Market benchmarks

Why this page exists

Comps say how much. Benchmarks say what.

The Comps tab on Market answers the price the market closed at. It does not answer what was inside the house that closed at that price — and that is the question that decides our renovation scope. A comp becomes a benchmark when it has all three: a format comparable to ours, a price at the top of the band, and enough visual material to audit the finish. Every benchmark here is confronted with 16 Springvale and with our own thesis — never read as an inspiration catalogue.

Benchmark 01 · block 1 of 7 · fact sheet

135 Camberwell Cct, Robina QLD 4226

Sold at auction for $1,800,000 on 13 Mar 2026 · Harcourts Property Hub

Price

$1,800,000

auction · 13 Mar 2026

$/m² of house

$8,759

the highest for finished product in the Robina sample

Internal area

205.5 m²

continuous, under one roof · ours: 197.25 split

Land

799 m²

$2,253/m² · ours: 806 m²

Configuration

4 / 2 / 2

double garage 6.0 × 6.0 = 36 m²

Pool

9.8 × 4.6

kidney · brick coping, dated

Covered alfresco

28.8 m²

6.4 × 4.5 · exposed timber beams

Energy efficiency

Low (0)

did not stop $1.8M

No water, no golf, no reserve — an ordinary central block, like ours. Ducted reverse-cycle AC, six ceiling fans, Crimsafe doors and screens, extra-long driveway. Rooms on the plan: master 4.8×4.0 + ensuite 2.5×2.4 + WIR · bedrooms 4.1×3.0 / 3.6×3.0 / 3.6×3.3 · lounge 6.2×5.8 · family 6.0×3.6 · dining 2.8×2.2 · kitchen 4.2×2.7 · bath 3.3×1.9 + separate WC · laundry 2.7×1.7.

Block 2 of 7 · why this comp

It is the only Robina sale that isolates the value of the finish

205.5 m² against our 197.25. A 799 m² lot against 806. Same suburb, same configuration, same absence of a location premium. On the same street, 17 Springvale St closed at $1,165,000 on 17 Sep. The distance between $1.17M and $1.80M in this geography is entirely what was done inside the house — and this is the only sale in the comp set with complete visual material to audit that "what".

Until 19 Sep this comp carried a wrong area estimate (≥280 m², which took it out of the twin group). The listing's floor plan settled it: 205.5 m². The correction promoted 135 Camberwell from "too big to compare" to primary benchmark.

Robina median (finished house)$5,755 /m²

135 Camberwell — $1.80M / 205.5 m²$8,759 /m²

16 Springvale — break-even sale price ($1,762,153, The Deal 21 Sep)$8,934 /m²

16 Springvale — team thesis $1.85M$9,379 /m²

$0$2,500$5,000$7,500$10,000

Scale 0–$10,000 per m² of internal area. To break even, 16 Springvale has to sell finish at $175/m² above the best finished house sold in Robina in 2026 — with less continuous area, no garage, and part of the m² in an annex. The thesis requires +7.1% over that record.

Block 3 of 7 · what the house does in design

Five cheap decisions, applied to 100% of the house

135 did not use imported stone, custom joinery or new windows. It used disciplined repetition. The 16 images of the listing, read separating design decision (replicable) from what the property inherited (not replicable).

Kitchen with white cabinets, navy base, stone island and herringbone splashback — Decision 1 · one colour, one placeThe whole house is neutral. **Navy appears only on the kitchen base and the island**, as lacquer over shaker doors — a paint cost, not a material cost. Above, white cabinetry to the ceiling with cornice; behind, a **herringbone splashback**; white stone benchtop with waterfall ends on both sides. Double oven in a tower, gas cooktop, fridge in a niche.
CopyHerringbone

Open view from the kitchen to the living area and the pool with continuous flooring — Decision 2 · a single floorWide-plank vinyl, warm oak tone, over 100% of the house — living areas, bedrooms, hallway and laundry. Zero carpet, zero transitions, zero thresholds. It is what makes 205 m² read as a single volume and the highest-return-per-dollar item of the renovation. White ceiling with profiled cornice in every room.
Copy

