Changing roles

Changing Room's handy Andy Dye is hanging up his T-shirt and shorts in favour of a sharp suit in his new career as a Barfoot & Thompson real estate agent. By VICKI HOLDER.

"As a real estate agent, you don't sit at a desk. You get out there and look for the pluses, the features that will give the property the X-factor to help make it sell."

Swapping his builder's apron for a briefcase to become a real estate agent, celebrity renovator Handy Andy swears he'll never sell a lemon.

Andy Dye, the hammer and nail-wielding TV personality from TV One's Changing Rooms is prepared to climb on the roof, even crawl under the floorboards to check out a house for his vendors. He believes "there would be nothing worse than to encourage someone to buy something they were not happy with".

With a building background and having helped renovate many homes on the popular TV show, he reckons he has valuable experience to pass onto clients, especially those looking to "add value" to homes.

After six years with Classic Hits and Radio Hauraki, Andy has opted for a more secure future as wife Verity has their first child on the way. "It's nice to move on," he says. "Broadcasting is an up-and-down world - it's exciting but there isn't always security."

He says it was natural to make the move to real estate. "I love houses. Verity and I read the real estate pages all the time. We talk about those we like and those we don't and every aspect about them. It's such a common interest. If you go out with friends, you all end up talking about houses. So it makes sense. For me, it was just a matter of timing."

His work has nearly always revolved around houses. His career started with an apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker when he left school. Later he worked as a carpenter. However, he was drawn to the entertainment world in his 20s, and played the saxophone in a band called Switch.

Being in the limelight suited his outgoing personality, so he decided to study acting. Small parts in Shortland Street and Marlin Bay came along, but he never really landed a big role until he starred in the DIY segment of a magazine-style show called New Zealand Living. "It was fun and new," he says.

Several months after New Zealand Living ended, he was asked to audition for the part of Handy Andy in a New Zealand version of the UK show Changing Rooms. Andy did a screen test and was quickly offered the role. "There were no other TV builders. They didn't exist. With a name like Andy, it was kind of meant to be. Since then, I've done six or seven seasons and hundreds of shows."

As renovation fever took New Zealand by storm, the show was incredibly successful, opening doors to a gamut of home renovation shows.

But Changing Rooms was the first and Handy Andy became a household name - the first renovation celebrity.

As an agent, Andy will enjoy the freedom of working for himself and playing the negotiator, under the brand of Barfoot & Thompson in Mission Bay, the area in which he lives. He is making his debut in the new job with a fabulous listing, a luxurious home in Paritai Dr. But he also looks forward to helping people find properties that may need attention. "With my experience, it's easy to offer advice that I think will help improve a property.

"Just talking about it, it's wonderful. As a real estate agent, you don't sit at a desk. You get out there and look for the pluses, the features that will give the property the X-factor to help make it sell."