[Heritage]

Hi folks,

I hope everyone has been doing well and better.

Basically, I am in the process of planting the seed to find a partner who can come on-board and lead my company into developments. As a design/build outfit, with an "at-arm's-length" carpentry company with four carpenters, currently we have the in-house ability to:

-Obtain all relevant zoning, by-law, conservation authority, etc. information on a property.
-Go to committee of adjustments, obtain minor variance, etc.
-Design any residential property (Building permit CD's)
-Obtain any permits

From there, between the carpenters and I, we can take care of nearly all of the construction (new or old), but we sub-out Electrical, Plumbing, HVAC, and Masonry. I usually sub-out Drywall, painting, tile/stone, and roofing also.

I've been in the business for over 10 years, I'm a carpenter, PM and designer.

I had a close relationship with a commercial developer for a couple of years and I took care of all of his construction needs. I had 20-30 employees, from Electricians to hangers and tapers and carpenters, etc. He owned around 30 plazas throughout the city, each roughly 50,000 sq/ft of retail/office/commercial space. I worked closely with the property management company, we moved franchised/non-franchised tenants in/out, did base building work, tenant build-outs, etc.

Through that experience, by working closely with the developer, I got some insight into the nuances of the development business.

So on my end, I can take care of "construction".

I'm looking for a savvy, experienced businessman with strong real-estate knowledge to partner up with to launch a development company.

On my end, we have a few hundred thousand saved up between myself, my partner in the carpentry company (the site super) and my partner in the design/build company (controller/office manager).

So what I offer is:

-The in-house ability to take care of design/construction
-Some monies

So what I'm looking for is:

-Someone who can't do what we do
-Someone who wants to be a real-estate developer
-Has a strong business background
-Has a strong real-estate background

I'm in NO RUSH.
I'll wait five years to find the right person, I don't care.
I'm going to begin networking and put the word out there amongst the investor circles. I err towards starting small/slow vs jumping in head first and throwing in all of our chips.

So with all of that being said, I know that some of you have dabbled in/are currently in the development/investor game.

Please make for making the share of your thoughts/opinions/insight...henceforth, today, for you.

 

[pcplumber]

I would like to do the same thing!

Lots Of Luck!

It sounds like you are fairly organized and you are lining up your ducks.

 

[Heritage]

Thanks Pcplumber.

I know some of you have at least dabbled in development projects.
From where I'm sitting, outside of the design/construction process, I'm a fish out of water on the real estate/development/business part.

I mean I can punch numbers and add the 2+2's, but that's a far far cry from having any valid input on real estate/developments.

The two however marry each other quite well.

If you're doing developments on your own, that's great, I'd love to hear your input.

For me however, I think I need to reach across to the "other side" and find someone or something that could lead on the real estate/planning/property management side.

My dilemma is that we have a Design/Build company that wants to invest in Real Estate and our value added contribution is an efficient and mobile, small scale crew with competitive but "on the books" labour rates (Design, Management and Build). Basically.

What that should translate to is value added to the construction costs on a development deal. And flexibility.

From there, I don't know who to get in bed with.

Or am I looking at this all wrong? Naive?

What's your take on "transitioning into developments" as a construction company?

 

[JBM]

A real estate attorney might know someone who was up and is now down and looking to start again.

 

[mrcharles]

A lot of developers make there nut by burning contractors. just saying

 

[sailfish27]

I'm sure I am going to regret posting this but I couldn't resist. I read another post similar to this looking for an investor to do flips etc. The thread went something like "I will do the labor at cost meaning hourly without markup and investor supplies money and we split profit". What this poster doesn't get is the value of capital and risk. If on the other hand, the thread stated that "I will supply my labor,tools,truck and expertise for free until after the sale and any profit made will be split in 50/50", this offer might work under the right conditions.

If you look in the yellow pages for guys who do what you do, you will find many. Now look for guys who lend, invest money (investors) without collateral you will find few and if you happen to learn the going rate you'll understand money is a lot more valuable and harder to obtain than labor. Bottom line, investors don't need you unless you want to share some of the risk, meaning are you willing to finance the labor portion?

As for property mgmt. I am not sure how a construction company helps. Being a landlord is the easiest business in the world. One man could do a million a year working part time so long as the property was well located and profitable. And if you were to do a development and not sell, manage, where do you get the capital for the next deal?

Just my humble opinion.