The build is the part you already know. Sourcing, appraising and planning are where development is won or lost, and all three happen long before anyone is on site.
This guide is drawn from a conversation with Bryn Little, whose family business has been in land and development for three generations. It covers the seven stages of a development, which one is hardest, how to control a site without buying it outright, the risks in joint ventures, and the single mistake that ends most developers.
This guide is based on a conversation with Bryn Little, whose family business has been in land and development for three generations. Between them they have completed in excess of 3,000 new build homes and around 300 conversions, over decades, alongside working with hundreds of landowners.
Development site briefing
Scaling Too Fast Is What Ends Developers
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Asked what stops developers succeeding long term, Bryn Little did not hesitate. It is not planning, funding or the market. It is scaling up too quickly, and he has watched it happen repeatedly, both in his own acquisition business and among the SME developers his family consults with.
What does scaling too fast actually look like?
Someone is already involved in property. They have a portfolio, or they are doing refurbishments, or small schemes. Then they jump straight to a twenty unit development.
The step is too big. The systems, the funding and the experience have not grown with the ambition, and the scheme exposes all three at once.
The seven stages, one gate at a time
Bryn's business works through these in order, closing each one before opening the next.
- Sourcing opportunities.
- Appraising them, and working out whether they are viable.
- Securing the site.
- Planning.
- Funding.
- Construction.
- Exit.
Worth knowing Bryn's own family business moved gradually, starting with one or two units and a small conversion while the contracting work carried on. The hardest stage, he says, is always the one you are facing next.
Explore the Plan pillar resourcesWhat Are the Seven Stages of a Development?
Bryn's business divides the development process into seven stages, and works through them one at a time. As he puts it, you go through one gate, close it behind you, and move on to the next.
- Sourcing. Finding opportunities worth looking at.
- Appraising. Working out whether the numbers actually stack up.
- Securing. Getting control of the site.
- Planning. Taking it through, or optimising, permission.
- Funding. Arranging the money against a scheme that now exists on paper.
- Construction. Building it.
- Exit. Selling or refinancing, and realising the profit.
Which Stage Is the Hardest?
Asked which part stops most people, Bryn's answer was that the hardest stage is always the one you are facing next. Each one demands something different, and being good at construction only helps directly with one of the seven.
That is worth taking seriously if you are coming from a contracting background. The build is the part you already know. Sourcing, appraising and planning are where the money is made or lost, and they happen long before anyone is on site.
Do You Need to Buy the Site Outright?
Not necessarily, and this is where a lot of people wrongly rule themselves out. You need some money to take a site through planning or to optimise an existing permission, but that is a different sum from buying the land at risk.
Deals can be structured so you are not parting with much cash on day one. Option agreements and similar arrangements with a landowner let you control a site and improve its value without owning it outright while you do so.
What About Joint Ventures?
Joint ventures are the obvious answer to a funding gap, and Bryn is cautious about them. His view is that there are usually too many moving parts and too many opinions.
At the start, he says, a joint venture is like a relationship: everybody is enthusiastic and nobody has tested what happens when things go wrong. That is the point at which the number of parties starts to matter. If you can structure a deal that keeps control in fewer hands, it is usually worth doing.
How Does Scheme Size Change Things?
Bigger schemes bring economies of scale, including on professional fees, but they also demand proper access to finance and bring in requirements you may not have dealt with before. Above certain thresholds you move into affordable housing obligations, which many developers see as a complication.
Bryn's business treats that as the opportunity rather than the problem. Where there is confusion and other people see difficulty, there is usually less competition. They deliberately operate in that band rather than going high enough in unit numbers to compete with the volume housebuilders.
The Biggest Mistake Developers Make
Asked what stops developers succeeding long term, Bryn did not hesitate: scaling up too quickly.
He has seen it repeatedly, both in his own development and acquisition business and in the SME developers his family consults with. The pattern is consistent. Someone is already involved in property, perhaps with a portfolio, perhaps doing refurbishments or small schemes, and they jump straight to a twenty unit development. The step is too big, and the business does not have the systems, the funding or the experience to absorb it.
The alternative is unglamorous and it works: take on a slightly larger scheme than the last one, learn what breaks, fix it, and go again. Bryn's own family business moved gradually, starting with one or two units and a small conversion project while the contracting work continued.
Where to Start
If you are serious about moving into development, get the base knowledge first. Bryn's book, The House Building Handbook, walks through the seven stages of the development process and is deliberately short. Set the foundation, then build from there.
Then start smaller than feels ambitious. The developers who last are rarely the ones who moved fastest.
