Costs involved in developing a site

[2BAD4U]

OK, it appears that some of you guys have done this and it seems to me that the next step for me to take would be to move into developing a site. Could any of you provide a summary of the costs involved?

Here is the scenario:

Property has a house on it that would be demolished and the block is zoned for 4 units. House and land $650k.
- cost to demolish
- cost for legals
- using equity v's selling 1 IP and using capital ($100k) - ie would one be better than the other

Anything else or any dangers / red tape I would need to be aware of?

[kincella]

am sure you will find others to assist you and more familiar with Perth WA...I have only taken a house on a corner block, and built a new house facing the other street....all the people involved, builders legal, surveryors etc were advised it was to be a stand alone...not a strata.....well the builder stuffed up, did not put in separate sewage...so left with a strata property.....
for a price I can have it changed...not sure how much...would be a few thousand....
took months for a planning permit....could the birds still fly on their direct path etc....hard to believe the rubbish they came up with...that took about 6 months...council was busy, did not put on extra staff to cope with it....
then the builder who was committed to a guaranteed completion date of 4 months..was still stuffing around after 11 months......
I live Melb and the house was on the nsw/vic border....they short cut everyway they could, put in aluminium frames instead of timber...it was a replica of a calafornia bungalow...so detail was important...supposed to have been the best builders in town....
project manager, paid to ensure each stage as required...must ahve gone on hols...
I would never do that again..unless I was there everyday to check the progress....hours on the phone daily....
about all I can offer is maybe make sure each is a strata, so you can sell off separately in the end....
oh and expect some stress...friend built a new house last year in Melb...6 months to completion...4 months wait to start....actually completed in 20 months..double the time...trouble with builder
good luck

[2BAD4U]

That's the one thing I have been warned about by a few people (delays), hence my last question about dangers and red tape. Thanks for the reply.

[kincella]

at least you may get an idea about how the builders are fairing.....the other thing I found...re the shortage of tradesmen...they promise to start your job virtually straight away...suck you in and onto their books, but in the end they are too busy and you wait the min 4 months anyway...and the only recommended plasterer was 10 months away...
guessing..melb anyway, the builders will be snapped up for home renovations, if they have lost their jobs/contracts with the larger construction firms....another friend last year had to wait a year to get a builder, he then worked only every weekend, and kept his day job....he was in demand...it took a year to complete....seems we have a huge shortage of builders over here in the east....no wonder people get frustrated...trying to get anything at all done, within a normal time span.
cheers

[Passive]

Fear not Kincella

Some of the imports from Vic may return as building has died down here.

[Wildkactus]

All I can say is get good people to help you.

I use town planners, project managers, etc to do most of the leg work for me.
as I can not be there to oversee the work my self.
I also use different people for each location, especially town planners.

but research them before you start to use them get references from other people and check out there work. as this is where you can lose lots of money.

also do a feasibilty study for your project, it may look good on the back of a napkin but may not stack up when all the figures are done.
there are computer programs that can help you with this.

another rule i use is to add 15- 20 % to everything costs, and time, this then makes sure you can get out of the project with your shirt in tack if it does go wrong.

happy developing