found Queenslanders were spending $12.8b on renovations over the past year: $1b more than they were spending pre-pandemic.

While renovation spending reached a high in 2021, continued growth was predicted to slow until more skilled workers would emerge to meet the demand.

2 Buranda St, Woolloongabba, the home the Wallaces have placed up for sale. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, spending costs on renovations have risen by a whopping $1b.

Ms Wallace said she and her husband had seen the rise in both labour and materials first-hand over recent years, along with a desire for more expansive house alterations.

“With the exposure to social media, I feel like that has played a huge role in shaping the industry,” she said. “People’s expectations of their living environments have increased.”

Ms Wallace said she felt more people developed a higher expectation of their living conditions after the pandemic. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Place Kangaroo Point agent Courtney Caulfield said she was seeing up to one in ten homes in her area getting a renovation at a time.

“There’s a bigger buyer pool out there for people who have a home that’s finished,” she said, saying the hassle and expense of building put some buyers off doing that work themselves. “People at the moment are paying a premium for properties that are completed, whether that’s through a renovation or a brand new build.”

With rising build costs, many who can afford it are eager to buy a newly done-up home so they can avoid the hassle themselves. Picture: Patrick Woods.

The Wallaces are now selling their renovated home at 2 Buranda St, and said it would take them longer to save up the money to do such a job on their next home.

“We’re definitely realistic in what it would cost,” Ms Wallace said. “I don’t think my husband and I would change what we’re doing — it would maybe delay when we’d start doing it.”

“If you’re looking to get good trade [workers], you need to pay for those good trades.”

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