Roadie renovators go from U2 and Beyonce concerts to fixing up Nelson home

A small Californian bungalow in Nelson is on the market for $1.25m – after being purchased about nine months ago for $750,000. Carly Gooch talks to the couple who lovingly restored the 100sqm home.

Toby Fleming was living the dream for 40 years, travelling as a roadie for bands like The Rolling Stones and Coldplay.

But Covid-19 brought that source of income for his family to a halt, seeing Fleming and his wife, Jill buy a doer-upper in Nelson and transforming the dated bungalow so it now has a price tag of over $1.25 million.

The Flemings were living in Rotorua while Toby, 65, would annually do long stints abroad managing the production of band tours including The Rolling Stones, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce and Bon Jovi.

But as Coldplay, his last planned roadie before retirement, was set to launch into their stadium tour, Covid-19 hit the world with a vengeance.

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Jill, 61 said it was “all canned” so the pair had to take a different approach to earning an income.

In Rotorua, they had done up a couple of homes they had lived in, and when they moved to Nelson they renovated the home they bought, but 17 Tasman St in The Wood was their first purchase with a view to renovating and selling.

After doing their own home up “we were like, what do we do now?”, Jill said.

“We wanted a project over the winter, and to create an income. We really recreated ourselves.”

According to Real Estate website homes.co.nz, the Flemings paid $750,000 in March 2021 for the 100 square metre home on a 444 square metre section.

The significantly updated three bedroom, one bathroom home went to auction in November but didn’t sell.

It went to the market late last year with Bayleys with a price tag of offers over $1.25m.

Jill said she was drawn to the house by its original wooden door frames, wooden floor boards. Its spot in The Wood just down the road from their home, was also “good logistically” while not living in it and doing it up.

They carried out a lot of the work on the property themselves, including the interior and exterior painting, landscaping, decorating and replacing the entire kitchen.

“We’ve done most of it, everything we could do, we’ve done.”

The pair have a natural talent for such projects, Jill tapping into her artistic flair, and Toby has building in his blood, his father and two brothers are carpenters.

Toby said he did have to do a little research to get things right but most was “self-taught”.

“It’s not hard, just hard on your back.”

Bayleys Real Estate agent Jeremy Matthews said there were a number of properties in The Wood vicinity that had crossed the million-dollar price tag recently, but the jump in price on 17 Tasman St was owed to the “significant” renovations the Flemings had carried out in “both money and skill”.

It was “one of the loveliest renovations I’ve seen” and was “beautifully done”, he said.

Meanwhile, Toby said the big stadium tours would definitely take the stage again, but he was uncertain whether he’d be wielding a backstage pass to them.