What do you expect for $2m+?

5.7m is very narrow. How are you laying that out?

At that width and that price what I would *not* expect is a house two rooms wide, ie two bedrooms adding up to 5.7m wide.

I'd expect at most one room + hallway/staircase wide, or one room + WIR or second bathroom or laundry ... the smaller utility areas of the house. Could get interesting trying to have a big master bedroom *and* a big ensuite at that width ...

Small bedrooms should be the realm of cheaper project homes. Says me who lives in one and we've got one bedroom barely bigger than 3x3m - and I've seen heaps of floor plans with much smaller bedrooms!
 
5.7m is very narrow. How are you laying that out?

At that width and that price what I would *not* expect is a house two rooms wide, ie two bedrooms adding up to 5.7m wide.

I'd expect at most one room + hallway/staircase wide, or one room + WIR or second bathroom or laundry ... the smaller utility areas of the house. Could get interesting trying to have a big master bedroom *and* a big ensuite at that width ...

Small bedrooms should be the realm of cheaper project homes. Says me who lives in one and we've got one bedroom barely bigger than 3x3m - and I've seen heaps of floor plans with much smaller bedrooms!

Yep I understand the concern about that. When I have some finalised pictures/sketches of the interior I'll post it up so everyone will have a better idea of what I'm trying to achieve. Should have that by end of next week.
 
Without trying to be smug for 2m townhouse it would have to literally include everything.

More important than what it includes it must have absolutely no negative. At this price range you cannot have any negative at all e.g. fronts main rd, no view or some other negative specific to that area.

Given its 3+ levels I would include audio, visual intercom (a good one) with automatic switch to open the door. I would have access panels in the master and living.

The specifications have to be the highest, solid core doors etc. Basically nothing from bunnings :)

I personally am fearful of such high end products my (seen) experience is either you make a motza or your do your ****.

If this is your first development I would suggest to either do something else first or if your that confident, check and recheck everything, get valuer appraisals not just agent ones etc.

The "cost" will come through the construction more than the finishes. E.g. I would have higher ceilings (3 rows atleast) and some wow\wasted features like double height\void ceilings\sections or single stringer, no riser staircases with void cutout leading up to a roof\window for light.

Getting comparables for you to do your estimates on will be hard as your target market are of extreme pickyness.

If you heed one bit of advice its this. When you are developing high end product do not underestimate the impact of a "negative" aspect. For instance I have countless associates who have built in 1m average suburbs a brand new house for 700k and cant sell because it backs (50m away) a rail line. The house would have sold easily 1.2m on the next street up. The point is people are not looking for a bargain in these suburbs they are looking for what they want.

Either way good luck.



Hi all,

I am contemplating building 8+ luxury townhouses in Richmond. They will be 3-4 levels including basement carparking with 4 bedrooms and I am expecting to sell them for $2m+. For a townhouse of this price range, what features/tidbits do you expect to be included? Of course I will have superb finishes etc but I am more interested in what people regard as necessary or important for a property like this.

For example, ducted vacuums? smart home systems?

Thanks in advance.
 
For 2 million plus, everything would have to be super high luxury fittings including stone, marble, plunge pool, commercial windows and doors. Just had a quick look at Richmond for townhouses and the maximum price is $1.6 million.

Do you have any plans or drawings?
 
For 2 million plus, everything would have to be super high luxury fittings including stone, marble, plunge pool, commercial windows and doors. Just had a quick look at Richmond for townhouses and the maximum price is $1.6 million.

Do you have any plans or drawings?

Currently getting them drawn up so will have something by next week. There was a property in Hull Street that had a genuine bid for $1.7m. Ours will be better.
 
Currently getting them drawn up so will have something by next week. There was a property in Hull Street that had a genuine bid for $1.7m. Ours will be better.

if you take on board all the suggestions these places are going to cost you 4m!!

interesting to see what people here want in a 2m place though. although you are really asking the wrong people. not many here would spend 2m on a ppor.
 
if you take on board all the suggestions these places are going to cost you 4m!!

interesting to see what people here want in a 2m place though. although you are really asking the wrong people. not many here would spend 2m on a ppor.

Yeah, I can sort of see your point. Now $8M is real money. Disco balls, the lot!
 
