Number 43 McGrath Road in Fairy Meadow used to be the ugliest house in the street, but has been given a makeover by a local builder who poured about 2000 hours of elbow grease into it.
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But it wasn't just the square, retro brick abode he turned into a diamond, he also co-designed and built a new villa on the back - both looking for new residents.
Number 43A is currently on the market for sale, while number 43 is looking for tenants.
Run-down homes with big back yards are popular for Torrens title makeovers in Wollongong.
In July alone, Wollongong's Local Government Area had a total of 135 dwelling approved, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
This including 37 houses, and 97 other residential approvals - with residential building values totaling $47,769,600.
In Shellharbour, the ABS reported 77 residential building approvals for July - including 51 houses, 26 other residential.
The total for residential building values being $26,637,200.
Meantime, the number of dwelling approved for New South Wales in July rose by 32 per cent, and 12 per cent nationally.
"The rise was driven by private sector dwellings excluding houses, which increased by 22.7 per cent in July, after falling to an eight-year low in June," said Daniel Rossi, Director of Construction Statistics at the ABS.
"Meanwhile, private sector houses rose by 8.5 per cent, which was the strongest monthly increase since January 2014."
The Illawarra tradesman who bought the McGrath Street property remembers how emotional the previous family were to hand over the keys to what was once their family home.
"Their dad had built it with his own hands," he said, of the square, brick house next to the footy field.
"I've given it a new lease on life whereas other people would have bulldozed it and put units."
The builder wanted to keep the character of the home but added light and space with an open-plan living area and the addition of north facing windows.
For the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home at the back, the north-facing aspect was capitalised on in the design process.
It was also designed as a single-storey home knowing there were many retirees in the area or ones wanting to downsize and move to the area.
After spending the last six months working on it, the new owner said he was happy with the transformation of what was once labelled an "eyesore".
He hoped to have inspired residents nearby to update their own homes also.
Meantime, for those thinking splitting a block in half for a DIY development is not the easiest thing to do, the seasoned tradie said, and recommended against it if experience was lacking.
"It's not for the faint hearted," the tradie said. "Unexpected costs can pop up if you don't know what you're looking for, not meeting council requirements could be an issue, [how to manage] storm water."