Step 2: Get a builder to review it first is key to success

Hey, guys, Dax here. We've got the Instagram going, so you'll see us jump on. We've got Michael here from Aston Construction building on. We're filming it for our growth members group. Hi, Kylie, how are you? I'm going to start the Facebook feed over here and we've got the video that we're actually going to film for our members going up there. So I'll probably be looking a lot up at the camera here to Michael when we talk. Hey, Jasmine, how are you? Michael? I'll just probably say a few things to a few people while we get set up. Great. So we get. We're gonna have. We've got this awesome builder. You know, we've got this site that we're looking to sell or even develop on 1300 square. He's done the first inspection of it and had a look at what. What we can do on it. He's going to give us his update and tell us what's next. So let me just start up Facebook over here and see where we can go. So go live.

See.

Why isn't that. Use camera. Here we go. Hey, guys, sorry I dropped out. Hi, Anna. We're just jumping on. We're going to do a site analysis with this awesome builder for our members group. But I'm going to show you guys have a bit of a preview of it. I'm just starting up the Facebook Live over here and I think it's about to work. Think it was this hard for that, but that's good. Okay. Hi, Facebook. We got Facebook Live over here. Hey, Sophie. Hey. Way. Hey, Vif Property Group. Hey. This is awesome. Good to have you guys on. So what we're doing is. And I'll intro Michael now because we've got both live streams going. You probably see us looking at different cameras. Hi, Kylie or Awesome to have you on. And Lloyd getting a few on. Fantastic. So let's get this up. Got Facebook over here, we've got Instagram here and we've got the professional photography going up here. We're actually today we've got a site that we're looking at developing 1300 squares. Michael can go into a bit more detail. We've got the video for the members group. So we've got the growth members about developments, renovations and all this sort of stuff. And Michael is a part of my business network. He's a great builder. I've got a couple of questions. We're going to talk about what give an interest about his company first and then we can delve into the Huntingdale site. So we're good to go? Good to go over there. Excellent. Okay, let's start recording up here. G', day Michael, how are you?

Hey Dax, how are you? Thanks for having me on your live feed. That's pretty awesome.

You're welcome, man. It's good to have you on board. And just to kick off for everyone who's online. Hey Jessica, can you give us a bit of an update of your company, a little bit of history before we jump into the actual site?

Sure, absolutely. My company name is called Aston Constructions and I've been building for about 15 years now. Pretty much a custom build and medium to higher end products. We do townhouses, luxury homes, apartments and also commercial projects like childcare centres, medical centers and factories. So it's all custom design, custom build. So we really focus on the needs of the client and we hold the hands as much and as little as they need.

Awesome. Excellent. Thanks, Michael. I met Michael a couple of weeks ago. Hey, knowledge. And we really connected on a number of things, construction, development, eco and all that sort of stuff. And I thought it would be great for him to have a look at our site and what we're doing. We'll have it up on the board as we do this production cut afterwards and I'll show you some of the sites and also the videos already in the members group of my site visit. So just to give you a quick background before we jump into the analysis, Michael, as you know, one of the people in the growth membership group, he has a site in Huntingdale at 600 and something square 647. And he was like, what can I do? So we went through an analysis and went, okay, the house beside him is a corner block. Now my Michael, how good is a corner block when you're looking at developments? It's really great. Yeah, yeah, fantastic. So his strategy was talk to his neighbors and see if they could sell them as a lot. So if you could sell two at the same time, it's really powerful as a development because we're not only looking at maybe two on a site now we can maybe look at six. So I did the walkthrough and I showed how flat it was and the corners and stuff like that. And then I met with Michael and said, have a look at this site. And Michael said, well, the first thing you should do is actually talk to a builder like us because don't jump straight into a town planner. And so Michael, can you explain a little bit about that? Why should we be talking to you first?

