Tradie's incredible property transformation in just five weeks: '$80,000 profit'

Yahoo

10-05-2025

When Sam Harper walked through the front door of his newest property flip project, he admitted feeling a little "scared". With broken windows, blackened ceilings and asbestos-infested walls, the home in one of Perth's up-and-coming eastern suburbs needed a complete gut.
While most young Aussies around the country are grappling with how they'll get onto the property ladder, 27-year-old Sam is busy finishing off his fourth property renovation project in just two years.
After five weeks and nearly $60,000 injected into the Koondoola home, the self-professed property flipper couldn't be more proud of what he and his team had done with the place.
Sam, a former tradie from Victoria, told Yahoo, "like most young blokes", he wasn't sure what to do after finishing high school, so jumped straight into an electrician apprenticeship. But after nearly 10 years in the industry, he knew it was never something he was passionate about.
"That quickly becomes a bit of a burden," he said. "I had the realisation if I don't go for something I actually want, I might get myself stuck doing something I don't want to be doing."
After travelling the country with his partner, the pair settled down in Perth and bought their first home two years ago. He jumped into a course to become a buyer's agent with the hopes of learning the ropes of property investing, but in doing so quickly discovered "I'd trap myself with more debt in a job I didn't want to be in," he explained.
That's when he started delving into the world of property flipping. "I knew it was a big thing in other countries, but not done as much in Australia," he said.
Last January, Sam and his partner used their full-time salaries to buy a home to live in and renovate on the side. After nearly five months, Sam said the equity wasn't quite enough to start flipping more properties, so he used "private investor funds" to help get the first few property flips off the ground.
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Sam's most recent project in Koondoola, an eastern suburb of Perth, is his proudest achievement to date. He said he was "genuinely scared" to enter the property after purchasing it. He described the condition as "horrible".
"It was a nice family home for years," he explained. But after several years of neglect, it was left looking a little worse for wear.
The house required a complete gutting. "Kitchens ripped out and put back together, bathroom ripped out and put back together, there was asbestos in the kitchen and the bathroom so when we were demolishing we had to get it all done properly," he said.
Wallpaper had to be removed, holes in the walls patched up, along with repainting, reflooring and "full landscaping". Sam and his team placed new grass and reticulation in the backyard, painted the outdoor "bunker" — a former wine cellar, and painted the patio. He estimates the entire cost of the project was about $60,000.
The property, purchased in February of this year for $500,000 is now listed for $695,000 — with Sam estimating that his profit before tax will be around $80,000. Remarkably, it took just five weeks. "It's a pretty quick turnaround," he concedes.
So what is Sam's secret to success? Buying properties no one else will touch.
"The ones I've done have been in horrible condition," he said. "Otherwise it can be a challenge to pick them up. Though in saying that, there are opportunities everywhere."
So far, he's done projects within a 30-minute radius of his home in areas that have a cheaper price point.
"I'm mainly looking at fundamentals where there is heaps of opportunity to find deals," he said.
While a background in the trades has definitely helped Sam, he thinks you learn more "when you get your hands dirty".
"I've worked alongside many other trades which has given me an idea of how things happen, but there are plenty of people still doing this that don't have a trade background and are successful," he said.
Incredibly, Sam was able to make property flipping his full-time gig through his business Harpers House Flipping after less than two years.
"Only six months ago I was still wearing high vis doing something that I didn't love," he said. "It wasn't going to get me and my family where we wanted to go. I had no idea if it was going to work out but I didn't let fear get in the way. I trusted I was going to figure it out."
His plan eventually is to build enough capital to buy properties to hold for the long term.
While many young Aussies will tell you the property market is simply too hard to get into, Sam argues that a "mindset shift" needs to take place. "If you focus on the problem, that's all you'll see.
"My mindset is always looking for opportunity," he said. "Anyone who achieves anything great in their life will have the mindset of 'I'll find a way', and they usually do."
"At the start it was quite scary, but I want people to know that you don't have to be anything special to go out there and chase what you want to chase, and create a better life."
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