The right renovation adds more to the price than it costs
Toby coordinates the trades, manages the process, and makes sure your property is ready — whether you're preparing to sell or settling in after purchase.
Renovation in Melbourne's inner east is expensive, time-consuming, and full of decisions most buyers and vendors aren't equipped to make quickly. We take that off your hands. Toby's trade network, built over 30 years in Stonnington and Boroondara, means we can get the right people in fast — and get the result that protects your investment.
Two scenarios. One trusted coordinator.
Pre-sale renovations
If you're selling, the right preparation can add significantly more than it costs. Fresh paint, updated kitchens or bathrooms, landscaping, styling — these aren't indulgences, they're investments. We advise on where to spend and where not to, then coordinate the work so your property goes to market looking its best. We help appoint quality, trusted tradespeople who don't overcharge.
This service often runs alongside our vendor advocacy offering — so you get expert advice on both the campaign and the preparation.
Post-purchase renovations
If you've just bought a property with us — or independently — and it needs work before you move in, we help you get it done. We coordinate trades, manage timelines, and liaise between you and the team on the ground. You pay the trades directly — we don't take a fee from any trade. You pay us for our management.
Who we help with renovations
This isn't for you if you want a full-service builder or construction firm (we coordinate, we don't build), you want to project-manage the renovation yourself and engage trades independently, and the work required is structural or requires extensive permits (we can advise, but this isn't our core service).
Buyers preparing to move in
You've just purchased a property (with us or independently) and it needs work before it's ready to live in. You want someone who knows reliable trades, can get them in quickly, and will manage the process so you're not project-managing from another postcode.
Vendors preparing to sell
You're about to list your property and want to maximise the sale price. You need honest advice on where to invest, access to the right trades, and coordination so the work is done before the campaign launches — not halfway through it.
We're coordinators, not builders. Here's what that means in practice
We assess what the property needs and advise on scope. We introduce you to the right tradespeople from our network — painters, kitchen specialists, landscapers, stylists, and other trades we've worked with and trust. You engage them directly. We manage the schedule, attend key milestones, and make sure the work meets the standard required.
The benefit: you're not spending weeks finding tradies, getting quotes, or managing competing priorities. We've already done that work over 30 years of operating in the inner east.
What we manage on your behalf
We assess the property and advise on what work is necessary versus optional — and what the return on spend is likely to be.
We introduce you to trusted trades from our network and manage the coordination between them: painters, joiners, kitchen specialists, landscapers, garden designers, property stylists.
We keep the project on track — following up, attending key milestones, and making sure the timeline doesn't blow out.
For vendor clients, we advise on presentation and work with stylists to ensure the property photographs and presents at its best.
Results from recent projects
Why involve us in your renovation?
Finding reliable tradespeople in Melbourne's inner east takes months. We've built those relationships over 30 years. Our trades are experienced in premium properties and available to our clients.
We don't take a cut from the trades we introduce. You pay them directly. Our involvement is about coordination and quality control, not referral revenue. We charge you separately for our work so you always know where your money is going. We also pass through trade discounts from our suppliers — including discounts of over 50% on some products at E&S.
If you're preparing to sell, our advice on what to renovate is informed by what actually moves buyers in this market — not what looks impressive on paper.
Our renovation coordination works best alongside buyers or vendor advocacy. We already know the property, the timeline, and your goals — so the coordination is seamless.
Victorian Vendor Advocate of the Year 2024, and Victorian Buyers Agent of the Year 2024 & 2025
Renovation coordination is part of a broader advocacy service that has been recognised at the highest level in Victoria.
What we've helped clients secure
We bought her home, sold her investment, then found her next one — Hawthorn East
A door knock secured an off-market period home — Malvern East
In their words
“Toby has extensive real estate experience and knowledge”
“Toby has extensive real estate experience and knowledge. He is a professional, pro-active and has the ability to match and consider a vendor's criteria with a property's potential. He is also able to provide a selection of property comparisons, if required. Last but not least, Toby is very easy to work with and I find him very helpful.”
“Toby approached the owner on our behalf”
"We tried contacting the owner directly on multiple occasions, without success… Toby approached the owner on our behalf and we purchased the property off market."
“He never gave up”
"Toby Primrose is an absolute gun, an honest old school operator… When we engaged Toby he never gave up and after 12 months he found the perfect property for our family."
Questions we get asked
Want to discuss
what your property
needs?
Whether you've just bought a property and want help preparing it, or you're selling and want advice on what's worth doing before launch — a conversation with Toby is the right starting point.