Yeah, absolutely. There's many parts to a puzzle when you're looking at a feasibility. So I'll just go a bit further just to say. So I've done a lot of developments myself with business partners, so I sort of wear a different hat and I look at things a little bit different to just a straight building. So what I want to try and offer your members and visitors is that sort of a little bit of insight as to how I would look at a project if I was doing it myself. So if I've got an opportunity that comes across my desk. So the sort of things that come to my mind first up is the marketing of the site. So what's the area of desire, what's the product? I think that it's going to be. So once I've got a good idea, I need to speak to real estate agents just to get a feel of what's moving in the area. Then you need to speak. It's a bit of a juggle because a lot of these processes. So if you go down the track with designing, you sort of got to be committed down the path because once you get things approved, it's difficult to get it altered and difficult to change. Not impossible, but difficult. So you want to get it right the first time. And when I say get it right. So there's lots of facets that developers have got to consider. So if I'm going on and I'm looking at a site, so example you presented the site in Huntingdale, 1297 square meters. So I have a bit of a look on a book on Google and it gives us a lot of things that I look for. So I look for what's around the site. So number one dangers that I look for is large trees, because it's getting more and more difficult for. Not difficult, but more and more councils are a lot more respectful and also residents are respectful of greenery. So if you've got a large tree that's going to impede on your site, then that's going to significantly alter the footprint of your project. And that could be the make or break of whether you're going to do two or four townhouses and you have to redesign around, or especially if you want to do basements, these are showstopper items, if that tree's there. So I look for trees, I look for neighboring trees as well, because guess what, your neighbor's tree, even though it's not on your property, you've got to be whatever distance the canopy spreads out, you've got to be pretty much that distance away from the trees. So that's a danger for neighboring trees. Have a look at the side, I'll look around.

Because from what I understand is the canopy size underground is the same. Similar root size, isn't it?

So.

So you can't really.

Yeah, that's what I think.

Put a pool or a basement underneath the canopy because you're going to kill half the tree. Yeah, that's the reason.

Yeah, correct. Look, there are some engineering ways to come closer, but it really starts adding up the cost, you know, it's huge. You're talking about deep, deep concrete piers and beams and it really. Yeah, correct. It's start getting big money. And then also, not only that, the council's one reports and arborist and this and that, and it just becomes prohibitive. So if it can be avoided, that'd be nice.

Good. Okay.

The next thing that I look at is services, because these things can be large ticket items. If there's not enough power to service your development, if there's stormwater issues, if there's storage problems there, these can be big dollars. To example, if you've got a street pole and it's pretty much where you want to put your driveway, you're talking about 15, $20,000 for them to move a street pole. Yeah. Because guess what, United Energy say, sure, take it all in, go and see my competitors to have it moved or oops, there are none. So, yeah, so you got to watch out for services. So electricity poles, also the other thing, bus stops, Telstra or NBN infrastructure, again, if the main line is coming through and it's got one of the. Those connections, I have the Telstra ones. You're talking about tens of thousands to move the thing.

So those on your nature strip, and that's for the members to look out for. When you're looking at your site, visit to see if there's those pods, those Telstra pods or any big pits along the nature strip, just to be aware of. You don't know what it is. And I guess, you know, one of the easiest things to do for, you know, our interested parties is probably get onto dial before you dig and register and see what comes out. Yeah, yeah.

Diaper food. Dig is fantastic because pretty much within a couple of hours you get where all the infrastructure is. So these are things that really bite later on. Most of them are not showstoppers, but they hurt. Okay. So. And again, it's something that you. If your town plan is, you know, it's for the developer, they've got to make sure that their consultants along the way are aware of these. They may or may not pick them up. A good consultant will. But they've got to be sure that they need to do their own due diligence.

You know, what we say in the growth team and the growth program is that there's only one person that cares about your program, the project the most. That's yourself. So the more you're aware, that's why we do these programs, is to make you aware that, hey, when you're out there and looking and going, okay, so I know Craig, who'll be on this, who owns that block of land in Huntingdale. He'll be going out there looking for those pits right now. Now in the polls. But, yeah, please keep going.

