Meet the Mitchells: from spare block to $620 a week

When James and Priya Mitchell looked at the unused side yard behind their Bendigo home, they saw a parking spot for a boat trailer. Eighteen months later, it's a fully tenanted two-bedroom Roo pulling $620 a week — and covering more than half their mortgage repayment in the process.

“We'd heard every horror story about granny flats — council delays, budget blowouts, tradies who never show up,” James says. “What actually happened was closer to watching a kit come together. Assess, design, fabricate, install. Nobody ever asked us to make a decision we weren't ready for.”

Fixed price held from quote to keys. After a year of horror stories from friends renovating, this felt almost too easy.

The couple financed the build through a construction loan serviced almost entirely by the rental income, meaning the Roo effectively paid for itself from the first tenancy. Occupancy has sat above 95% since listing, helped by the deck and open-plan layout that photograph well for rental listings.

Their advice to anyone considering the same move: get the block assessed early, be upfront about your budget ceiling, and pick a layout with a deck — “it's the first thing every applicant mentions.”