General Questions about Apartment Development.

Hi everyone, I moved to Northern Brisbane about 18 months ago and have recently found out about the "Masterplan" for the Strathpine area.

See https://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/subsite.aspx?id=60411

Basically, it looks like the home I purchased will be rezoned early next year to allow for developments of up to 4 storeys. So I've been trying to learn as much as possible about apartment developments. As you can imagine, there is a lot to learn. I have spoken to a couple of architects over the phone, and a business that specialises in town planning, but the problem is I'm not ready to do anything just yet, so I don't want to waste their time.

So, onto my questions. Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to answer.

1) Side Setbacks. Let's say the council regulation is for a side-setback of 2 metres, and let's say the whole building has a wrap around balcony, but the balcony is fully covered. Does the balcony count as part of the structure for setback purposes, or can it "overhang" into the setback ?

2) Level of Finish. Can anyone give me examples (maybe links to realestate.com.au or anything else with a picture) of low, mid and high level finishes ? I'm trying to understand what accounts for the cost difference between the "level" of finishes. Would this internal, external or both ?

3) Cost of Ground Level Carpark. The costings table at http://www.bmtqs.com.au/construction-cost-table shows :-
- 3 level walkup, ground floor parking, medium level finish, $1820 m2
- 3 level walkup, basement parking, medium level finish, $1785 m2

I find this bizarre ? You would think that the basement carpark would be much more expensive. A ground floor carpark is basically just concrete at ground level (I know I'm simplifying it a little) where basement carpark is lots more work. Can anyone account for these prices ?

4) Cost per m2. Again, using the bmtqs cost table. I'm trying to get a better idea of how the cost per m2 is derived. Let's say on a given storey, you're building 3 x 2BR units, at say 100m2. If you decided instead to build 2x3BR units at say 150m2, I can't see how they would cost the same. Now, I know people are going to say, without drawings it's hard to have a guess, but is there some way of getting a bit more of an accurate "back of the envelope" estimate rather than just using cost per m2 ?

5) Turnkey. When I read "turnkey", does this mean including all costs ? ie. architect fees, purchase of land, finance interest cost, council costs. Does it mean "the lot" or just "the total paid to the builder" ?
 
I think Side Setbacks is the building envelope. Balconies cannot extend past this.

Basement car parking is more like $50k per space.

High finish would be high ceilings, stone benches in kitchen and maybe bathroom, nice porcelian tiles, good lighting (LED's etc), 900mm name brand appliances, security intracom and alarms etc.

The cost of the wet areas is the most expensive part. (bath, kitchen, laundry). A 1bed 1 bath is not that much cheaper that a 2bed 1 bath of similar size.

Turnkey is move straight in: all the blinds, floor coverings,lights, landscaping
 
High Level (large) complexes offer additional services:
  • Business Centre
  • Door man
  • Day care centre
  • Club Rooms
  • Fitness Centre
  • Nice Lobby

and recreational facilities
  • Courtyard
  • Dog parks
  • Exercise rooms
  • Gardens
  • Jacuzzi
  • Resident Lounge
  • Swimming Pools
  • Play Area
  • Tennis Courts
  • Walking trail
  • Yoga Room
 
You might find that your 4 storey can have a semi basement parking level, where the basement is not greater then 1.25m above natural ground level it may not count as a level.

Don't forget the $28k per 3 bed unit and $21k per 2 bed unit infrastructure contributions (by the time yours is ready I would be budgeting on an extra K each.)

You could well need to upgrade transformers, water supply lines, sewer lines etc in your area on top of this.

Big project first out of the box. The rezoning will in all likelihood already generate a significant profit on the land, especially if you are willing to do a DA or do an option or long contract subject to DA. Great to learn about it but if you can lock in some profit and run then use the profit to help fund your next development you can create a bigger buffer.

You can easily spend $100k getting to DA approval stage and another 30K getting to BA stage before you even break ground.

Financing something of that size is a full commercial lend. You will either need significant equity, significant presales or pay significant interest for mez finance.

Development land have raw prices and DA prices based on a per box (av 2 bed unit or av 2 or 3 bed townhouse depending on the area). Per box price goes down over 3 storeys, again over 6 storeys and so on on the way up. Key points for drops are 1. elevator, 2 each extra basement level of parking, 3. Permanent Crane.

I don't know your prices in that area but to make numbers easy $50k per box raw if you can go single basement level. If you are going 4 storeys it may be 2 storey basement requirement depending on site geometry.

So if site geometry was to allow you 6 units a level, 24 units at $50 k a box then it might be $1.2m site.

I signed on a 2000m2 inner city site (<5km) which will resell $100k a box for 3 storeys with ground floor parking, 2k's away and 5 storeys and it was $60k a box (both raw). Different site geometry, no basement, no lift can make a big difference.

Read heaps, talk to people and enjoy. My suggestion is to offer it up on a long contract without DA and just take the money you have been gifted due to rezoning and then use some of that to do something in the 2 -6 unit range. If you want to develop yourself sort out your business and ownership structures so that if the development goes down it doesn't take you and everything else with you.

D
 
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