Man who makes thousands of dollars by flipping everyday items shares one tip for new salvage hunters
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: Discovery+
Chairs, lamps, even the screws from a doorframe - 'everything is worth something to somebody', and Drew Pritchard has managed to make a career out of it.
Drew, who's now 54 years old, has dedicated the last three decades of his life to salvaging architectural and antique objects, restoring them and flipping them to make a profit of hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
He's proved so successful that his show, Salvage Hunters, is now in its 18th season, and he's now shared one tip for anyone hoping to follow in his footsteps.
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After all, Drew has insisted that coming across items of value doesn't necessarily have to be complicated - you could have them hidden in your house already.
"It happens all the time," Drew told UNILAD. "Constantly, every day. [It could be] a box with a great piece of ceramic or glass, or a lamp, or a picture frame, or a watch or a model.
"It can be smaller than a shoebox, tucked away in the corner underneath the bed and be there 50 years... it can be there, lost, then the family will come in and say, 'this old junk', and just throw it away."
With that in mind, Drew urged people to 'stop throwing things away', and shared his tip for how you might be able to turn long-forgotten items into cash instead.
Thankfully it's quite simple: "Find somebody who knows," he said.
Drew encouraged any wannabe-Salvage Hunters to 'go and befriend an antique dealer, a good one'.
"Walk in their shop, warehouse, wherever and just say, 'Look, I know nothing about this, but I'm really interested. And I want to get involved.'"
Drew recommended offering to help out in antiques shops or auction houses for free to help immerse yourself, as well as reading into the subject, going to antique fairs and going to auctions.
"Go to museums, go to art galleries, go to stately homes. Attune your eye to this. You need to be able to look at the very best of something and the very worst of something in one day.
"It takes time. But if you throw yourself into it, I've seen people make remarkable progress in a year. I mean, unbelievable progress in a year," Drew said.
Drew made clear that even he made mistakes and lost money when he was starting out, but he's since secured high-value items that have made him thousands of dollars, and even made their way into museum collections.
He's learned not to underestimate an item, no matter how small, explaining: "When I started in the architectural antiques world, I realized you could buy a door and you could sell the door. But you can also sell the hinges off the door. And the screws you take out might be 18th or 19th century handmade screws, you can take those out and sell those.
"You get the door lock off and you can sell that, then you get the door handle off and you can sell that too.
"So everything is worth something to somebody and there's a market for absolutely everything. Stop throwing stuff away. Fix what you've got."
Series 18 of Salvage Hunters airs on Quest, Wednesdays at 9pm BST. Also available to stream on discovery+.