Our first development site!!
- Thread starter Land
- Start date
Yes, that's right. 4 bedrooms upstairs for both, plus a HUGE walk in linen cupboard, and ensuite for balcony for main bedrooms.
We have gone for 2.7m ceiling heights in the ground floor as well, with down lights through, ducted air con and remote panel lift garage doors.
It's quite difficult chosing which aspects to spend a bit more on, and what isn't worth it. Hopefully it all comes together well.
We have gone for 2.7m ceiling heights in the ground floor as well, with down lights through, ducted air con and remote panel lift garage doors.
It's quite difficult chosing which aspects to spend a bit more on, and what isn't worth it. Hopefully it all comes together well.
Hi Steve,
yeah, definitely the family market. Panania is to the south of Bankstown, about 15kms or so from the CBD and right in the middle of suburbia. I actually think it's pretty undervalued compared to many parts of Sydney which are that close to the CBD.
You can do a dual occupancy development on 500sqm in Bankstown Council, but if you have a block that small there's no way you can get 4 bedrooms on. Our site is 600sqm which means we can get the 4 bedders in there. I think families are much more inclined to go for 4 bedders, because even a 3 child family needs 4 beds for each child to have their own room, or if there are 2 kids, there's another room left over to use as a study.
I'm pretty happy with how I think they will turn out, we designed them ourselves, and after looking at heaps of other designs, decided to make the ground floor as symetrical as possible without any useless areas that don't really work when you want to put in real furniture and entertainment unit, dining room table etc.
We have seen so many designs that just aren't logical, and don't work when you ask a basic question like "where do you put the tv so you can comfortably watch it from the lounge?".
I will have to post more pictures now as it starts to take shape.
yeah, definitely the family market. Panania is to the south of Bankstown, about 15kms or so from the CBD and right in the middle of suburbia. I actually think it's pretty undervalued compared to many parts of Sydney which are that close to the CBD.
You can do a dual occupancy development on 500sqm in Bankstown Council, but if you have a block that small there's no way you can get 4 bedrooms on. Our site is 600sqm which means we can get the 4 bedders in there. I think families are much more inclined to go for 4 bedders, because even a 3 child family needs 4 beds for each child to have their own room, or if there are 2 kids, there's another room left over to use as a study.
I'm pretty happy with how I think they will turn out, we designed them ourselves, and after looking at heaps of other designs, decided to make the ground floor as symetrical as possible without any useless areas that don't really work when you want to put in real furniture and entertainment unit, dining room table etc.
We have seen so many designs that just aren't logical, and don't work when you ask a basic question like "where do you put the tv so you can comfortably watch it from the lounge?".
I will have to post more pictures now as it starts to take shape.
Nearly finished!
Hi ya-all,
It's been a very long time since I've posted anything about our development, but that's because it's taken a verrrrrry long time to finish. As it stands, we are now around 2 weeks from finishing, which means the total build has taken around 9 months.
The development is now on for rent, and we have one tenant already which is great news.
Generally pretty happy with how it has turned out, although the render is a bit more 'blue' than we thought it was going to be!
It's hard to explain how tiring it is to develop, just lots and lots of little things and constant phone calls with the builder and surveyor and engineer and....
It's definitely something which is better to do in a down market, if its a rising market its easier to simply buy some investments and enjoy the rising tide.
Cheers
Land
Hi ya-all,
It's been a very long time since I've posted anything about our development, but that's because it's taken a verrrrrry long time to finish. As it stands, we are now around 2 weeks from finishing, which means the total build has taken around 9 months.
The development is now on for rent, and we have one tenant already which is great news.
Generally pretty happy with how it has turned out, although the render is a bit more 'blue' than we thought it was going to be!
It's hard to explain how tiring it is to develop, just lots and lots of little things and constant phone calls with the builder and surveyor and engineer and....
It's definitely something which is better to do in a down market, if its a rising market its easier to simply buy some investments and enjoy the rising tide.
Cheers
Land
Attachments
![403842117ml1240197134[1].jpg](/data/attachments/3/3821-d0be994db05f04950976b6b576a2a9ff.jpg)
Any updates on the final figures? Did any costs blow out?
Thanks
Thanks
Thanks Ozperp! It's nice to get some positive feedback on the blue, we have tried to make all the colours fairly neautral i.e. white kitchen, white ceasarstone benchtops, grey floor tiles, white walls etc. So we were a little surprised with the blue render, but I think it looks nice, although the wife is a bit nervous about it.
Plan_Trader - no costs blow outs which was good. We got a fixed price contract which ensured we could control all our costs fairly well. The cost to build was around 50K more than we had initially thought, but that wasn't the end of the world We got a bill for around 2K for soil removal which we weren't expecting. There wasn't any asbestos or anything buried on the site, which would have cost extra to remove. Apart from that, we upgraded from laminate to ceasarstone benchtops for the kitchen which cost an extra 3K or so which was well worth it, and also upgraded the stair railings so we have stainless steel instead of black wrought iron at a cost of about $700 I think. Other than that, no surprises.
