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  Many would-be property developers don’t start building units or townhouses because they don’t know where to start. If you want to get involved in the development of new townhouses or apartments, then a great place to start is understanding … Read More

First published October 8th, 2023 – updated November 24th. This is not something that we make a habit of doing, but when the writing is on the wall and it’s plain to see, we feel that we must direct our … Read More

What is it? Designing and building a new home can be very rewarding and exciting. Renovating can be rewarding too and sometimes less costly when factoring in selling costs and moving and buying again. But in all the excitement of … Read More

Backyard Buyout – ‘Cash In’ your Back Yard! Are you known as being Asset Rich but Cash Poor? Would you like some extra cash in your pocket? We’ve got a couple of questions for you – the answers to which … Read More

It would be no exaggeration to say that retaining walls and fences are the cause of much argument, frustration, and litigation when it comes to owning, renovating, or developing property. This is especially true of retaining walls that have been … Read More

This blog post provides a checklist for starting a major renovation or extension project. Nevertheless, these principles are substantially true for small renos too. We cannot emphasize too much on the importance of careful planning before engaging professionals. The suggested … Read More

Overall, property development requires a mix of skills, including financial management, construction knowledge, project management, and market research. It is a complex and multifaceted process that involves significant risk, but also the potential for substantial rewards. Too much focus on … Read More

  A typical property development project can be divided into several stages, each of which involves different processes and considerations. Here are the stages of a typical property development and what is involved in each stage: Land acquisition: This stage … Read More

Affordable Home Improvements Homeowners are always looking for ways to improve their home’s value, or make it more liveable and fortunately, there are many simple and inexpensive projects you can undertake to make your home more valuable, or at least … Read More

Starting A New Project.   Everyday someone starts a new project somewhere and lots of them want to do it themselves which is just fine for a lot of projects but there are some where, if you’re not very skilful, … Read More

Firstly, to answer that we need to understand two things: The type of project you have An understanding of what a Construction Manager does, their role, as opposed to, let’s say, a Builder or a Project Manager. All three are … Read More

Surprisingly there are quite a few parallels between the game of golf and property development, and these can apply to something as simple as subdividing off your backyard, building a house or building a new housing estate or even a … Read More

Of course not, but it’s not uncommon to see photos of building mistakes featured in the media, very often labelled as being “funny”. It would also be true to say that the owners of those buildings where the mistakes were … Read More

And 4 Useful Tips That’ll Smooth Your ‘Plan Sealing’ Experience & Save You Money –  Plan Sealing is still a puzzle to many people – or so it appears to be, judging by by the enquiries we get both on … Read More

How to plan a wonderful garden: If you want a wonderful garden that provides everyday enjoyment and pleasure, you will be rewarded if you take the time to do some thoughtful planning first. Very frequently in the projects we are … Read More

Subdividing Simply Land subdivision is arguably the simplest form of property development. It often involves the least additional outlay of capital as opposed to other types of developing such as building town houses for example. Subdividing property has long been … Read More

The Costs of Subdivision: Subdivision costs are always on potential subdividers minds. One of the most frequent questions we are asked here at SCM, and it’s usually asked quite innocently, is this – “How much does a Subdivision cost?” Not … Read More

As stressed in part 3 of this series, each different zoning is likely to have different minimum lot size requirements for subdivision. Here in part 4 we take a look at some different requirements of different Councils [LGA’s]. Be aware … Read More

The 3 main things that you need to know. 1.The correct zoning of the land, incl any neighbourhood precinct or sub zone. 2.The minimum land size required per lot in that zone / sub zone 3.The minimum frontage for each … Read More

The 9 Stages of a typical Subdivision: Last time, in ‘Subdivision Insights 1′ we finished off with highlighting the 1st stage which we’ll repeat again here as it’s very important to get set on the right foot. There are 8 … Read More

This is No1 in a series – all about subdividing property: Here at SCM Projects we are constantly being bombarded with questions about subdivisions. This is especially true from people who are out and about looking to buy a property … Read More

How To Achieve “Construction Cost Savings” Here at SCM Projects,  we have proven time and again that through utilising our time trusted methods we can bring about construction costs savings. But the biggest hurdle we face is that people tend … Read More

GST Retention – How The Law Affects Your Cash Flow – Why you might get less than you thought from that sale! Big changes were introduced by the Federal Government in the way that they collect GST back in July … Read More

