Granny flats
There might be a second income hiding in your backyard.
A well placed granny flat adds a second rent and lifts the value of a property you already own. It's one of the few plays where you can manufacture yield and equity on land you've already paid for. But it's not a blanket fit, whatever the bloke selling flat packs tells you. Some markets it stacks up beautifully. Some it flat out doesn't.
The play, in plain terms
Yield
A second dwelling means a second rent. On the right block that pushes a property from "mostly pays for itself" to genuinely cashflow positive, which changes what the bank lets you do next.
Equity
Done in the right market, the build costs less than the value it adds. That gap is manufactured equity, and it can fund the next deposit without you saving another dollar.
Demand
Smaller households, ageing parents, adult kids who won't leave. Small rentals are chronically short in most markets I watch, and one and two bedroom stock rents fast.
The product
The Goulburn 50
The Goulburn 50 is a 50 square metre prefab granny flat, built in a factory and delivered to site. Prefab matters because the two things that kill these projects are time and cost blowouts. A factory build controls both.
- Fixed design, so the price you're quoted is the price you pay
- Weeks on site instead of months of juggling trades
- Sized to fit typical backyard setbacks and council rules
- Specced as a rental: durable finishes, low maintenance
Full specs, pricing and current lead times come with the feasibility assessment, because they genuinely depend on your site.
Who this suits
- Investors with a rental on a decent block
- Homeowners with backyard space and a mortgage they'd like help with
- BFA clients adding a yield kicker to a growth property
First step: find out if your block even works
Anyone who says yes before seeing your site is selling you a box, not an outcome. The feasibility assessment looks at the things that actually decide it:
- Block size, access and where the services run
- Council and state rules for secondary dwellings in your area
- Realistic rent for a second dwelling on your street
- Build cost against the value and yield it adds
- Whether the money does more in your next purchase instead
That last one matters. If the numbers say don't build, I'll tell you don't build. I'd rather lose a sale than have you standing in the backyard next to an expensive mistake with a kitchenette.
Want a first look yourself?
I built a free tool that does the rough pass. Punch in an address, trace the block on the aerial, and it checks lot size, setbacks and coverage against indicative state rules to see if a granny flat actually fits. It's a screening tool, not planning advice, but it'll tell you fast if a block is a non-starter.
Open the feasibility analyserGot a block in mind?
Send through the address and I'll run the numbers properly. If it stacks up, you'll know what it costs, what it rents for and what it adds. If it doesn't, you'll know that too, and you'll have dodged a bullet with plumbing.