I appreciate the suggestions from everyone here. It's been enlightening but I hope to post some pictures soon to give the whole project some context.
 
interesting to see what people here want in a 2m place though. although you are really asking the wrong people. not many here would spend 2m on a ppor.
Heh, ours came to about $140k and that was including all the extras to take it above standard project home. Higher ceilings, fancy cornices/skirtings, nicer doors and door handles, prettier facade, bigger bath, feature tiles in the bathrooms not plain white, upgraded the kitchen (which cost the most - geez the default kitchen in a project home is CRAP) and nice engineered timber floors. Take off all of those and I think we could have squeaked in at not much over $100k.

If I was going to build another house I think we'd just do it all the same but put more built-in storage in the place and make all the bedrooms minimum of 4x4m - and make the bathrooms a bit bigger too. It is surprisingly hard to fit furniture into smaller rooms than that. In fact, that 4x4m minimum size would be my dealbreaker on any other PPoR we ever move to, at any price bracket.

Hence my slight fixation with room sizes - I've stickybeaked into some crazy expensive CBD apartments in Adelaide during their opens and been boggled by the tiny, tiny rooms and storage cupboards you couldn't fit a teatowel into. And with friends of ours in a funky apartment in Sydney now complaining about things like room sizes and worse, angled walls, we're feeling quite pleased with ourselves NOT needing to call out a custom cabinetmaker just to have a wall of bookshelves.

Also, walls of bookshelves are cool. I'd try and put one of those in somewhere if you can, at worst your buyers can buy books by the metre at interior design places so they LOOK like they have a library :D
 
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Hi all,

I am contemplating building 8+ luxury townhouses in Richmond. They will be 3-4 levels including basement carparking with 4 bedrooms and I am expecting to sell them for $2m+. For a townhouse of this price range, what features/tidbits do you expect to be included? Of course I will have superb finishes etc but I am more interested in what people regard as necessary or important for a property like this.

For example, ducted vacuums? smart home systems?

Thanks in advance.

Frameless shower screens, full height internal doors, double glazing, fireplace feature, wine cooler, audio/visual security system, Storage +++.:)
 
Depends on so many things ... our house is currently worth around $1.3-4mil.

BUT ... around $1.2 of that is the view. We are planning our reno to bring the property up closer to the $2mil mark - but still the view will make up the majority of that ... with an improved house the perception of the value of the view will also improve.
 
Well lizzie with a view of the ocean you just can't overcapitalise so whatever you put in, you should get at least your money back.
 
very true - but just wanted to point out that sometimes there are other reason for a higher value of a property.

For us the main value is the view (also has CBD and mountain views) rather than expensive gadgets like intercom and stone baths ... although we do have ducted aircon that is rarely used and are going oval freestanding bath in the ensuite :D.
 
Can you really get $2m for a townhouse in Richmond? Richmond isn't Albert Park or South Yarra, or even Carlton or Fitzroy. I reckon the kind of people that would buy a $2m townhouse are probably downsizing from their family home in Hawthorn/Balwyn/Kew/Canterbury etc, Richmond might be a bit too grungy for them.

If you have access to the $13-$14m that this project is going to cost, you'd be better off buying broadacre land, putting in the infrastructure, and selling off the subdivided blocks, than risking it on 8 high end townhouses. IMO of course.
 
Can you really get $2m for a townhouse in Richmond? Richmond isn't Albert Park or South Yarra, or even Carlton or Fitzroy. I reckon the kind of people that would buy a $2m townhouse are probably downsizing from their family home in Hawthorn/Balwyn/Kew/Canterbury etc, Richmond might be a bit too grungy for them.

If you have access to the $13-$14m that this project is going to cost, you'd be better off buying broadacre land, putting in the infrastructure, and selling off the subdivided blocks, than risking it on 8 high end townhouses. IMO of course.

Well I figure that Richmond is changing a lot. Last time Carlton/Fitzroy were dumps but now they are sought-after areas. Richmond is no different - recently there was a townhouse on Hull St that passed in on a genuine $1.7m bid. Mine will be far superior both location-wise and features too. I don't like buying parcels of land and subdividing because that's the first thing that gets stuffed in a slump like this.
 
Well I figure that Richmond is changing a lot. Last time Carlton/Fitzroy were dumps but now they are sought-after areas. Richmond is no different - recently there was a townhouse on Hull St that passed in on a genuine $1.7m bid. Mine will be far superior both location-wise and features too. I don't like buying parcels of land and subdividing because that's the first thing that gets stuffed in a slump like this.

Fair enough, if you think you can get $2m and your margins work out, then go for it, but I'd hate for you to budget on getting $2m, but you only end up getting say $1.8 or 1.9m, there goes most of your profit.
 
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