I've been working with our builder on a new range of duplex plans. We wanted to offer something different to each of our clients so their duplex would have a point of difference in the market.

Firstly to clarify, a duplex is two attached villas/units. A duplex can be single or double story. Property Bloom duplexes are predominately single story, three bedrooms, two bathrooms with single garages.

We also build a lot of dual occupancy projects with two freestanding dwellings but today we are just talking about duplexes. 

With all the talk on the impact of the mining slow down, let's not forget the other strong Hunter industries that are quietly achieving and employing the locals: Tourism, business conferences and wine production.

Property Bloom has been project managing property developments in the Hunter region for over fourteen years now and my research began with a study on the local wine and tourism area and their contribution to the local economy.

There's nothing like sipping on a chilled glass of Hunter Valley Semillon whilst studying economics!

When running your feasibility on a development project, it's important to make sure all costs are covered off.  There are set up costs, design costs, planning costs, construction costs, selling or leasing costs and of course, the dreaded holding costs.

You must calculate holding costs correctly. I've spoken to many novice property developers about their holding cost calculations. The most common mistake is to simply calculate the interest cost over the total cost of the project for the total time a project will take. 

This results in a gross over calculation of interest costs. In addition, they then don't take into consideration the tax benefits on the interest payments.

Creating a system can be quite simple and let you achieve more in less time.

Recently I met with one of my builders.  The builder and I only started working together fairly recently when I introduced this particular type of development earlier this year, and over a short period of time we were now up to our sixth project.  I knew we could fine tune our process.  He’d had some recent staff changes so it was the perfect time to gently tell him exactly how I wanted my developments to run.