Dining room with textured wallpaper beside the kitchen — Decision 3 · named zonesFour living areas with an obvious function in the photo: **lounge 6.2×5.8**, **family 6.0×3.6**, dining and alfresco. One wall of textured wallpaper with a trio of prints defines the dining room without building works. **It is the argument 16 Springvale cannot make**: our m² are split between house and granny flat.
Not replicable

Master suite with ice-blue walls and plantation shutters — Decision 4 · shutters everywhereWhite plantation shutters on every window — they appear in 9 of the 15 photos. It is the item that, on the Gold Coast, signals "finished" before anything else. The four bedrooms have the **same ice-blue paint**, a ceiling fan and an individual split system on top of the ducted AC.
CopyQuote — not in the EAC

Walk-in robe with mirrored doors and light oak joinery — Decision 5 · one oak, four roomsThe same light oak reappears in the **WIR robe, the ensuite vanity, the main bathroom vanity and the laundry**. One input, one supplier, four rooms. Mirrored sliding doors double the read of a narrow robe corridor.
CopyMirror

Ensuite with travertine-look porcelain tiles and a floating double vanity — Ensuite · 2.5 × 2.4 mSix square metres that look like double. **One large-format porcelain tile, floor to ceiling**, no feature strip; floating double vanity with two above-counter basins and **wall-mounted taps**; organic-shaped mirror; hobless shower with a linear drain and a niche. No piece is expensive — what costs is the decision not to mix materials.
Copy

Main bathroom with marble-look porcelain and a freestanding bath — Main bathroom · 3.3 × 1.9 mIt is **1.9 m wide** and still the second-best photo of the house. How: **large-format marble-look only on the shower wall** (the rest in a cement tone), **freestanding bath** under the window, round mirror, floating vanity, wall-mounted tap, linear drain and **WC in a separate compartment**.
CopyMarble-look on one wall only

Laundry with oak cabinets and a herringbone splashback — Laundry · 2.7 × 1.7 mFour and a half square metres that the listing sells as a highlight line. **Same oak, same herringbone as the kitchen**, white benchtop, inset sink, external door with a Crimsafe screen. Marginal cost close to zero because it uses offcuts of two inputs already bought.
Copy

Covered alfresco with exposed timber beams and the pool's glass fence — Exterior · alfresco 6.4 × 4.5 mWhite ceiling with **exposed timber beams and posts**, decorative concrete floor, outdoor kitchen built into the volume of the house, glass fence with chrome fittings. **28.8 m²** that do not count as internal area but appear in 4 of the 15 photos. It is the direct benchmark for our **$15,640 patio cover** and the **rear deck (D35)**.
Ratio 2.0×D35

Kidney-shaped pool with brick coping surrounded by palms — Pool · 9.8 × 4.6 mThe most useful counterpoint in the dossier: **the coping is brick, dated, and the house still sold for $1.8M**. What carries the photo is the surrounds — glass fence, light stone deck, black Colorbond fence and a dense wall of palms that hides the neighbours. The investment went into landscaping and screening, not into surfaces.
Do not copy the copingGlass fence + dense greenery

Rear of the house seen from the pool — Rear · the photo that opens the listingThe listing **does not open with the façade** — it opens with the pool and the house behind it. The façade is the second-to-last of the 15 images. Sequence: pool → alfresco → kitchen (3 angles) → bedrooms → bathrooms → laundry → façade → floor plan. For 16 Springvale, whose strong asset is lot + pool and whose façade will have no garage, **the same order is the right order**.
Listing brief · G8

Façade with grey render, dark roof and double garage — Façade · the gap that finish does not solveMid-grey render, dark concrete roof tiles, low-maintenance tropical garden over immaculate lawn, a very wide smooth concrete driveway. And, at the centre of the composition, the **6.0 × 6.0 double garage**. 16 Springvale decided **not to have a garage** (D8). In the $1.7–1.8M band in Robina, a double garage is a checklist item, not a wish.
Structural gap · D8Tropical landscaping · D36

