
The big thing about going to visit a site is you’re wanting to check if there’s anything there that you can’t glean from looking at a drawing.
You want to look for positives, like where can the contractor put their compound or how to access the site with construction traffic. But also looking for the bad.
For instance, in the site we are looking at currently there is access in the top right corner, which wasn’t clear from the drawings. The only way you can figure this out is to go and physically visit the site.
Why is this an important example? It’s because you want to separate the public traffic from construction traffic. On any building site there is a public area (normally where the show house is), which is completely separate from where the rest of the building work is happening.
You simply can’t mix these areas.
It’s very important to keep this in mind as you build out a development. The main thing is for health and safety, just imaging you’ve got a family coming to visit the site.
That’s a catastrophe waiting to happen.
Now, there are some sites where you simply can’t avoid it. The contractor has to put together a construction phase health and safety plan, to separate the construction activities from any other public activities. It doesn’t matter whether that’s a conversion of an existing building or a brand new development.
What other things should you be aware of when visiting a potential development site?
Mainly, look for other nearby developments. Then start asking questions: are they fairly modern developments? How well did they sell? Why isn’t that developer doing this site?
You may need to start doing some digging, but understanding the answer to these questions and many others will be pivotal. But if there is another modern development that has done well, you’re timing is probably rather good.
Every development has a story, you just have to find it and listen. Maybe, the site next door was completed by a firm of engineers, so they may not be interested in being full time developers. That’s fine, but knowing that informs the next steps you need to make in the due diligence process.
Are there industrial areas nearby?
Perhaps there is rather heavy traffic going down a narrow access road, which is a good indicator for access to your site. But heavy industrial traffic coming back and forth might be off-putting for some potential buyers.
Investigating sites is simply a case of pulling at threads. Ask questions, find the answer and then ask more questions. You’ll be surprised at what you can find at times.
Going on site gives you an unparalleled opportunity to ask question and get answers that you just can’t find in front of a computer. Seriously, go up and knock on someones door, ask them some questions and you’ll be surprised at how much information you’ll get.
Makes that journey all the more worthwhile.
Locals will probably be able to tell you, how long the site has been up for sale, anything you should be aware of, how long neighbouring plots were under construction for, how much they sold for and a whole bunch more.
The more effort you put into this initial evaluation period before acquiring a site the less surprises (on average) you’ll get later.
That’s very important for building a successful property development business.
