Services / Site Appraisal
Site
Appraisal
You own a site. What will it carry, what will it cost, and should you go ahead?
- Fixed fee
- From $8,800 incl. GST
- Turnaround
- About two weeks
- Sites
- Over $20M developed value
- Fee credit
- Against development management
A Site Appraisal answers three questions for a fixed fee, in about two weeks: what the site will carry, what it will cost to develop, and whether it is worth doing. It is prepared by the person who would run the development, so the answer comes with the sequence, the team and the decisions that follow from it.
Most of the expensive mistakes in development are made before the first drawing: the wrong scheme briefed, the wrong consultant appointed first, or a site held or bought on numbers that were never tested. The appraisal puts those numbers in front of you before design and planning fees start.
Who it is for
Landowners with a commercial, residential or mixed-use site in Melbourne or regional Victoria, and in Adelaide, Sydney and the Northern Rivers, where the finished development would be worth more than about $20 million. It is not for single homes, renovations or small subdivisions, where the fee is hard to justify.
Two levels, fixed fees
Desktop appraisal
$8,800 to $19,800 incl. GST
$8,000 to $18,000 plus GST
A desk-based test of the site from the planning controls, the title and current cost and market data. Enough to decide whether the site is worth taking further.
- Planning controls, overlays and title review
- Yield test: what the site will realistically carry
- Order-of-cost estimate and development budget
- Feasibility: end value, margin and residual land value
- Program to a permit and to completion
- The team you would need, and in what order
- A recommendation and the next decisions
Full appraisal
$22,000 to $49,500 incl. GST
$20,000 to $45,000 plus GST
The desktop work tested with the people who would design and price it, for a site heading towards a decision on design, finance or a sale.
- Everything in the desktop appraisal
- Massing study with an architect to test the yield
- Early planning advice on the likely pathway
- Cost estimate checked with a quantity surveyor
- Develop, joint venture or sell, compared
- Risk register and a program of next steps
The fee is fixed within the band before any work starts, set by the size of the site and how much is already known about it. If you then engage Vettex to run the development, the appraisal fee is credited against the development management fee.
How it works
Send the site
The address, the title if you have it, any existing plans or permits, and what you have in mind. Then a call or a coffee to talk it through.
Fixed fee in writing
A fixed fee within the band, set by the site and how much is already known, agreed before any work starts.
Two weeks
Vettex runs the appraisal and, for a full appraisal, brings in the consultants needed to test it.
The answer
A written report and a meeting to go through it: go ahead, change the brief, or stop.
Questions
Can you tell me what my site is worth developed?
That is the core of the appraisal. It tests what the planning controls and the site will realistically allow, prices it, and sets the end value against the cost, so you can see the margin and the land value the scheme supports. It is a feasibility, not a formal valuation: if a lender needs a valuation, that comes from a registered valuer.
Do I need an architect first?
No. An architect designs to a brief. The appraisal settles the brief first: what to build, how much of it, and whether the numbers work. The architect is then appointed to a scheme that stacks up.
What does a site appraisal cost?
A desktop appraisal is $8,800 to $19,800 including GST ($8,000 to $18,000 plus GST). A full appraisal is $22,000 to $49,500 including GST ($20,000 to $45,000 plus GST). The fee is fixed within that band and agreed in writing before work starts.
How long does it take?
About two weeks from receiving the site details: the title, any existing plans or permits, and what you have in mind for the site.
What if the answer is not to develop?
Then you have found out for a fixed fee rather than a design and planning budget. The report sets out why, and what would change the answer: a different use, a smaller scheme, a joint venture or a sale.
What happens after the appraisal?
You decide. Some owners take the report and run the project with their own team. If you want Vettex to run it, the next step is development management, and the appraisal fee is credited against that fee.
Send thesite through
The address and what you have in mind is enough to start. I will come back the same day.
Get in contact