For a specific example. I'm just looking at the Huntingdale. I had a look on goomax. I spin around the property, and guess what? There's the power pole towards the end of the property. And it's got this brace cable coming down. So I look at that, I say, oh, that's a danger sign. I don't know if we can move around it, so I better find out what it is. And. And a lot of these assets, you have to be a certain distance away. So, you know, let's say like a telstra pit, you've got to be 1.2 meters away. I'm not too sure how far it is for a power pole, but these are things that have to be investigated as a little bit danger signs.

So we note that down. And because, you know, next week we're talking to the town planner. And so that's. These are the things after having a discussion with your builder, like yourself, Michael, these, you write them down and go to your next professional with them. Okay, great.

Yeah, Correct. And it's not. So there's some of these peripheral items, but as I said, I know from previous experience that they're painful to deal with. And then the town planners aren't going to deal with that now because they're interested in getting the most building on the site. And then they'll look where you can shove a driveway and a crossover. And then you. That's usually for the, you know, for the developer. You worry about that later. That's not my issue now. But as I said, it's for the developer just to be mindful to either either they've got to allow the money for it or they've got to know that it can be dealt with. That's really the important. All right, so infrastructure.

That's fantastic. Andrew Morello. Good to See you, man. Good to have you on here. We're doing that site we were just talking about, that 1300 square. Michael from Aston Builders, he's doing this site analysis. So you'll see it in the member site when it comes up. And we've got Facebook over here as well, so thank you for your help with that. Okay, so, Michael, what else? What's next? After we've looked at fence looking at.

The site, then probably the only thing is just to take note of, but it's not that critical. It's just neighboring buildings, how close they are to the boundaries, and especially ones that have got walls on the boundary because that adds more cost to engineering wise. It's not a showstopper, but it's just adds a bit of cost. So all of these things, I'm trying to get a picture in, like, you know, in my mind, I would try to say these things go towards how much contingency should I allow in the feasibility.

Okay, great.

Once you've sort of like got a good handle on how much you should allow for these potential pitfalls, then you need to speak to someone to give good advice for town planning. Now, the people that I have around me, it's okay from experience, I've done this a few times, so I get a good feel for good advice. But it's really critical for the developers to get good advice. And when I'm saying good advice, it's not necessarily cheap advice, but it's not necessarily over the top. So it's really a matter of finding the right guy for that project, because they differ. There's big town planning firms, and they have big expenses and they have big ideas, and they're small guys that have small fees, but they can't give the service for what you need. So it's critical along to us to associate with the right team that you get adequate. Adequate servicing, adequate response, and you're paying a reasonable dollar.

All right. And that's really key. What you pointed out there is that the team you build around yourself. So, you know, as a growth program member, you do have that team. You know, Michael's there. We've got the town planner next week. You know, these are the people that you build around your wealth so that you can use them over and over again. And each time, everyone gets to work with each other. Mike will talk to the town planner, town planner will talk to the architect, and then Michael. And we build this synergy between us all, so it becomes this smooth vehicle. And over time, you build your team, and that's the key thing for success, you can't do it all yourself. And that's why we've built this team over time to make sure that you're successful in your projects. And anything like Michael's brought up these warning bells, we write them down and make sure that we're aware of them so that when they come up, we know that if we need to move a big sewer pipe and we find it there, we know how much it is. So we know before we even do anything other than getting through Michael and the town planner that there's some big cost there and the architect would pull it all together in a feasibility study that actually explains money in costs, time frames, and then profit at the end of that. So, yeah, Michael, it's really key and being a part of the team is critical and communication between them. So yeah, great. Thank you.

Absolutely. So again, the key to success is getting good advice and timely advice. So as long as you can know about something, you can allow for it. And you know, what if a project doesn't stack up and knowing that up front, that's just as good as knowing that it is gonna stack up.