Secondary bedroom with a desk and shutters — Bedrooms 2, 3 and 4 · staging by functionEach bedroom was given a persona in the staging: **home office**, **guest room**, **teenager's room**. None has expensive joinery — one has mirrored sliding doors, the others simple robes. All: same paint, same floor, shutters, fan. **The differentiation comes from styling, not from building works.**
Copy

Bedroom with mirrored sliding robe doors — Bedroom 3 · mirror instead of joineryFloor-to-ceiling mirrored sliding doors on the built-in robe: the cheapest robe finish on the Australian market and the one that gives back the most in a photo. The ceiling keeps the bulkhead with cornice inherited from the original build, **not redone**.
Copy

Bedroom with a large shuttered window — Bedroom 4 · the window as an eventThe window takes up almost the whole wall and the shutters turn the old window frame into an architectural panel. **No window was replaced in this house** — the shutters did the job. It is the most transferable lesson for 16 Springvale, where replacing windows does not fit in the EAC.
Copy

Floor plan of 135 Camberwell with dimensions — Floor plan · 205.5 m² + 36 m² of garageThe plan contradicts the photos on two points: the **kitchen is angled at 45°** and the **dining room is 6.2 m²**, small for the band. It sold for $1.8M all the same. In translation: **the Robina buyer forgives the plan, not the finish** — the exact inversion of the team's instinct, which has been discussing layout while the finish still has no closed package.
Highest-value insight

Block 4 of 7 · head to head

135 Camberwell × 16 Springvale, line by line

Item	135 Camberwell	16 Springvale	Reading
Price / target	$1,800,000	BE $1,762,153 · thesis $1,850,000	The thesis sits above the best product sale in the sample
Land	799 m²	806 m²	Equivalent
Internal area	205.5 m² continuous	143.37 house + 53.88 granny flat	The gap that decides the deal
$/m² of house	$8,759	$8,934 BE · $9,379 thesis	Beat the record just to break even
$/m² of land	$2,253	$2,150 BE · $2,295 thesis	Neighbour 17 Springvale: $1,407 (17 Sep)
Configuration	4 / 2 / 2	4+2 / 3 / 0 · dual living	Different buyer audience
Garage	double 36 m²	none — driveway becomes carpark (D8)	Structural gap, not solvable with renovation
Living zones	lounge 36 + family 21.6 + dining 6.2	single living + separate granny flat	"Multiple living areas" is their listing's argument
Covered alfresco	28.8 m²	patio cover $15,640 · deck not quoted	D35 — outside any WBS package
Master	4.8×4.0 + WIR + ensuite	master with ensuite · WIR open (D10)	A mirrored WIR is cheap and photographs well
Family bathroom	3.3×1.9 + separate WC	1 shared bathroom	A separate WC is QLD standard in the band
Pool	dated brick coping	to be renovated · coping not quoted	They sold at $1.8M with dated coping
Climate	ducted + 6 fans	ducted $10k on Rei's spreadsheet	Ducted AC is the band's expectation
Windows	original + shutters + Crimsafe	original	Shutters replace window replacement

Block 5 of 7 · Thrive authenticity test

Five questions before copying anything

A benchmark is not a catalogue. The same move that made sense for 135 Camberwell can be destructive in our deal, because our financial starting point and our product are different. These five questions are fixed and repeat for every benchmark on this page.

Pass1. Is this differentiation or imitation?The finish kit (continuous floor, shutters, one colour, one timber tone, mirrors) is nobody's signature — it is the standard for finished product on the Gold Coast in this band. Copying it is meeting the expectation, not imitating. Copying the layout or the pool, yes, would be imitation with no return.

Conditional2. Does it pass the Reno OS package ratio ≥ 2.0×?Shutters, mirrors and input repetition: almost certainly yes — still to be quoted. A $15,640 patio cover needs to return $31,280 and the evidence on this page says it does not: the twin has 28.8 m² covered and closed at $1.80M, not $1.85M.

