2nd Development Project - Mindarie,WA 2 apartments

I've recently pulled the trigger on a small project in developing vacant land and building 2 apartments; a 2x2x2 and a 3x2x2 with a garden/alfresco both apartments will have large balconies with views to the marina and ocean. The site was not advertised as R40 and marketed at $350K.

The strategy with this project is to execute a debt reduction phase of my journey so right now the intention is to build and sell. Yes I know, the Perth market is not great so hopefully the water views will provide a point of difference.

I've recently found a fantastic builder whose care factor is off the richter scale, we intend to use insulated concrete formwork (ICF) for the structural walls and framed internal walls with extra thick gyprock sheets with insulation.

The design will have a 4 car garage tandem style on the ground level, the 3x2 with garden on the 1st floor and the 2x2 on the top floor. @Aaron Sice has been given the design project, visually the front elevation will look like a 3 storey house with a modern look and feel incorporating the use of stone cladding, a skillion roof and acratex walls.

There are not many apartments in Mindarie except for the newly built "The Marina" apartments on Bristol Lane. The prices for these apartments are > $700K for a 2x2 and $800K for the 3x2. I'm pitching mine at 550 for the 2x2 and 600 for the 3x2 to be conservative.

Site: 273 sqm R40
Cost: $314K plus closing cost $13K
Construction cost: $500K
Holding cost: $48K
Selling cost & GST: $50K
Total cost: $925K
Expected end values: $1.15m
Profit: $225K or 24%

I've really got to thank my team for their input and assistance as I can't do everything myself.

 

Wow very nice
Are you planning to sell both on completion?
Are you concerned about site works there - most of the blocks i saw were slopey.

 

@D.T. - DD was done on siteworks before the offer was made, 2 doors away is a house for sale, we rang the builder to enquire the siteworks costs which came in at 26K, i've doubled it for my feaso. Site classification has been done by Structerre, report is an 'A' class sandy site.

 

needing the garage to hold back some earth, so the great thing about the walling system used is that it is strong enough to do that without incurring extra structural cost.

 

Great project, will follow keenly. Would love to know your experiance with ICF and your thoughts behind choosing this product. If you dont mind me asking who is the builder?
Regards
Chris

 

@Spanna - The decision to go with ICF was not based on price, in fact I have assumed it will cost the same as conventional brick even though the initial price enquiry was that ICF was going to be $20 a sqm cheaper. The ICF approach will solve the space issue that I have the site is very small and space is limited to store bricks. ICF will be quicker to build so holding cost ought to be cheaper and the advantage of better thermal insulation than conventional brick.

Will PM you the builder.

 

Formcraft is one of the suppliers/manufacturers that does the ICF method of construction, after visiting their showroom coincidentally there was a piece on Grand Designs I watched where there was a house built using their product http://www.formcraft.com.au/news/Grand-Designs-Australia-features-Formcraft-project/

And here are more homes that have used their products http://www.formcraft.com.au/Projects/Residential-Projects/

 

WOuld you mind PMing me the builder too please?

 

Thanks for the info Stumpie.

The thing that concerns me with precast pannels or ICF methods ect is the fitout stage and how the junctions for windows ect (aswell as the potential for added cost)

If the builder is well versed in the product and has tradies that often do it it shouldnt be a problem you wouldnt think.

 

Looks good.

I am also interested in see the progress of the ICF.

 

+1 here

 

Great work. How much internal living will each of the apartments have?

 

@mrdobalina - technically an R40 site for multis is 163.8 sqm for this specific site however I'm asking Aaron to attempt to get more. The 2x2 hopefully 77-80 sqm the 3x2 95 sqm excluding balconies, garages, store etc

 

How confident are you of the end values? Banks are also pretty conservative at the moment (more so than before) at valuations, so it might affect financing.

Comparatively, we are doing some luxury apartments with marina views in Mindarie. The third floor 3x2x2 with 160m2 of internal living, double balconies, double living spaces.... Was bank valued at only $650k.

 

@mrdobalina - I've based my projected end values using the Bristol lane apartments as a guide and discounted it so their 3x2 was sold for around 800 and I'm targeting mine at 600, however now that you've said your 3x2 with 160 sqm internal living for 650 I'm now a little concerned.

 

Like everything these days, you need to make sure there is contingency in your numbers. The banks are pretty conservative in their numbers too. We've had to jump through hoops to get financing (still jumping).

 

650K for your large apartment seems very low even the construction cost alone is around 432K without including an apportion of the land cost.

 

Ha! @mrdobalina - where is yours?
Ours has been commercially valued at around $600k for our 3 x 2 x 1 with one living area. Our valuation is on hold at the moment and hasn't been given to the bank yet as we are supplying our valuer with some additional information which may make the valuation go up.

Valuations in this case may or may not reflect real life.

 

A few blocks down from yours! We're only doing 3, so not as many as you.

Agree valuations don't reflect real life.

 

What did your energy efficency rating come back at? Turn key per sqm for build?