It pays to research and save potentially 10's of 000'sss

Always learning the more you research and speak with tradies etc

ie: soil tests and results normally equal a higher rating requirement that can mean 000's more in concrete slabs / piering etc.
scenario:
So for those knocking down a dwelling (where the soil underneath is quite dry) to build something new, in order to ensure your soil test and subsequent moisture contents are not the wrong way and equal higher engineering / slab pier costs. My soil test guy explained 'safely' artificially watering the site where the demolised house has been removed, after so many months..., few months..., the soil test can be done or 're-done' with updated results determining the moisture content in the ideal range (satisfying the civil/structural engineer) for the class rating which is not so costly - saving many 000's of dollars in concrete and piers!!

who else has a secret to share for consideration that can save 000's in development costs

 

Make sure you get a gun townplanner to view any development site as part of dd to find out how best to utilise the site.
will save you a fortune, time and potential heartache

Be4 following the herd do your own homework, it will take perhaps 3 phone calls to 3 different re agents, this could save huge $

You can source resi finance for 4 unit developments, why use commercial, far more expensive and condition is you may need to sell OTP

Land and house packages, buy the land and source your own builder, do not buy the package that is your profit gone

 

Also pays big time to get engineering to suit the block in a cost effective way to build. I've saved huge dollars on this.

 

Check council mapping for any surprises (flood prone, bush fire prone, acid sulphate soils etc).

If your mapping shows bush fire prone land keep vegetation well managed before ordering a report bush fire assessment report (mostly control weeds and exotic species as well as any asset protection zone maintenance allowed under bush fire regulations).

 

YES!!! I know an agency who was marketing a development with BAL40 ratings covering more than half the blocks for over two years! I took a buyer through who happened to be a builder and didn't think it looked right, so he managed to track down the company who issued the first report. It turns out that the developers hadn't finished clearing the land, putting in retaining and drainage behind the blocks when the report was commissioned. The end result was that my clients block went from BAL40 to BAL19, a HUGE cost saving.

_______________________________________________________________________

 

In Melbourne, I thought a reactive clay site was more of an issue than moisture?

 

Gr8 tips MTR, your a gem!!
Hmmmm and my broker said 3+ dwellings would be commercial!!
On resi finance (me slow) - - is that literally resi.com.au, or lingo for residential finance??

 

Possibly
I'll b liaising closely with my soil guy after results of test are done to then determine way forward....

 

Check for trees which can't be cut down. Some councils publish a list of untouchable trees.

 

Try RAMS, I used the lo doc resi product, they were brilliant. I buy in a Trust as I had servicing issues at the time.

 

Good point
Significant vegetation overlay

This is why when developing if you have this issue you should get an arborist to also view the property, its a minefield

 

Yep - my block had a large Oak which would have contrained our plans for maximising # of townhouses
But my Guru Arborist got the report A+ and council let me remove oak

 

I had 3 oak trees removed on my Croydon development site
12 objections all about the trees. However, they were in poor condition, hence removal

 

Our last DA our TP recommended that we get an arborist report (even though they didn't ask yet) because they would likely ask for it anyway so it saves times. My contract was subject to DA approval too so we didn't want to take any chances - we had a pre-lodgment meeting. Council we delighted we showed 'respect' with the prelodgement and also did a complete arborist report (there are some trees that need to go). Got subdivision approval in just 2 weeks.

#LoveBrisbaneCityCouncil

 

That's amazing.

When do you start this project?

 

Thanks @MTR. We were going to start this year but we decided to hold off and start our townhouse JV dev first because this market has higher risk and we wanted to lock in good prices before there is a saturation in stock. We just sold our last one otp last month for top dollar. Frame stage almost finished on this one. The splitter stock homes market is growing very strongly atm so we think we made the right decision.