Fail3. Does it fit in the EAC without a new capital call?Today the budget cover is 0.76× (EAC $356,084 against $270k approved — The Deal · 21 Sep) and the Trust's cash is $14,883 (20 Sep). Any new scope comes in after the October capital call (D34) and after the single budget framing (D37) — not before.

Open4. Does it serve the buyer of our product?135 sells "multiple living areas" to whoever wants a big continuous house. We sell "4 bed + self-contained 2-bed retreat" to whoever wants dual living or income. Two buyers. The missing test — 4-bedroom sales with a granny flat in Robina in the last 12 months — is the only data point that still moves the thesis.

Pass5. Does it survive the Form 2 and the approval chain?Nothing in the finish kit requires a BA, engineering or a Form 15. Everything that would — deck, patio cover, fire-rated wall — is already in the project package and on the private certifier's (Apex) critical path. The kit is exactly the part that can move ahead without unblocking an approval.

Block 6 of 7 · scope decision

What to copy, what to test, what to discard

Copy

White shutters on 100% of the openings — replaces window replacement
Single floor, wide plank, no transitions, including in the granny flat
One accent colour on a single plane; the rest neutral
A single timber-look laminate on vanity, robe and laundry
Herringbone in the kitchen, reused in the laundry
Mirrored sliding doors on the robes
Freestanding bath under the window + wall-mounted tap
Separate WC from the family bathroom
Glass fence + dense greenery behind the pool
Order of the listing photos: pool first, façade last

Test at 2.0×

Patio cover $15,640 — needs to return $31,280
Rear deck (D35) — no quote, no drawing, no BA
Ducted AC $10k — avoids a discount, does not lift the price
Pool coping — the twin proves it can sell with dated coping; test the cheap version first (D27)
Landscaping (D36, Joana, $1.5–4k) — tropical over lawn, not hardscape

Discard

Matching the continuous area — 143.37 m² does not become 205 with a renovation
Reversing D8 — a garage consumes the car space the secondary dwelling requires and the driveway budget
Imported stone, custom joinery, new windows — the $8,759/m² reference used none of it
Layout rework — the twin sold with a 45° kitchen and a 6.2 m² dining room
Marble-look on every wall — at 135 it is one wall only

Filter applied: Reno OS, package ratio ≥ 2.0×, with budget cover at 0.76× and the EAC at $356,084 against $270k approved (The Deal · 21 Sep). Nothing comes in without returning double.

Block 7 of 7 · what changes in the deal

Four consequences and this week's actions

1 · The ceiling gained photographic evidence. At G5 the question stops being "can we get $1.85M?" and becomes "does the buyer look at our photos next to these and pay more?".
2 · Finish is cheap; area is not. Cutting finish is the wrong cut; cutting new structural scope — patio cover, deck — is the right cut.
3 · The granny-flat question gets sharper. Two products, two buyers. The 4-bedroom-with-granny-flat comps test remains the only data point that still moves the thesis.
4 · There is a photo brief to copy, not to improvise at G8.

Take this dossier to G5 as an annex to D37 — the single budget framing needs a visual reference of what $270k has to deliver.
Close the finish kit on one sheet and attach it to the RFQ for the three design suppliers — today the finish is implicit in the WBS, not specified.
Quote shutters for the whole house before any decision on the patio cover or deck. Not in the EAC.
Submit the patio cover and rear deck to the 2.0× test with this dossier as counter-evidence.
Ask Emma for the floor plan of 28 Merion Ct and run the 4-bedroom with granny flat comps test.
Fill slots 2 and 3: 9 Rosebud St ($1.80M, 221 m²) and 28 Leopardwood Cct ($1.70M, 229 m², small lot with a reserve premium).

Source: realestate.com.au listing of the sale recorded on 13 Mar 2026 (Harcourts Property Hub) — 15 photos and the floor plan, extracted on 20 Sep 2026, reproduced here for comparative market analysis. 16 Springvale numbers: financial base of 21 Sep 2026 (The Deal) and comps snapshot of 19 Sep 2026 — break-even sale price $1,762,153 · EAC $356,084 · budget cover 0.76×.