Doing things differently
Always interested in what you would do differently next time around- please share
Without writing a book on the subject, here are a few points that come to mind…….
I used a BA to source the property. I would definitely do this again.
I would self manage the process myself, even if this meant regular trips from Perth to Melbourne (or wherever). For most this would depend upon ones existing work commitments, but this would not be an issue in my case.
I would engage an experienced building inspector to attend site at specific times and be available to report back to me.
I had a lot of input into the layout and ensured a number a number of changes to the initial architects layouts which I thought were pretty poor at the time.
Never rely on feasibility reports prepared by others unless you agree with all the input data. The assumptions they make can be quite different to yours. For example, you can create any result you want in the outcome if you change the percentage of injected equity. In parallel I ran my own feasibility study using no injected equity and my own assumptions and on this basis I proceeded.
The build specification was very high and the builder did a great job. However, I believe in hindsight this could have been pruned back, thus reducing cost and improving overall outcome of the project. eg: The builder commented that the common wall between units was specified differently to anything he had done before and added a few extra weeks to the build time. Also, whilst ducted ac was specified, the design did not cater for this so each unit ended up with seven(7) split systems! The Hills Hub and phone/data points to every room was also a little unnecessary IMO.
I have no problem paying professionals for their time and expertise. I also believe that in doing so, the extra money spent on paying professionals for their services should result in overall savings. (ie. their costs should effectively be recouped). In my particular development I am not sure this objective was met.
Nonetheless, I am still happy with the outcome.