Renovating

to stay

Love Where You Live?You Don’t Have to Leave.

Renovating

to stay

Stay and Transform

Welcome to The Long Way Home series: Renovating to Stay

This guide is for homeowners who want to improve, not move. Whether it’s small upgrades like paint, tapware, and curtains, or big projects like kitchens, bathrooms, landscaping, or even an extension, this is your roadmap to loving your home even more.

You’ve already found your spot. Now it’s about making it work better for your lifestyle, future plans, and budget. We’ve broken things down into practical, NZ-specific phases with realistic costs, consent advice, and space-smart ideas.

From funding your project to avoiding renovation regrets, this guide will help you renovate with confidence and clarity, whether it’s this weekend or this year.

Phase 1: Love Your Location
Why renovating can be a smarter move than selling, plus real stories from New Zealanders who’ve done just that.

Phase 2: Map Your Lifestyle & Space
Audit your daily routines, pain-points, and future needs, so you renovate for the way you actually live.

Phase 3: Crunch the Numbers & Fund the Dream
Compare cost ranges and finance options including mortgage top-ups, refinancing, and personal loans.

Phase 4: Quick Wins This Weekend
Explore affordable projects that make a big impact, and learn which ones don’t need consent.

Phase 5: Room Rescues – Kitchen & Bathroom
Layout tips, cost bands, and style ideas for the two most value-adding rooms in the house.

Phase 6: Whole-Home Refresh
Look at flooring, insulation, lighting, and smart upgrades that improve comfort and efficiency.

Phase 7: Outdoor Upgrades
From decks to driveways, understand what’s possible, and what’s worth it,  outside.

Phase 8: Additions & Structural Changes
Thinking bigger? Learn about wall removals, extensions, and full re-roofs, and when consents kick in.

Phase 9: The Consent Playbook
A plain-English walk-through of New Zealand’s building and resource consent process.

Phase 10: Working With Pros (or DIY?)
Vet tradies, review quotes, and understand your rights under NZ’s Building Act.

Phase 11: Scheduling & Risk
Plan around consent timelines, product lead times, and typical delays, with tools to stay on track.

Phase 12: Future-Proof & Sustain
Design for ageing in place, energy efficiency, and long-term livability.

Phase 13: Care & Maintenance
Learn how to protect your upgrades and stay on top of seasonal maintenance.

Already love where you live? This journey is for you.

We’ll guide you through affordable upgrades and long-term improvements, whether you’re repainting, replanting, or rethinking your entire floor plan.

Every phase is grounded in real NZ costs, council rules, and smart design tips to help you love your home even more.

PHASE 1:
Love Your Location
Discover why renovating can be smarter than selling, with inspiration from real homeowners.

PHASE:
Map Your Lifestyle & Space
 Room-by-room audit to spot what’s working and what’s not.

PHASE:
Crunch the Numbers
Funding tips and cost bands for all project sizes.

PHASE:
Quick Wins This Weekend
Paint, hardware swaps, and low-cost upgrades you can start now.

PHASE:
Room Rescues – Kitchen & Bathroom
Modern layout advice and 2025 cost guides.

PHASE:
Whole-Home Refresh
Flooring, insulation, window furnishings, smart tech.

PHASE 7: Outdoor Upgrades
Decks, fences, driveways, and garden transformations.

PHASE 8: Additions & Structural Changes
Understand what’s possible and what needs consent.

PHASE 9: The Consent Playbook
NZ’s building process, explained in plain English.

PHASE 10: Working With Pros
Find reliable trades, decode quotes, avoid headaches.

PHASE11: Scheduling & Risk
Stay on track with planning tools and buffer tips.

PHASE 12: Future-Proof & Sustain
Design for aging in place, energy use, and comfort.

PHASE 13: Care & Maintenance
Protect your investment with seasonal checklists.

Want access to the full guide?

Create your free myTrends Property account to explore every phase of your journey. Plan, learn, save, and take action with full access to guides and tools tailored to Kiwi homeowners.

Want access to the full guide?

Create your free myTrends Property account to explore every phase of your journey. Plan, learn, save, and take action with full access to guides and tools tailored to Kiwi homeowners.

1. Join

Your personalised Trends Property journey starts here
Creating a free myTrends Property account is the first step toward turning inspiration into action, whether you’re renovating to stay, preparing your home for sale, getting ready to buy, or looking to build. As soon as you join, the platform begins to tailor your experience based on your goals, so everything you see is more relevant, timely, and aligned with your personal property journey.

  • Create a free myTrends Property account quickly and easily in seconds.
  • Answer a few quick questions to customise your experience, such as your property goals, project timeframe, and design interests.

Get tailored content and tools matched to your project goals, so your myTrends Account page, recommendations, and guides are always aligned with where you’re at.

2. Guides

Step-by-step advice at the right time, in the right order

  • Access Quick Guides, Mini Guides, and full-length Courses
  • Learn about property, renovation, design, and building
  • Understand what to ask and expect from trusted professionals

3. Notes

Capture ideas and inspiration in one central place

  • Add written notes or paste links and references
  • Organise notes into folders and highlight important ones
  • Pin key thoughts to the top for your team to see

4. Resources

Upload and store all your project files securely

  • Save brochures, quotes, PDFs, images, or spreadsheets
  • Share with your team to keep everyone aligned
  • Avoid multiple email versions with one source of truth

5. Team

Invite others to collaborate on your project

  • Add up to 9 collaborators (friends, family, pros)
  • Assign access levels: Partner or Collaborator
  • Share updates, ideas, and resources in one place

6. Save

Collect content that inspires you and keep it organised

  • Bookmark articles, videos, audio, case studies and portfolio.
  • Add your own notes and reflections to saved items
  • Revisit ideas and turn inspiration into action

7. Visualise

Build your own visual library of property ideas

  • Save images from any section of the site
  • Group images by custom folders like “Kitchen Ideas” or “Landscaping”
  • Revisit later and share with your team or design professional

Create your free myTrends Property account to explore every phase of your journey. Plan, learn, save, and take action with full access to guides and tools tailored to Kiwi homeowners.