Avoiding Risk – The Importance of Licensing – by Jacon Parry [QBCC 1217287] when it comes to Project Management there is a risk that few people realise or take into account – what is it?? Risk – 3 major causes of … Read More

Building or Renovating? – Excitement can blind you! Very often in the excitement of designing and building a new home or even a major renovation there are a couple of things that we notice people often overlook. This is less … Read More

This article was contributed by Site Surveys – Brisbane based Land Surveyors. Site Plans are so important because they enable cost efficiencies through all stages of all types of projects such as major renovations, extensions, new buildings, land subdivisions and … Read More

  Renovation mistakes are very prevalent these days with all the TV renovation shows that make it look so easy. In truth it’s not. The Government home builder grant has encouraged even more people to have a go. Unfortunately to … Read More

2021 is shaping to be a BOOM year for the Queensland property market – especially South East Queensland – Here’s why!   Why The Queensland Property Market? Australia’s economic and health outcomes continue to outperform almost every other developed nation … Read More

Plan Sealing is the final stage of the development process and is often considered the most vital and time sensitive stage of this development process. Every Property development involves a process, and that process includes several key milestones along the … Read More

5 “real life” lessons about renovation costs, hidden in plain sight, They Don’t Teach You in School. Whether or not you’re thinking about renovating your home to take advantage of the Governments home builder $25,000 grant or not there are … Read More

First time Property Developer? Be careful as these relatively innocuous mistakes may seem simple enough, they can lead to tragic financial circumstances for the unwary As you might imagine here at SCM Projects we speak with a lot of people … Read More

Do you have Subdivision Questions? Almost everyday we are asked all sorts of questions about subdivision. Following are some of the questions we get, along with answers. Please understand that it’s not possible to give a fully comprehensive answer that … Read More

5 Things That Speed It Up or Slow It Down How Long Does It Take to Build a Custom Home? If you are considering buying a home, it might be worth considering building a house from scratch instead. That way … Read More

What’s the Difference? One May Be Very Costly Don’t be fooled or seduced into thinking that there is no difference between Project Administrators & Project Managers because there is and it’s substantial and ignorance of it may cause substantial delays … Read More

How to reduce Building Costs: The Answer? The answer is YES, Building Costs can be ‘designed away’ and by that we mean limited or minimized through careful and considered design, but only if you get started on the necessary processes … Read More

What does a Property Development Project Manager Do? A Project Manager’s Role: This question about a Project Managers role surprises us to some degree. It seems that what appears obvious to us is not to others. So here is the … Read More

The Bad News: Brisbane City Council have recently implemented the “Suburban Construction Management Task-force” [SCMT] which is part of their Development Assurance Unit and still in its infancy. It is slowly being rolled out. In truth, it’s not really bad … Read More

BREAKING NEWS!!! Brisbane Town Plan Changes Again! If you are considering buying a property in Brisbane in 2021 you would be wise to check and see if there are any town planning amendments proposed for it. Considering that a whole … Read More

How to tell if your project is feasible So, you want to be a property developer to make some extra money? Everybody seems to be doing that – it’s the favourite topic of conversation at the dinner party table. You’ve … Read More

Project manager – SCM Projects Here at SCM Projects we are very pleased and proud to tell you all that we were appointed late last year to Project Manage the new, Brisbane City Council funded, Koala Research Centre at the … Read More

Granny Flats – The Times are A Changing – – – – -Again It was only a few years back [ since 2013] when most of the Councils in South East Queensland [SEQ] started to reform many of the rules … Read More

Some Property Developments are Stillborn – Here are 7 deadly sins some property developers commit that ensure their project doesn’t get out of the ground By Adrian Stagg All Property Developments involve risk, but it is the Developers that correctly identify … Read More

The Recipe to be a Successful Property Developer By Jacon Parry What makes a successful property developer? A lot of people seek the answer to this question. And by successful I mean over the longer term, not just someone who … Read More

 – An Opinion piece by Adrian Stagg – This question of where interest rates are heading is on many peoples lips right now and in truth it hasn’t been too far out of mind for at least the past 3+ … Read More

6 Things You Didn’t Know About Building a Home [but need to] I was just a young, wide eyed, impressionable kid when doughnuts were first introduced to Australia. My father took me to this specialty restaurant in George street Sydney … Read More

Subdividing Land For Profit – 4 Key Steps Land subdivision is the way developers create new allotments and make profits. When a developer or land owner creates a new allotment, they usually do so to increase the value of their … Read More

