Subdivision Costs - Western Sydney

Hi All,

I am a surveyor in Sydney looking at getting involved in an approximately 50 lot subdivision. The Client is interested in knowing what an ball park figure would be from Pre-DA meeting to fully constructed subdivision and registered deposited plan.

We have calculated our own estimate figures, but just curious if anyone within the forum may have been involved in such a project, and have any information they may be able to share such as:

Per Lot Cost A-Z?
Total Cost?
Approximate profit margin?
Traps for young players?

Any insight the collective may have would be very much appreciated.

Dean

 

@lixas4 might have some insight.

 

Hi, i am also a surveyor, but from melb. Best bet is to chat with an engineer to help cost up the site you are looking at, learn how they do it, then build your own feasibility model so you dont need them for initial investigation for every site, just when something looks good or in due diligence stage. All sites are unique, and the road design, lot sizes, contributions, external costs to bring services in, access requirements, can all effect the price per lot. For a basic standard design with 350 - 500 sqm lots, the internal 'construction' costs (not all the costs mentioned above), might come in around 65-70k, but every site is different so dont use a standard cost per lot for your feasibility.

I am looking at a fairly large site at the moment, and it has come in at 72k a lot for construction, and total costs about 130k a lot (excluding purchase price) over a 6 -7 year subdivision timeframe. Its techically an infil site so doesnt have all the same contributions that an urban growth site would have. If it was in an urban growth area with the full whack of contributions, then would expect it to be closer to 160k per lot for total costs (excluding purchase price).

Margins, would want 20% min. The investors i work with almost get angry when i bring something to them that is less than 20% on a straight sale basis. However, if it has a permit and is shovel ready, or its a JV with the landowner, or a vendor finance arrangement, then less then 20% margin could be more acceptable.

Traps for young players - im still fairly young in this space so would leave this up to others to provide advice. But will say, its very time consuming and hard work to find sites that actually work in land development. So if you have a client that wants to do a JV with you, a big part of the battle is won.

 

Lots of variables - its like asking how much is it to build a house (don't know size)

In terms of traps - Lot of competition including developers that have aims other than just profits