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Knockdown Rebuild Masterclass™
Property Buyers Masterclass™
Almost every property development project starts with an optimistic timeline. Then reality hits. Most development delays cost you time and profit, and plenty are avoidable. Here’s what really slows projects down, and how to keep yours on track.
Watch the full episode above for the complete breakdown.
What Causes Development Delays?
Most delays come down to poor preparation, not bad luck. The biggest culprits are incomplete town planning applications, slow design decisions, neighbour objections, and the wrong subdivision builders.
Submit an undercooked design to council and you’ll cop more questions. That’s a real risk under the new res code and VicSmart rules built to fast-track townhouses. Client design changes are another big one. A week here, two weeks there, and suddenly three months are gone.
Authorities like Melbourne Water also set their own timelines. Even a compliant application waits its turn in the queue. You can’t control that, but you can control what you submit.
Which Project Stages Are Most at Risk of Delays?
Three stages carry the most risk: town planning, design and selections, and construction. Town planning is where small changes snowball, and construction is where you lose the most control.
In town planning, objections and authority approvals can drag on for months. At the design stage, indecision is the real killer. Many clients hit a mental block and stall, not realising they can tweak details later.
Construction is the riskiest stage. Once you hand over to a builder, the timeline is mostly out of your hands. Unknowns underground, slow trades, or a cheap builder running behind can all blow out your finish date.
How Do You Keep a Development Project on Track?
You keep a project on track by doing the hard work early, before each stage begins. Surround yourself with the right property development consultants and lock in decisions before you hand over control.
Before you even buy a site, get a town planner, designer and arborist to check it. Make sure your designer has worked in that council area. The wrong designer means repeat RFIs and months of redrawing. Play inside the res code rules.
Before construction, spend a few months getting ready. Pick a builder you know, finalise your schedule, and lock in your materials. A cheap, unknown builder might save you $100k upfront, then cost you more in variations and delays later.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Most delays come from poor prep, not bad luck.
- Submit complete, compliant plans to avoid council RFIs.
- Lock in design and material choices early.
- Pick a builder on track record, not price.
Here’s the bottom line. Most property development delays sit within your control, even when it doesn’t feel that way. Do the work at your desk before each stage, and you stack the odds in your favour. Stop blaming the builder, get the mirror out, and control what you can.
