It’s fairly common to see a company buy a building or buy land with the future intent of remodeling the space or building on the land. They ballpark what they think it will cost without talking to a reputable general contractor. Then, they purchase the property, and low and behold, the pricing for what they want is often double or triple what their back of the napkin estimate was. It’s a setup for disaster.
I met a group that had bought land with “good” advice from their family member architect…who is out of state. In the same situation, that architect knew their local market, not this one. The pricing was double what they thought it would be. They have yet to build and are thinking about selling the land. Too bad, lots of brain damage, time, and money were not spent wisely.
Here’s the lesson: Plan what you want to get done upfront as soon as you go under contract on a building or buy a piece of land to build on. Assemble your contractor and architect team. Plan it, approve a plan, get pricing. Be aware of the upcoming dates in the purchase contract and communicate with the seller what you are doing and the timeframe needed to complete this due diligence. Make sure the city/county you are in will approve this work. Only then will you be moving forward with eyes wide open and confidence in your project.
