From side hustle to primary business

I’m sure there’s a lot of people in this boat or at least something that a lot of people have given thought to.

I’ve recently completed a couple of small developments, on the side to my full time job.
The projects have gone really well and profits have been quite handy, admittedly helped by the market.

I’m wanting/trying to transition from my work to be able to do this full time.

There’s quite a few hurdles to get across to make this possible so I’m looking for resources that anyone might have so I can get my knowledge up around tax, structures, borrowing etc.

The actual development side of things I have my head around it’s more the behind the scenes type of things that I’d like to brush up on.

If anybody has books, podcasts, their own stories, or other things that they wish they’d known before they took the jump I’d love to hear about them!

Thanks

 

Not necessarily the answer to your questions, but if you successfully completed a couple of developments whilst working full time, have you considered just dropping a day a week at work (if that’s possible in your job) whilst you get another few projects under you belt and nail the finer details you mention above.

Some advantages of this strategy:
*PAYG job (hopefully) provides serviceability to fund projects;
*Smaller projects on the side mean you can probably still access resi finance and avoid GST (get advice on this);
*Day job provides the safety net whilst you up-skill;
*Make sure you can make a profit in a flat/falling market, BEFORE you quit your day job.
*Opportunity to reassess at the 12/24mth mark without having burnt your bridges.

Downsides:
*Miss out on potential massive profits from being a big-shot developer.

 

Thanks for the reply @theperthurbanist
The new year will see me moving locations for a couple of reasons meaning it’s not really feasible to continue in my current job which I’d held until now due to the fact it’s a steady income for borrowing purposes.

I’m a drainage plumber by trade so will continue to work at times but as it will be subcontract work and/or my own jobs it won’t be much help for borrowing for quite a while.

I’m in a lucky position where I can afford to have time away from proper employment and not have to rely on an income.

Absolutely plan to take it slow and steady and do the same deals as I have been doing but would like to be able to do more than the 1 at a time that i would be currently limited to.

I’m not trying to do huge developments and make millions it’s more about trying to find a better balance than working all the time.

Thanks ✌

 

Central Equity, one of Melbourne's largest apartment developers started as two teachers doing up houses in their spare time. Then their accountant saw that they were making more money that he was, and asked whether he could join them. The rest is history.