Ubud development

So, some of the Forumites might know that my SIL and BIL now reside in Bali; Ubud specifically, and have done so for around 5 years now..time flies.

Since being there, they have built and sold 2 houses of their own, have built and sold another for the BIL's sister, and are now in the middle (almost at the end actually) of a 5th project for 5 luxury Holiday villas....name of the resort is "11 on Kajeng".

A pic of the place is in my avatar. More pics to follow of the various stages of progress for those interested.

My wife and I, as well as the BIL's parents are also involved as "silent partners", although my wife and I are in contact with them daily via Viber and Skype, and have made a few trips over there to "see how it's going".

It has been a quite slow and drawn out process; nothing happens quickly in Bali, and an enormous amount of the work is absolutely hands on....even the pools were hand mixed concrete and poured by hand!

Scaffolding for the builds is and was made by using bamboo poles strapped together with plastic shopping bags; and so on. It's been a mind-boggling experience to watch how things are done over there compared to here.

So far it has been 2.5 years, and expected opening date looks like being around July 1 this year - after we thought it might have been August last year.

There are 5 Villas, one separate Reception building, and another Cafe building, as well as 3 pools - two private pools for 2 of the Villas - and one main pool for everyone to use.

It has been a huge project for all concerned; and has at times completely overwhelmed the BIL and SIL - who live exactly next door in another building they did but are renting back from the owner, and are on site every day....regular meltdowns and wrist-slash threats, followed by group counselling sessions via Skype!!...this property investment caper is soo easy and fun, right?

Finance wise; the BIL and SIL have put every cent they have from previous Aus sale of PPoR, then the proceeding profits from the build projects....the BIL's parents kicked in $60k as well, and after the sale of our last PPoR we had some cash left over so we kicked in $60K as well. The plan is that we would allocate all expenses and income to each pair as per our share of the capital injection. Wife and I were initially going to have a 25% approx share., however......

Time and budgets have completely blown out of course, because these sorts of projects are enormously difficult to cost out, plus the site has a dramatic slope towards the front before leveling out; which have required loads of retaining stone walls, stairs and so on.

The result has been the SIL and BIL completely ran out of their own funds to complete about a year ago, so yours truly had to come to the rescue with extra funds. So; we kicked in the remaining $40k of our cash, and our 15 year old son also kicked in his whole investment account of $5k as well (he is now a 0.01% share holder )...but it gets worse!

We have since had to kick in a further $35k of CC cash advances, and are now strapped completely out on the CC's - as well as still kicking in ongoing weekly cash injections from our weekly savings - which were meant to go towards next PPoR build - seriously on the back-burner for the time being unfortunately.

Now; this all sounds bad, but we (wife and I) have watched this "CC cash advance to get through" movie before - more than once - and we realise it is only for a short term until the trading commences. The plan is to then be reimbursed for the CC's from the profits of both our share and the bIL and SIL share until the CC';s are paid back (they live on next to nothing and are prepared to continue to do so until our CC debt is returned. We will then remain as approx 30% shareholders from our cash injections. We will be funding all the costs up until the income starts to roll in, but after the works are completed (almost there) the costs are very small each week.

All up the expected cost will be circa $425k, including land. Completed project value (without business turnover) is expected to be circa $1m based on similar (none really similar though) types of properties around Ubud...so a good return (if realised with a sale) on the investment and based on our approx 18 months involvement.

The Resort will be completely managed by a Management Company (who already manage 8 places around Ubud) for a global fee of 20% of profit.


Retaining walls and onsite meeting!

Roof of Cafe kitchen building

Reception

Private Villa, BIL supposedly looking busy.

No safety rails here!

Private Villa pool

Cafe and Reception

Three Main Villas

Front of Main Villa

Cafe kitchen building

 

Sun cabanas by Main pool

Private Villa front doors entrance

View from across the road of Private pool Villas, roof of Cafe and Reception on the right

Reception building, Cafe on the left and Private Villas in background

Retaining wall staircase up to Villas and Private Villa

Staircase/pathway from Villas down to Reception and Cafe

Breakfast "Bale" area next to main pool.

