But Kevin and Lucia Rogers are putting in the elbow grease and the time to transform the former Karitane Hospital in Andersons Bay into 10 self-contained apartments.
Since moving in six months ago, they have cleaned 40 rooms and have 31 to go, as well as the major conversion project to supervise over the next year.
The energetic couple, who also own and run two child-care centres in Invercargill, are undaunted by the challenge.
"We'll do it in small chunks. That's how you eat an elephant, isn't it?" Mr Rogers said.
Opened in 1939, the hospital was run by the Plunket Society and cared for newborn babies and their mothers as well as training Karitane nurses. It closed in 1979 and has been operated since by several owners as a bed and breakfast, a rest-home and, most recently, a backpackers' lodge.
In 2006, the hospital changed hands for almost $1.8 million. The Rogers bought it in January for $400,000, a price they said reflected its condition and what had happened in the 18 months it had been vacant.
Although the building was mainly sound - the Rogers' builder says it was "built like a bomb shelter" - much of the roof at one end had failed, allowing water to get in.
Mr Rogers recalled walking into a large upstairs lounge.
"It was a sunny day outside, but the water was pouring in like rain.
The room was hot and humid like a tropical hothouse. The walls were completely mouldy and the carpet was green with mould."
There were other major problems too - drains had fallen off the side of the building, the interior was "filthy" and many rooms had been wrecked.
Mrs Rogers still wonders who put fake blood all over the walls of a downstairs lounge and ripped curtains down in several rooms, while Mr Rogers has had to shampoo the carpets in several rooms three times to get them clean.
Outside, young people had used the grounds as "party central", he said.
"Neighbours told us they [young people] used to come here at night to drink and throw their bottles into the garden afterwards."
Mr Rogers, an aircraft technician, and Mrs Rogers, an early childhood teacher, plan to create six one or two-bedroom self-contained rental apartments on the ground floor and another four on the upper floor. Each will have its own entrance.
Tenants will also have the use of a communal kitchen, television room, hobby room, laundry and "blokes' shed".
They believed there was a demand for rental accommodation for older professional single people or couples which also offered the flexibility of communal spaces when they wanted to be with others or entertain guests.
"We've done a lot of research over the past couple of years. This sort of accommodation is a big deal in Holland and Australia," Mrs Rogers said.
The couple said they had been encouraged by approaches from prospective tenants, despite their plans not being widely publicised yet.
Mr and Mrs Rogers plan to overhaul the garden. Friends had offered to plan and create the garden and were collecting and propagating cuttings, they said.
Asked how much the interior and exterior transformation would cost, the couple looked at each other and laughed.
"We've told the bank $543,000," Mr Rogers said.
"But it will be more than that," Mrs Rogers added.
They had had many visitors since they moved in, mostly people who lived at the hospital as babies, who were happy to see the hospital saved from demolition and earmarked for an upgrade.
Mrs Rogers said, while her husband was always keen to buy the property, she took some convincing but was now glad she had agreed.
"It's really neat that this place means so much to so many people. It's part of Dunedin's history ... It is a privilege to have been given the opportunity to do something with it."
