Hi Guys, thought I’d update you on my foray into property development and let you know where things have gotten up to.
We’ve had a set of initial ‘concept drawings’ prepared by a draftsperson. The draftsperson had initially suggested that our block was large enough (or small enough!) to fit a one bedroom unit comfortably or a two bedroom unit at a squash. Although this was great as it meant that we could fit something on the block, I was keen for us to try to pursue a three bedroom option as the location of the property really is in ‘family-ville suburbia’ and the growth potential of the three bedroom property was much better. Now I did do some ‘feasibility study numbers’ on the two bedroom versus the three bedroom and certainly from an immediate profit potential the three bedroom option was going to be better. Anyways, I asked the draftsperson to have another think about it and they came back to us with some plans for a three bedroom two storey townhouse which looked great.
As another aside, I did a little reasearch into two storey homes in the immediate vicinity as coucil regulations would be much more favourable if our proposed dwelling was in fitting with the character of the area. As it turns out there are several two storey homes in the same street and nearby streets so that was good. I also spoke to the council town planning department just to get a ‘feel’ for their response and they didn’t seem that phased by it as long as the home met all regulations.
Last week the draftsperson and myself had a ‘pre-meeting’ with the local council town planning department to look over the plans. This meeting is free and can be very helpful at gauging whether their would be any council opposition to what you want to do, so if your local council offers that service then I suggest it’s a good plan. Our meeting went pretty well with the only suggestion from council being that we move part of our dwelling back a meter off the boundary to avoid any potential neighbour objections. Technically we don’t have to, but given that I am more interested in ‘smooth progression’ of the building permit than in the exact layout of the dwelling then I’m happy to oblige! After all, it’s an investment and not my own place of residence.
So with our conceptual drawings having now been amended so remove any part of the dwelling from the boundary, what’s the next step? The next step is for us to have the full construction drawings developed, so I’ve paid an initial deposit and those drawings will get underway shortly. Once they are complete, then the formal lodging of the planning permit to council will occur.
I’m still a bit unsure of exactly how long this process could end up taking from commencement to completion of the buidling, but it looks like it’ll be at least 12 months. Gosh, property development is not a sprint, hey?!