Pathway, bridge, Koi ponds and one of "our girls" statues leading to 3 Villas and main pool.
ATTACH=full]15368[/ATTACH]
Sun pergolas/cabanas next to main pool.

Main pool, waterfall and Villa

Retaining walls are significant.

 

Oh you're back!

And welcome to Indonesia.
My sister had paid an apartment on full approx 4 years ago and nothing being build yet.

Look like the villa going to be real nice once all done up

 

Main pool; with site Managers

Main pool under waterfall

Polishing the concrete floors

Reception building

Pathway down to cafe seating area, daily offering Temple

Paving and tiling in full swing
Private Villas with private pools and views. The one on the left has it's own sun garden on the roof of the Cafe kitchen
A bit of staging to see how it's looking

 

Looks fun. Always good to see projects outside Aus.

Welcome back mate! I have always enjoyed your raw, honest stories.

 

Looking good BV.

Everything is slow and expensive in Bali.

Blacky

 

Looks good.

Does the return take into account the SIL & BIL time on the project? If 2 pers for 2.5 yrs then that's 5 yrs effort.... right? Assuming full time over whole period. Does that affect the return?

 

The expense hasn't been too bad; materials are relatively cheap, and wages are unbelievably low for the site workers...some of the wage cost saving gets swallowed up in extra time though.

 

No-one has bothered to figure that one out; and I doubt you could tally their hours on this one....many a night waking up at 3.00am with a "lightbulb" moment, or the brain in hyper-drive and can't stop thinking about what's coming up next, etc (both them and me!! ).

They have done similar on the previous projects; lived frugally (and it is easy to do over there), and took their "wages" after the sale - by way of profit.

For example; two of their projects netted 100% return on cash invested, and in circa 18 months for each project. So, if you take out say; 50% of that return for wages, their return is 50% for the cash investment over 18 months...not too bad.

 

A few more pics:

Waterfall/sun pergola over main pool

Private Villa shower (outdoor)

Walkway over Koi pond next to Private Villa
Rooftop sundeck for Private Villa on top of Cafe kitchen building

Just cannot get the hired help to lift a finger; always standing around taking pics...
gorgeous high ceilings

One of the Main Villa bathrooms almost to completion. All showers are outdoors and under cover (glass roof), the two Private villas have baths (also out doors, in a garden setting)

Pathways to Main Villas under construction

Main pool and sun cabanas

Closer to the finish..Main Villa area

Traditional "Bale" roof over breakfast/lounge area- completely waterproof even in torrential rain - amazing!..unexpected extra add-on we decided to do...$3k extra for the thought! But well worth it; adds another area for relaxation out of the sun.

 

Private Villa

Feature wall hiding Main Villa area

Main pool, breakfast/lounge area and Villas

Testing the pool...someone has to do it! Damn; left the Mojito at the other end.

Reception and stairs leading up to Villas

Waterfall/pergola over main pool

"The tunnel" with rooftop garden, leading up to Villas Main Villa close to finish

 

Guest car park and stairs leading to cafe area...more hired help standing around leaning on stuff...
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Floor of Reception verandah


Private Villa private sundeck

Carpark almost completed

Leading up to Reception from cafe seating area

Cafe seating area almost completed

Looking up to cafe area and Reception from road...planting just finished

 

Looks amazing! Im sure it was all worth it in the end

 

Finally got the the Private Villa pools up and running! Been waiting 2 weeks for the sparky to come back and hook up the pumps and lights at this end of the property.

 

On the Koi pond bridge, showing the pathway between the two Private Villas, looking back towards the Reception..finally have lights!


Light in "the tunnel", looking up to the Villas from Reception.

"Our girls" again!....looking from the Reception direction back towards the Main Villas area.(behind the door)

 

@Bayview looks great

 

Finally got the light fixtures installed on the cafe seating area wall...now; can we get the sparky back anytime soon to wire them in???

 

Beautiful @Bayview so who's going to run the resort?

 

Thanks for the nice feedback; Not confirmed yet, but probably going to be this Company;
PRAMANA EXPERIENCE - HOME

And they are local in Ubud, which is good.

 

The finished version:

Almost done: