Superior Garage Renovation Ideas
That Pay for Themselves

A huge need these days is for people to have remote working spaces. Even though working from home is convenient, not everyone has available space in their homes. You may have neighbours willing to use an office on your premises as their work areas. It’s still better than sitting in traffic going to an office block in the city, right?

When you turn your garage into an office, others can rent the space from you—daily, weekly or monthly—and you have a new income stream. Since the office is in your current garage, other people’s comings and goings won’t disrupt your own day-to-day activities in the house.

Thanks to platforms like Rubberdesk, you’ll quickly get interested parties contacting you. And when it’s not in use, you have an orderly space to use for your own filing or doing your taxes away from the noise of the kids.

To make it happen, apart from clearing out, you’ll need to:

• Ensure there’s good lighting
• Make sure it’s sealed
• Add enough power outlets for multiple devices like printers and computers
• Install features for climate control like heaters and air conditioning
• Add security features like a proper lock

Why not take the ‘office’ idea one step further and turn your garage into the business YOU have always dreamed of? Space makes it so much easier to run a business successfully. From having place to meet to empowering you to have a production line, you’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish if your garage becomes a head office.

Remember, some of the best-known brands—Apple and Amazon included—started in somebody’s garage. So, the key to your business success may simply be filled with cars or clutter at the moment. So, have you considered one of the following?

• Renovate and turn it into a stylish meeting room to impress clients you consult for.
• Add work benches to produce creative items you sell on platforms like Etsy.
• Create a secure space to keep stock and prepare orders for delivery.
• Install equipment you may not want in your house, so you can pursue a small business. For example, get large ovens to sell baked goods. Have you done pottery or glassblowing and you want to use the skills in a side hustle? Your garage can be your studio.

By using your own space for your business you save on paying rent elsewhere. In due time, that business will cover the costs of your renovation expenses too.

If you no longer use your garage for your car, an alternative option is to turn it into storage for a different vehicle. A boat.

Thanks to water sports being so popular and Australia having such lovely beaches and lakes, many locals invest in boats for personal pleasure. You’ll be surprised at how many Australians then look for storage close to home, rather than putting it in storage at boat clubs or other establishments.

Boat owners often want their assets to be close enough to home, so they can work on it in their spare time or have the freedom to hook up the trailer and go anywhere over the weekend. So, someone in your neighbourhood could be your renter, just waiting to hear about your affordable boat storage.

Is this your chosen renovation idea?

• Make sure there’s efficient security to keep these expensive assets safe
• Some boat owners may require climate-controlled spaces to prevent damage to the boat’s components
• Discuss accessibility with anyone renting the space; you may not want to allow 24/7 access
• The layout of the property should allow for easy manoeuvring with a boat trailer

A spare room can solve many challenges. Have an inviting guestroom for visiting family, so no one has to pay for accommodation. Or, earn regular income by hosting Airbnb guests. Alternatively, what about solving someone’s house hunting problems by listing a guest room on Flatmate Finders?

For any of these scenarios, the room doesn’t have to be in your house, does it? Rather—whether your garage is a different building altogether or reached via a connecting door—it’s more beneficial when it’s set apart from the rest of the house, so both you and them can enjoy some privacy.

This plan does need some hard work to turn a dusty garage into a comfortable bedroom, but you can do it for as little as $5 000 or as much as $25 000. It’s really up to how elaborate a place you want to create and what you need to change to make it liveable.

And the benefits are much more than the potential income stream.

Bonus #1: you stand to make as much as $3 000/month by being an Airbnb host. Your income will depend on what exactly you offer and which area you live in.

Bonus #2: Renovations like these are known to add to your property value, which makes up for the loss of personal storage.

For this plan, don’t forget to budget for the following:

• Insulation
• Permits
• Air conditioning
• Plumbing for a bathroom and even a kitchen

Apart from many people working at home, they also pursue other activities from the comfort of their home. For hygiene or other reasons you may therefore exercise at home and why not have a proper gym with all the necessary equipment so you can achieve optimal fitness goals?

Did you know Australians waste as much as $1.8 billion each year by having gym memberships they don’t use? Now be honest. Do you fall into this category?

You’re much more likely to work up some sweat if the gym equipment is more accessible, by being on your property. No need to get in the car and drive to gym!

Even if you still go to the gym, have you considered how much you can save by rather exercising at home? The numbers vary according to state and type of membership, but here’s a general guideline:

Apart from saving on gym memberships, you’ll never have to wait in a queue for a certain type of equipment again. Also, no more concerns about how other members’ health and hygiene habits can affect you.

This project can require as little as $6 000 or as much as $20 000. But you can see that you’ll make up that amount within just a few years, especially if you’re no longer paying the membership fees for multiple family members.

For this project:

• Insulate the garage door to make it easier to manage temperature inside; add air conditioning or windows to enable air flow.
• Convert the garage door so it’s closer to the ceiling; this allows more head space for overhead workouts.
• Cover concrete with epoxy or carpet tiles
• Purchase equipment you’ll use often, rather than having a cluttered area with too much equipment; the equipment type will depend on the fitness goals you have—will it be weights or a fitness bike?
• Use the wall as hanging storage so you have more floor space to work with.

Even without much renovation your garage can be the income stream your budget needs. Why not offer safe general storage for your neighbourhood? More and more people across Australia are doing this and with the help of an efficient marketplace like Spacer, you’re set to earn as much as $450/month. Now, isn’t that the best reason to start cleaning out your garage?

This is an effortless money-making mission. Most storage hosts have renters that commit to contracts of 8 months or more. And this arrangement is really ‘set and forget’.

In terms of preparing your space for storage, you’ll need to consider the following:

• Give your renters a clean space
• Install security in the form of locks and alarms
• Add features like CCTV cameras so you can charge higher rates