So it's better to cut a project early, you know, definitely.

If it doesn't feel right and doesn't smell right, then it's. Look, usually your first, you know, from experience, your first sort of like cut through is gonna be mighty close to the mark. Doesn't matter what you tinker and hope, it's gonna be close to the mark. So you really gotta be like, you know, if the market was jumping ahead, you might take it a little bit more optimistic approach. Really depends on environment. But my thoughts are realistic to conservative is where I like to place it. So long as I can know about something, I can deal with it. When you don't know about it and it comes and bites you, that's the hardest to deal with. So we go along, have a look at the site, looking what's around infrastructure, Nothing seems extraordinary. Then our next, really, our next step is engage town planning advice. Because you've got to know, sorry, I'll just go one step back. And that is you've spoken to some real estate agents and they tell you, look, the people in the area, there's a need for two betters, three bedders, whatever it is, you know, it's young, family, old. So already you've got in your mind to give. You need to portray a picture of what you, you think the project that will look like to your town planner then because they need guidance. So all the consultants along the way, everyone's looking for guidance as to what the developer and what their project looks like for them. So the more information they can give to their consultants, the better information they're going to get back. So we've gone. We know that let's say for Huntingdale, let's say we know that we really want to do a mixture of a couple of two bedders, a couple of three bedders. So we want to know and double stories are acceptable. So we go to our town planning advice and we say look, we want to maximize. We've got the block, Huntingdale, it's 30 97. Here's the details. I've done the dial before you dig. Here's those, here's the site. Can you please advise us? We want to do double stories, we want to get as much as we can on the block. Can you please give us some schematics? Please advise us what you think is achievable with the council. So really then I think they're going to have to come go and do some sort of initial concept drawings, the layouts and then you need to developers going to have to decide is it something that generally looks right? And again speak to possibly go back to real estate agents. Some of them you can rely that you're not going to get fed a load of bas and you say to them, look, this is our plans. The town planner thinks we could get a 24 square, two bedders, two at the back, we'll get a couple of double storey, 18 squarers at the front, two in a study, whatever it is, driveways are going to be here. What do you think of that? What sort of sales do you think we could achieve if we present, you know, whatever the finish is, whether it's stone benches and you know, paint a picture to the real estate guy as to what, how you see the project and see what sort of numbers they come up with.

That's awesome. Thank you Michael. That's really great. And I think it's just led me into bringing in one of our real estate agents that's really good in project marketing. And these are the real estate agents. You get in at the start of the project to sort of get that vision in place and you know they want those end sales, that's their whole drive to get there. And you know, as we talk about get your interview a few of them get to see who's worth really the best people to go for and choose team wisely. So Michael, you've looked at the site, what's your Thoughts? What gives? Some feedback.

So the next thing is we've got Town planner says, okay, we can get this amount of units, this amount of squares. So then you need to come back to the builder, send that through to the builder. Need to get a bit of an idea of what sort of price point either per area, per unit, something so that you've got a figure that you can plug in to your spreadsheet for. Roughly what's the building going to be?

Now we can work with you.

The thing is that you've got to be careful because a lot of prices you get from builders, what do they include? So for me, I normally do projects which are turnkey. So I'm doing demolition, I'm doing all the civil works, I'm doing the building and then I'm doing the landscaping and driveways, and that's going to be my price. A lot of builders are talking about this is your building cost, but it's just the square box inside and all the rest is yours. Demo's yours, civil works are yours, driveways are yours. So be careful that you've got everything included.

That's a key word, Michael, isn't it? If you hear turnkey, that means done. You know, you can go and turn the key on the front door and there's nothing else to be done. Is that the word? Is that where it came from?

