Empyrean's House Flipper launched on 17 May 2018, published by Frozen District and PlayWay, and this is the original rather than the 2023 sequel. It is a first person renovation sim driven by an email inbox: clients write in, you mop, paint, knock down walls and fit radiators, and the money funds buying wrecked properties from the laptop to fix and auction off. House Flipper 2 arrived in December 2023 on a completely new code base and added the town of Pinnacove, an Assembly building mode and a true sandbox, none of which exist in this game. The 2018 original scored 68 on Metacritic for PC and still became a Steam bestseller.
This guide covers everything you need: core mechanics, the best builds, equipment worth investing in, location progression, and the tips that actually make a difference.
Core Mechanics
Email jobs from the laptop
Work arrives as emails on your in game laptop, each one from a named client with a short backstory and a list of demands. The first job in the game is Sara Lewis writing in about an ex-boyfriend who stole her radiator, and jobs like Amanda Smith's Amaranth Walls and Thomas Johnson's Additional Walls follow. Payment scales with how complex the job is and how completely you finish it.
Six perk trees fed by tool use
Perk points come from doing the work, not from levelling a character. Cleaning, Painting, Demolition, Building, Handyman and Negotiation each fill from the matching activity, and points spent inside a tree make that activity faster or better. Perks such as Instant painting, Triceps of steel and Price negotiations change how long a job takes far more than any gear purchase would.
Buying and reselling properties
Once you have cash, the laptop lets you buy derelict houses outright. You clean, repair, furnish and then sell them at auction to buyers who each weigh different things, one wanting cleanliness, another wanting family rooms, so the same house sells for different amounts depending on how you finish it. This flipping loop is the closest thing the 2018 game has to a sandbox.
Tool unlocks gated behind jobs
Tools are not bought, they are earned by finishing specific jobs, and a job has to be completed to at least 70 percent for the unlock to stick and show up on your tool wheel. The mop arrives with the first job, the paint roller and scanner come from Amaranth Walls, wall building and the sledgehammer come from Additional Walls, and the tiling and paneling tool from Eric Camel's Necessary Extra Bathroom fills the last slot.
The tablet catalogue and item scanner
The tablet is the in game shop for furniture, paint, tiles, doors and windows, and it is where most of a flip's budget disappears. The scanner that arrives with the paint roller lets you sell items already in a property for a partial refund, which is the fastest way to clear a hoarder house and recover some of the purchase price at the same time.
For a deeper dive into how these systems interact, see our House Flipper combat guide.
Builds Overview
| Build | Tier | Playstyle | Key Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Painting | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Demolition | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Building | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Handyman | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
For full build breakdowns with gear and stat priorities, see our House Flipper builds guide. For rankings, check the tier list.
Equipment Guide
| Equipment | Why It Matters | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Mop | The first tool the game gives you, unlocked by Sara Lewis's opening job about the stolen radiator. | Every cleaning contract, the first pass on any bought property, and farming Cleaning perk points quickly. |
| Vacuum Cleaner | The second cleaning tool, introduced through jobs like Cleaning the Garage. | Dusty properties, window work, and the pest clearing steps that some client jobs require before anything else. |
| Paint Roller | Unlocked alongside the scanner by Amanda Smith's Amaranth Walls job. | Redecoration contracts, raising a flip's sale price cheaply, and covering damage you did not want to rebuild. |
| Sledgehammer | Comes with Thomas Johnson's Additional Walls job together with the wall building tools. | Structural flips, opening cramped floor plans, and clearing broken fixtures faster than removing them by hand. |
| Tiling and Paneling Tool | The final tool slot, unlocked by Eric Camel's Necessary Extra Bathroom job. | Bathrooms and kitchens, finishing floors after demolition work, and completing the full tool set before your first property purchase. |
Mop: The first tool the game gives you, unlocked by Sara Lewis's opening job about the stolen radiator. It handles dirt, stains, graffiti and cobwebs, which between them account for the majority of the work in the first several hours.
Vacuum Cleaner: The second cleaning tool, introduced through jobs like Cleaning the Garage. It handles dust on surfaces and windows, and a later job demonstrates its use for clearing roaches, which the mop cannot touch.
Paint Roller: Unlocked alongside the scanner by Amanda Smith's Amaranth Walls job. Painting is the fastest visual transformation in the game and the perk tree behind it includes Instant painting, which removes the slowest part of any redecoration.
Sledgehammer: Comes with Thomas Johnson's Additional Walls job together with the wall building tools. It knocks down walls and breaks fixtures, and paired with the Building tree it is what turns a cramped derelict into an open plan property that sells for more.
Tiling and Paneling Tool: The final tool slot, unlocked by Eric Camel's Necessary Extra Bathroom job. It lays floor tiles and wall panelling, and it is the piece that completes the tool wheel, after which no job can present something you have no tool for.
Full breakdowns in our House Flipper weapons guide.
Location Progression
| Location | Level Range | Key Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Cleaning Jobs | Opening hours, no perks required | The mop, the vacuum cleaner, the first Cleaning perk points, starting capital |
| Painting Jobs | After the first cleaning contracts | Paint roller, item scanner, Painting perk points |
| Installation Jobs | Mid career, Handyman perks recommended | Handyman perk points, higher job payouts, the fittings practice that flips depend on |
| House Flipper Mode Properties | After the full tool wheel is unlocked | Property profit, freedom over layout and decoration, the long term money engine |
| Garden Flipper Plots | Requires Garden Flipper DLC | Higher flip sale prices, outdoor furnishing catalogue, garden specific jobs |
Cleaning Jobs: The bulk of the early inbox and the reason the mop and vacuum unlock first. Jobs like Cleaning the Garage and the student house clean up are low paying but they build the Cleaning tree, which stays relevant for the rest of the game because every bought property starts filthy.