There's not a huge amount of profit in it by the time you take out interest during construction (which is tax deductible if you're going to rent them - this is greta because it's ALL loss for 12 months or so, making the tax return very good), all the DA and CC fees etc, but we still get 2 brand new properties which will rent at a premium and with excellent depreciation, and all at around 15% less than market value. Whilst this is a small percentage, it's still 150K in cold hard cash, which is pretty good I reckon.
Plan_Trader - no costs blow outs which was good. We got a fixed price contract which ensured we could control all our costs fairly well. The cost to build was around 50K more than we had initially thought, but that wasn't the end of the world We got a bill for around 2K for soil removal which we weren't expecting. There wasn't any asbestos or anything buried on the site, which would have cost extra to remove. Apart from that, we upgraded from laminate to ceasarstone benchtops for the kitchen which cost an extra 3K or so which was well worth it, and also upgraded the stair railings so we have stainless steel instead of black wrought iron at a cost of about $700 I think. Other than that, no surprises.
There's not a huge amount of profit in it by the time you take out interest during construction (which is tax deductible if you're going to rent them - this is greta because it's ALL loss for 12 months or so, making the tax return very good), all the DA and CC fees etc, but we still get 2 brand new properties which will rent at a premium and with excellent depreciation, and all at around 15% less than market value. Whilst this is a small percentage, it's still 150K in cold hard cash, which is pretty good I reckon.
Land,
That's an excellent outcome, well done! There's no better way of learning than doing. You are now so much better off than when you started from both a financial and a learning outcome perspective.
Great result! Kudos!!
Cheers,
Michael
Great thread, thanks for taking the time to share.
The experience you've gained is worth much more than the money you made.
Did you take any photos during construction (like after demolition, etc.)?
The experience you've gained is worth much more than the money you made.
Did you take any photos during construction (like after demolition, etc.)?
It's not over till the fat lady sings
Thanks for all the comments guys, it's been a surprisingly hard slog and it's hard to pass that experience onto others, you kinda just need to go through it yourself to understand.
Well - it's not over till the fat lady sings! Yesterday the builder asked us to go to Bunnings (that's right!) to have a look at the vertical blinds that he's gonna put in and to check we're ok with the colour......hhmmmmm.
So we go to Bunnings and their blinds are absolute rubbish! Fine if you're happy to spend 2cents, but the allocation in our contract was $6000 for blinds! Anyway, did some calculations and using the Bunnings blinds would only have cost the builder $1500!! I rang him this morning and advised this was unacceptable and when we're paying 6K in the contract for blinds, I expect to see that level of quality.
Fun and games........
Ok, I've tried to attach some more photos, although I haven't got any on this computer of the frame.
Thanks for all the comments guys, it's been a surprisingly hard slog and it's hard to pass that experience onto others, you kinda just need to go through it yourself to understand.
Well - it's not over till the fat lady sings! Yesterday the builder asked us to go to Bunnings (that's right!) to have a look at the vertical blinds that he's gonna put in and to check we're ok with the colour......hhmmmmm.
So we go to Bunnings and their blinds are absolute rubbish! Fine if you're happy to spend 2cents, but the allocation in our contract was $6000 for blinds! Anyway, did some calculations and using the Bunnings blinds would only have cost the builder $1500!! I rang him this morning and advised this was unacceptable and when we're paying 6K in the contract for blinds, I expect to see that level of quality.
Fun and games........
Ok, I've tried to attach some more photos, although I haven't got any on this computer of the frame.
Attachments
Hi Land.
I am a freelance journalist with Australian Property Investor magazine and am currently looking for someone to profile for a development article.
My editor - Eynas Brodie - came across this thread and thought your story would be of interest to our readers.
Could you please let me know if you would like to contribute at your earliest convenience, as my deadline is end of Jan?
It would involve a telephone interview with myself and we would require details of your development, including financial info and photos.
Thanks for your time - my direct email is [email protected]. I would be happy to discuss this further with you and provide more details prior to you making a commitment.
Regards
Bronwyn
I am a freelance journalist with Australian Property Investor magazine and am currently looking for someone to profile for a development article.
My editor - Eynas Brodie - came across this thread and thought your story would be of interest to our readers.
Could you please let me know if you would like to contribute at your earliest convenience, as my deadline is end of Jan?
It would involve a telephone interview with myself and we would require details of your development, including financial info and photos.
Thanks for your time - my direct email is [email protected]. I would be happy to discuss this further with you and provide more details prior to you making a commitment.
Regards
Bronwyn
