How-to guide
Selling well isn't about doing everything — it's about doing the right things, in the right order. Here's the plan we run for sellers, from first declutter to listing photos.
Stand at your gate and walk in slowly. What do you notice? The tired front door, the scuffed hallway, the cracked ceiling, the dated bathroom? Buyers notice the same things in the first 90 seconds. Write them down — that's your list.
Before any spend, clear surfaces, thin out furniture and pack away the personal photos. Buyers need to picture their life in the home, not yours. This is free and it makes everything that follows look better.
Fix the things that whisper "neglect": cracks, leaks, water stains, sticky doors and windows, broken fittings. Sound house first, pretty house second — there's no point painting over a problem.
This is the big lever. Fresh, neutral walls inside; a clean exterior and a sharp front door outside. Nothing else lifts a home as much for the money.
Resurface tired cabinets, reseal and regrout wet areas, swap dated handles and tapware. These two rooms carry the sale — make them read clean and current without ripping them out.
Tidy the entrance, water-blast the path, mow and edge, add a couple of planters. Buyers decide whether they like a home before they're through the door.
Once it's fresh, bring in a stylist (or your agent's stager), then book the photographer. Photos taken on a fresh, staged home are what make buyers click — and turn up.
Steps 3–6 are exactly what a pre-sale makeover handles — one crew, one schedule, one fixed price, in about four weeks. You can do it piecemeal, or hand the lot over and get a locked finish date for your listing.
The order that works: walk it like a buyer, declutter, repair the tells, repaint inside and out, freshen the kitchen and bathroom, lift the kerb appeal, then stage and shoot. Steps 3–6 are a pre-sale makeover.
Common questions
Declutter and depersonalise — it's free and makes everything else look better. Then repair obvious defects before you spend on cosmetics.
Allow about four weeks for a full refresh plus a week or so to declutter and stage. Starting earlier gives you a locked finish date that lines up with your listing.
No. Spend where buyers look — paint, kitchen and bathroom, kerb appeal — and skip bespoke or structural work. Refresh what shows, leave what doesn't.
Answer a few quick questions and get a ballpark price and a finish date in about 30 seconds — emailed to you as a PDF. No charge, no pressure.