Development Management

Conducting a thorough analysis of a potential development site to assess its suitability for the proposed development, including zoning restrictions, supply and demand, access to infrastructure, and other relevant factors.

Assistance in identifying and acquiring suitable land for residential development.

Conducting feasibility studies to determine the viability of the proposed residential development project

Liaising with local authorities to obtain the necessary planning and development approvals for the project

Managing the design process, including engaging architects and other consultants, and ensuring that designs meet the project objectives

Evaluating the project design and identifying opportunities to improve the efficiency and buildability of the building, enhancing both functionality and aesthetics, and improving efficiency in construction or operation. This can lead to increased profitability, improved quality, and reduced risk for the project.

Managing the construction process, including selecting builders and overseeing the construction activities to ensure that the project is delivered on time, within budget and to the required quality standards

Coordinating and managing all aspects of the project, including timelines, budgets, risk management, and stakeholder communication

Developing and implementing marketing and sales strategies to promote the project and achieve sales targets

Providing financial management services, including financial modeling, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting

Providing legal and compliance advice and support, including contract management, regulatory compliance, and risk management

Managing the settlement of properties within the development, ensuring all documentation is in place, and coordinating with all parties involved for smooth and timely settlements.

Property development is just like any other professional career, to succeed you will need a specific set of skills, experiences in the industry, networks of highly skilled professional consultants, knowledge of the real estate market, property law, planning and design, construction, and the list goes on. Not to mention the time you have to physically put in to work besides your everyday job. Property development is a high risk high return game where a small mistake can lead to devastating consequences.

Therefore by having professionals on your side you are leveraging the knowledge, skills and experience of a developer to mitigate risks for maximise profit.

At PCG our goal is to create value for our clients, our engagement as the project manager will help you avoid costly pitfalls and ensure a successful project that delivers profits for our clients and quality homes for purchasers.

Over the years we have developed a unique approach to fee structure for our project management service. As we are dedicated to creating value for our clients we are proud to offer a fixed plus performance based structure that is in our clients’ best interests.

We don’t like the idea of charging a hefty sum of project management fees regardless of the success of the project.

Understanding the risks associated with any project, we have the confidence and dedication to deliver a successful project for our clients, we are willing to share the risks and based half of our fees only on the profit on the project.

Property development has always been a high risk industry where many macro and micro factors can have significant impact on the feasibility and profitability of a project including but not limited to:

• Macro economic factors such as property cycles, government policy changes, international politics and economic factors

• Planning risks, e.g. changes in planning regulations, zoning, council policies, planning approval, neighbour objection, VCAT

• Design risks, e.g. poor designs and over design for the market,

• Sales risk, e.g. difficulties in off the plan sales, unrealistic estimate of sales price, wrong agency for the type of property

• Finance risks, e.g. rising interest rates, tighter lending policies, changes in lending rules, rising fees and charges.

• Construction risks, e.g. selection and negotiation with builder, materials shortage and costs escalation, variation costs, delays and dispute with builders

• Settlement risks, e.g. purchasers’ might not be able to settle due to finance or personal circumstances, valuation shortfall due to market conditions

The short answer to this question is that it’s not the role of a builder to manage the development for the developer (you). In property development, the role of a developer and builder is clearly defined. The role of a builder is to deliver the building as per plans and specifications provided to the builder by the developer.

As for a developer, you roles includes feasibility analysis of the site, engagement and management of a team of professional consultants to deliver each part of the puzzle and put it together for authority to assess, once approved, you are responsible for producing a set of tender documents and engage builders to tender the project and negotiation to secure the appointment of the most suitable builder, organise finance and the development; sales and marketing of the projects, and the list goes on.

A development process takes much longer than the construction period itself, therefore most builders won’t be interested in spending the time and efforts to “run” the whole development for you as well as it’s not their area of expertise.

The other downside of having a builder to manage your project is that you are then limited to the options of having other builders to tender for the project as it will be a clear conflict of interests.

As a general rule of thumb, allow 6-12 months from concept design to town planning approval and 12 months for construction. Neighbourhood context, design, council, builder and market condition all have some extent of impact on the timeframe.

This is a great question unfortunately there’s no one answer that fits all in this case. Consider the following if you have this question in mind:

• Personal circumstance varies: what’s your intention of doing a development? To build a portfolio of properties over time? To become a full time property developer? Or to upgrade your existing family home without moving to a new area? To downsize or upsize? To build and keep them as rental properties? To build and sell? Everyone will have a different answer to this question, but the demand to build, rent, buy and sell properties will always be there, which is a huge industry to keep the economy going.

• Good properties will always be in demand: we all know there’s markets within markets, under the same market conditions, some properties sell for more and some properties sell for less, but new homes in established sought after locations with good functional designs and build quality will always be in demand nevertheless

• Be smart about design and build: having the right design for the right market is crucial to the success of any development. A mismatched between design and the intended demographic could easily derail a project. Another critical point is to keep buildability in mind when designing a new project, that is, to make sure the design can be executed and delivered efficiently and stand the test of time. One of the most common mistakes in development is over design that leads to budget blowout and costly delays in construction.

• Engage professionals: there is no doubt that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for mum and dad investors to make any profit in development, especially first time developers without much experience. By leveraging our extensive experience, knowledge and network of property professionals, we are confident to deliver a successful project despite the ever changing market conditions.