Yeah, 100%. So be careful. Like, you know, at the end of the day, you get what you pay. So the developer is going to pay for a service one way or another. So either way you have to allow for it. I don't mind if I give a price and. And the developer wants to do the driveways and landscaping themselves. Sure, I've got that arrangement. Then I give a price. So be careful, eyes wide open, that whatever is a scope package that you're after, you've got it included one way or another.

And in turnkey, is it also the utilities and stuff attachment, is that a separate cost? Cause I know that's a bit blurry in some contracts.

Yeah, look, normally all the connections would never be included. And also contributions, council fees, stuff like that would not be included in a package I'd never include in mine along the way. But I'll tell you, I help my clients by giving them the forms they need, I give them the contacts they need and I tell them, when's the time? I always tell them up front, you know what? Even on day one, as soon as you're committed for the project, go and speak to energy and go and speak NBN and also Southeast Water, because those, those three take like literally three months, four months before you even get in the queue to, to get some sort of good, you know, to get some sort of offer.

Fantastic. That's really good.

So I give my clients a good advice to go and trigger these things now or whenever. You know, whenever is the right time. Like I know that gas, gas is really quick and you can worry about it later. That's fairly much under control. Power you want to do early because if you want to do an underground pit, which now pretty much mandatory beside that effect that it's costing three to $5,000, but it takes literally four months to get the pit in the ground. So you have to be mindful of these things. And they trip consistently. They trip the novice developer up. And I see lots of projects, they come right to the end and they're waiting for power connection or they're waiting for some sort of other connection. Especially MBNs are paying because now to get your subdivisions, all of these authorities have to give permission or have to give their approval.

Yes.

Without one of them, you can't sell, you can't settle on your townhouse, you're in strife, you everything out or you spent all your money and guess what? It's held up. So it's crucial.

And just to reiterate, that's really key. You need that subdivision title and everyone needs to tick off on it. All the utilities need to be ticked off on it. And it does take a long time to do that and you can't sell it. So if you've pre sold stuff that we've done before and you're waiting for that subdivision, they can't actually own something if they don't have a title for each one of those. So it can be a bugbear that you get to the end. You're like, okay, great, excellent. And you go. The council goes, well, where's land Title's office says, where's all your certificates? You're like, oh. And you run around trying to find them and it could be three months later. And that's a lot of interest payments if you're sitting on a big site. Yeah. And one of the other trips that we need to be aware of and we're talking to a finance person later on is caveats as well. So some of these suppliers and some of these investors and joint ventures will put caveats on your land to make sure they get their money back. So you need to clear those out too, because they can take while to resolve. We've Seen that in the past and you've got to be aware of those. So, Michael, spot on. These nuggets that you're giving us is gold. So on the side.

Yeah, they're really. And guess what, it's by experience that you find this stuff out unless you get a good team around you to help you with these things. So I said I've learned them along the way and I sort of. It is a moving object because guess what, the councils, everyone's getting smarter. All their computers are linking up. You know, all you now you're title, everything's on Pixar through Titles office, the ball game's changed and you just. Yeah, you got to play by their rules because there's no way around now.

So, Michael, before we wrap up, is there any other tips or hints after looking at that site that you would recommend before we move to the town planner? So like we said, engage you straight away, have a big discussion so you can understand where it's at. Talk to the real estate agent. Then the next step is town planner. So is there anything else you wanted to raise about the site before we go to that?

No, I just think that they, they always got to know in their mind who's the buyer, because just because you can fit something on a block of land doesn't mean it's going to be the best for the project. So they may need to have a couple of scenarios. You know, sometimes it works out if you can provide four dwellings and that might be more lucrative than providing six smaller dwellings. So it might be good to go with both those scenarios and do a feasibility because one of them may be better off more desirable than the other. So a bit of flexibility also. They've also got to keep a backup plan in their mind because they may have trouble getting a particular plan through council due to neighbors objections, whatever. So they've also got to have some sort of backup plan in their mind. What if we can't get eight on this block, can we? Is it still going to be feasible with 6? Because you don't want to go with a proposal for eight to council and then you just get a knockback and then you go into your sums again at that point and you go, holy crap, I'm going to make approximately a big zero if I have to concede one townhouse. They've got to have that exit or that backup already sort of, sort of there that they know that that's feasible too.