Painting Jobs: Redecoration contracts, opened up by Amanda Smith's Amaranth Walls. They pay better than cleaning and they hand over the scanner, which changes your economy by letting you sell items already sitting in a property.
Installation Jobs: Radiators, plumbing, plastering and fittings, the work the Handyman tree exists for. These jobs are the slowest in the game before perks and among the fastest after them, which makes them a good measure of whether your perk spending is paying off.
House Flipper Mode Properties: Buying a wreck from the laptop, renovating it and auctioning it off. Buyers weigh different things, one caring about cleanliness and another about family rooms, so the same house sells for different sums depending on how you finished it. This is the closest the 2018 game gets to a sandbox, since a true sandbox mode only exists in House Flipper 2.
Garden Flipper Plots: Outdoor areas added by the Garden Flipper DLC in May 2019. Planting, paving and garden furniture attach to properties you already own, and a finished garden raises the auction price on a flip that is otherwise complete.
See our maps & locations guide for detailed area breakdowns and our walkthrough for the optimal progression path.
Tips That Actually Matter
- A job has to be completed to at least 70 percent for its tool unlock to become permanent and appear on your tool wheel. Walking away from a job at 60 percent costs you the tool as well as the payment.
- The four tool unlock jobs are worth doing in order: Sara Lewis's stolen radiator job for the mop, Amanda Smith's Amaranth Walls for the paint roller and scanner, Thomas Johnson's Additional Walls for the sledgehammer and wall building, and Eric Camel's Necessary Extra Bathroom for tiling and paneling.
- The scanner is a money tool, not a cleaning tool. Selling the furniture already inside a bought property recovers part of the purchase price before you spend a single coin on the tablet.
- Perk points come from doing the activity, so the tree you use most fills fastest. That makes Cleaning almost free to max and Building the slowest to fill unless you deliberately chase wall jobs.
- Negotiation perks apply on both sides of every transaction. Price negotiations and Higher payment together change the profitability of the same flip more than any decorating choice does.
- Buyers at auction value different things. Read what a buyer type wants before deciding whether to spend on a second bathroom or on a family room, because finishing the wrong feature well earns nothing extra.
- This game has no true sandbox mode. House Flipper mode, where you buy a wreck and do what you like with it, is the closest equivalent, and the dedicated sandbox arrived only with House Flipper 2 in December 2023.
- Apocalypse Flipper is free DLC from May 2018 and adds five extra properties along with new items, which is the cheapest way to widen the pool of houses available to buy.
- Cyberpunk Flipper, also free and released November 2020, is cosmetic only. It adds items rather than jobs, so treat it as decorating options rather than new content.
- The full paid DLC list runs Garden Flipper from May 2019, HGTV from May 2020, then Luxury, Pets, Farm and Dine Out. Each adds its own item catalogue, so buying several at once inflates the tablet menu considerably.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Abandoning a job around the halfway mark, which forfeits both the payment and the tool unlock that job was gating.
- Buying a property before the tool wheel is complete, then hitting a tiling or demolition step with no tool for it.
- Furnishing from the tablet before running the scanner over the junk already in the house, which throws away easy refunds.
- Spreading perk points evenly across all six trees, so no tree reaches the perks that actually change how long the work takes.
- Confusing this game with House Flipper 2 and looking for Pinnacove, Assembly mode, the Flipper Tool or co-op, none of which exist in the 2018 original.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is House Flipper the same as House Flipper 2?
No. This is the 2018 original by Empyrean, published by Frozen District and PlayWay. House Flipper 2 launched in December 2023 on a new code base, moved the game into the town of Pinnacove, added an Assembly building mode, a true sandbox mode and later online co-op. The 2018 game has none of those.
Does House Flipper have a sandbox mode?
Not a dedicated one. The 2018 game has two modes: taking jobs from the laptop inbox, and House Flipper mode where you buy derelict properties and renovate them however you like before selling. That flipping mode is the closest thing to a sandbox here, and the real sandbox only exists in House Flipper 2.
How do I unlock all the tools?
Tools come from specific jobs, each finished to at least 70 percent. The mop arrives with the first job from Sara Lewis, the paint roller and scanner with Amaranth Walls, the sledgehammer and wall building tools with Additional Walls, and the tiling and paneling tool with Necessary Extra Bathroom, which fills the last tool wheel slot.
What are the perk trees?
Six of them: Cleaning, Painting, Demolition, Building, Handyman and Negotiation. Points come from performing the matching activity rather than from levelling up, so the tree you use most is the one that fills fastest.
Which DLC is worth buying?
Apocalypse Flipper and Cyberpunk Flipper are free, so add them regardless. Of the paid ones, Garden Flipper from May 2019 changes the loop most because gardens raise what a finished property sells for. HGTV, Luxury, Pets, Farm and Dine Out mostly widen the item catalogue.
More House Flipper Guides
- House Flipper Best Builds
- House Flipper Tier List
- House Flipper Walkthrough
- House Flipper Beginner's Guide
- House Flipper Tips & Tricks
- House Flipper Weapons Guide
- House Flipper Combat Guide
- House Flipper Boss Guide
- House Flipper Maps & Locations
- House Flipper Crafting Guide
- House Flipper Classes & Characters
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