A project manager is a professional who oversees the whole project from beginning to end whether construction or subdivision. They deal with planning, design, conception and completion – making sure that the entire process runs smoothly. If you think about … Read More

Subdivisions and Property Development Projects are like icebergs – by Jacon Parry You might seriously question that assertion about Subdivisions and I can understand why your brow may be a little furrowed right now but read on and you will … Read More

Splitter or Subdivision? – The differences By Adrian Stagg In part 1 of our blog story on ‘Splitter Blocks’ we sought to actually define what a splitter block was and how it differed from a normal subdivision (ROL). We learned … Read More

How do Councils assess development applications in the various zones? Here at SCM Projects we specialise in getting Council approval and developing real estate as project managers for clients and naturally enough one of the questions I am constantly asked … Read More

Splitter Block or Subdivision – – what’s the difference??(part 1) by Adrian StaggLots of people looking in real estate agents windows or on the internet see this term “Splitter Block” being used but do not fully understand what it means. … Read More

But these horrors may be worth a fortune There have been a number of recent stories published along these lines that have attracted our attention recently some of which we will re-publish here FYI. It’s not unusual for us here … Read More

Question:- Is Project Management a Cost Center ? It is often simply fictitious to think of professional Project Management as a cost center. Here’s why. By appointing a Project Manager early in the development process project management costs can be … Read More

The basics At the risk of stating the obvious let’s start with the basics first with subdividing land. Our titling system here in Australia is very well organised in comparison to some other parts of the world. Each individual piece of … Read More

Site Plans – why bother? Now before I go any further let me say straight up that there’s any number of reasons why you would bother and why you should bother. Investment in a good quality comprehensive ‘Site Plan’ is … Read More

Case study  – Keperra Brisbane What a silly question you might say and of course you would be right! It can make a huge difference in all sorts of ways. Some are quite obvious whilst others not so much. And … Read More

Considering the high costs of buying and selling homes these days, many people are choosing to renovate their current home instead of buying a new one. So these Reno tips are designed to help people to get the most value … Read More

Home design for Difficult Building Sites – Odd shaped blocks. Difficult Building Sites where we and our team of specialists offer solutions to get the job done. In this example we worked in closely with Joh Domingo of Building Buddy whom we … Read More

Why involving us at design stage makes dollars & cents. Architects and Building Designers can be a funny lot, sometimes temperamental even. But then that can be true of many talented artistic people. Take composers for example. Mozart was known … Read More

There was an interesting article that caught our eye recently inThe Property Observer  that posed this question. At the end of the article they featured a straw poll / survey of their readership that asked their readership the simple question … Read More

Simple Choices lead to Long Term Property Investment Success by Adrian Stagg 1. Knowledge: There’s a well worn phrase “knowledge is power” and it applies to property investment as well as many other things in life. Of course knowledge without … Read More

We were approached by the buyer of this home in Fig Tree Pocket, a leafy western suburb of Brisbane. He was ebullient because he believed that he’d just found the bargain of the century. He couldn’t believe his luck! He’d … Read More

As the major banks cut their fixed interest home loan rates this week lots of people have been asking this question. The following article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald. If you’d like to share your thoughts and comments, and … Read More

Case Study: We were recently engaged to do a job at Bennetts Rd, The Gap here in Brisbane. The property already had a DA to subdivide a lot off the side of an existing home and the client had approached … Read More

Property Joint Ventures – What are they & why do them? Sharing The Spoils – Something is better than nothing ! by Adrian Stagg Just because you may not have enough money to invest in a property by yourself does … Read More

Granny Flats have been in the news more so in the past 12 months or so than they have been for a long time. Much of this “news” relates to them being offered as an “investment” rather than housing your Granny. … Read More

It’s worth considering if you’re just starting out by Adrian Stagg There’s a growing trend toward what’s known as as “Dual Living” or “Dual Dwelling” . These types of dwelling are proving popular with both extended families and investors and … Read More

An absolutely integral part of having a successful project, and by successful we mean one that commences on time and is finished on time and to budget is the planning approval process. This process can and often does have an … Read More

It’s a BIG investment – get it right Buying land is a big investment for you and your family. While you might use a real estate professional to help you find just the right piece of land, there are three … Read More

Many would-be property developers don’t start building units or townhouses because they don’t know where to start. If you want to get involved in the development of new townhouses or apartments, then a great place to start is understanding the … Read More