Meet Georgia
Meet Georgia, a successful HR professional with a passion for project management and design. In 2019, Georgia purchased a property that had great potential, but needed a lot of work to bring it up to her standards. The property was in liveable condition, had beautiful period details, and enough space to increase the footprint. Georgia had a vision for the property and was determined to make it a reality.
Professional photography by Dylan James
As a seasoned project manager, Georgia used her people skills to establish strong relationships with the people involved in the renovation process. She quickly realised that building a home is all about relationships and is one big program of work. However, the renovation process was not without its challenges. Most of the setbacks came in design, planning, and value management. The property was on a small 280sqm block with a heritage overlay that limited their options. They faced a few setbacks with council and a VCAT objection that cost them a lot of time and stress. Despite these setbacks, the build itself went relatively smoothly.
Georgia designed the house herself and had a drafty draw it up, with some help from her architect sister who is based in WA. She engaged Rachel from R&Co Design Studio to draw up the joinery plans and help with some of the finishes. Georgia wanted to do everything herself and was a bit of a control freak, so it was important for her to create a team of people who would work with her and show her what she didn’t know. Engaging Rachel was one of her best decisions. Rachel introduced her to their builder, KUBE, and gave her the confidence to push ahead when they had given up due to cost increases.
Georgia’s favourite part of the project was extending the hallway to look like an original part of the house. She also wanted high ceilings and lots of natural light in the extension, which has worked out beautifully and is a very calm and peaceful space to be in. She was able to use the BuildHer Little Black Book (LBB) to her benefit and purchased just about all of her finishes through suppliers from the LBB, such as her gorgeous Meir tapware – as well as all of her furniture. This was a game changer and saved her tens of thousands of dollars.
Georgia loved being part of the BuildHer community. Right from the start, she had a lot of group help with her floorplan, and through the planning and building process, she had continual support with tricky questions and issues that came up. Whenever something went wrong, as it always does, she was able to relax knowing that the BuildHer community would have an answer.
Despite some unexpected setbacks, such as her terrazzo tiles not arriving in time, Georgia was able to overcome these obstacles and turn her dream into reality. She feels a huge sense of achievement walking through the house and seeing every little detail that she spent hours, days, weeks, and months selecting and making sure they worked together.
Finally, Georgia strongly recommends BuildHer Collective to anyone considering it to help them on their journey of building their home.
I would say it’s a no brainer. You will you make your money back through LBB savings, but the community is the gold that will help get you through and make you feel part of a really special community.
Georgia has found her calling in life through our Build Like a BuildHer Course and is already planning her next build, but she’s not ready to quit her day job yet. We look forward to helping you out when you do Georgia!
Don’t forget, you can book in a Free 20 Minute Consult here, we look forward to chatting!
