When developing land, the goal of any developer is to create the site plan drawing that will maximise the profitability of the project upon completion. To do this, a property developer needs to determine the best possible use of the land, accounting for local Council restrictions and zoning requirements.
The obvious place to start is to try and fit as many properties onto the site as possible. $600,000 multiplied by six is a bigger number than if multiplied by five, so more properties is the easiest way to increase the profitability of the property development.
That said, development design is more complicated than just tetris-ing as many properties onto the site as possible. You must also ensure that each property is desirable and suitable for market—if it can’t be sold, it’s worth nothing. Zero multiplied by six is still zero.
There are also Council requirements which must be complied with in order to obtain permits and approvals before you can actually start building. To ensure that developers and landowners are building quality homes in their area, and that surrounding homes aren’t being adversely affected, Councils will only grant permits to developments that meet their criteria.
For example, in the State of Victoria, only 60 percent of a site, at most, can be covered by buildings. This is referred to as ‘site coverage’. So if you try to cram as many properties onto a site as possible and end up covering more than 60 percent of the site, you won’t be getting permits.
To determine the most efficient and profitable use of the development site, you’ll need to seek out an architect, and depending on the scale of the proposed development, a town planner as well. Engaging specialists who have experience with the type of development you are undertaking and are familiar with the jurisdictional requirements will save you a lot of headaches in the long-run. Their expertise will allow you to quickly create an optimised site plan that will comply with Council requirements—ultimately saving you time and money.
You’ll then work with the architect to reach a design that you’re happy with. The architect will then prepare the materials that you need to submit to Council. The exact requirements vary by Council, but a site plan drawing, land surveys, perspective plans, plans for each floor, landscaping plans, streetscapes, shadow diagrams, fence plans, and elevations are relatively common requirements. ∎
For more information about property development and the process that we use to undertake our developments, make sure to download our Property Development Process Guide eBook.