Good, I like that. And look, the land's big enough to look at six, five or Four. And I love that strategy. And we're gonna have the real estate agent on soon to do that analysis. That's fantastic. Michael. You know, you do big builds, you do small builds, you've done your own developments. Do you do things like for our wealth growth package in our master's group. The master's groups, more like armchair developers that look for good project managers. Do you also provide that service?

No, it's not really something I do. Usually I'm just doing. I run a small team. We do three to four projects a year. I concentrate on what we do and we try to do it well so that we're not having discussions with clients about extras. And we didn't include this and we didn't include that. So I said, I try to be transparent. I try to, you know, the customer. So long as they know what something is. If we, that's what we agree, that's what we agree. So long as both parties know what they're going to do, I think that's important. And as I said, I try and I try to envisage what I would do in that scenario and give good advice based on that to the client. So really, as I said, it's just you've got to have a good team and I like to work with clients that again, that everyone knows that this is their forte and look, just go ahead and you're the expert of that. Go and do that. We collaborate, we help each other. If it's better, if it's the best thing for the project, I'm in for it. So.

How do we, you know, it's been a great time with you, really valuable knowledge for all our members and the public who are on Facebook and Instagram. Andrew got a thumbs up from Andrew Morello. That's a good one. Excellent. And so how do people contact you? I mean, we've got your links through the membership site, but for people who are live now, what's the best way to.

Yeah, absolutely. So best way to contact me is if they can jump on my website, which is AstonBuild.com I've also got portfolio and then they can have a little bit of stuff that I've done previously and contact numbers, their emails are there, contact forms there. That'll be, that'll be the best way. Otherwise, if they get in contact with you, I'm happy, you know, and no obligation, I'm happy to have this discussion with people. It doesn't work out. It doesn't work out. It's fine for me. You know, I said It's I like to get involved with good project, good people and some, you know, projects that stand for something. And I said I'm happy to give, you know, some good advice through people, you know, that we make that like minded.

Thanks Michael. I think that really great and that's how we resonated. I think that's how I connected and I said let's get you on the show, let's see, you know, help other people out there. I've got one more question that I haven't really alluded to yet but usually I ask everyone tell us something that you know, that not many people know about you and we can end on that because I love those questions.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I've been involved with the scouts. I've been a scout leader at 15th Brighton troop for about 28 odd years now and I, I love that, I love giving back to the community but also I love being outdoors and just helping some of the kids just develop their leadership skills and teamwork and it's just so that's a bit of a pressure relief for me from the day to day circus that we deal with. So awesome.

I love that. That's cool. 28 years.

Yeah, it's huge.

Fantastic. That's great giving and you know, we're all about environmental and socially conscious business and people and you know, I didn't know about that but you know, when I delve into that question, that's what people come back and resonate really well with that sort of stuff. So fantastic to hear. Thank you Michael. Everyone on the members subscription comment below, work together. Michael's there to have a chat. He's definitely open for, you know, 15, 20 minute chat to discuss your projects and stuff like that, like this one and look forward to the next session. And Michael, if you don't mind, we might get you on in the next couple of weeks when we're at the point, like you said in the bouncing ball, once we get to the architect stage we'll go, okay, what's the build costs and stuff going to cost? Because that's the feasibility.

Yeah, it's definitely something that it's in and out for different advisors and, and the developers just really got to just, you know, just a schematic process, ask the right questions or ask, you know, just ask any questions and listen, just listen for the answers and get a good team around you. So I think that's the key.

Awesome. Thanks man. We'll sign off.

Thanks for having me.

You're welcome man. It was great to have you on it's. Really great. Thank you.

Thanks.