A company that may seem simple to the buyer but represents a real technical, administrative and commercial challenge for the developer.

Between the sale of land and the delivery of an apartment, what is happening? What are the main steps that allow a residence to see the light of day? How is the buyer involved in the project? Decoding of a building construction in outline.

• The choice of the site

First step, the choice of a field. The presence of infrastructures, services, shops, liberal professions, transport is essential.

Proponents are also trying to find locations with as little nuisance as possible. Green spaces will be a real highlight. The region will be a key factor in launching the project. Elsewhere, where the market is mostly driven by investors or competing with the individual house, “we are more cautious, we want to be sure to market our programs.”

• The feasibility study

The building permit is not easily obtained. The mayor and the local authorities will have to approve the project. The proponent must therefore carry out an analysis on the urban plan to know what it is possible to do in the municipality according to the architectural, environmental notebooks … It must gather technical data, on the ground for example with a geotechnical study. We see if we have to do a demolition, we study the history of the site to know if it is a former industrial site or not, whether or not to consider cleansing the soil which implies not insignificant expenses from a financial point of view.

At the same time an architect studies the feasibility of the building: its shape, its position … It is then that are defined more precisely the typology of the apartments and the percentage of studios, two rooms, etc. which will be built, which will determine the architecture of the residence. The developer asks the architect to develop his project according to the destination of the property.

• The preparation of the commercial launch

The determination of the price. At this stage, all the technical elements are specified. The methods of construction, the thickness of the walls, the positioning of the ducts, the location of the exterior joinery, the surface of the terraces and balconies …. This makes it possible to precisely define the exit price of each apartment.

We weight the plus and minus of each apartment according to its surface of course but also according to its floor, its orientation … The additional surfaces are also taken into account during the establishment of the price. For example, underground car parks are more expensive.

At this stage, the land is not bought: it is still at the stage of the promise of sale. It is only once the credits obtained from the banks and the license purged that the land is bought. But the banks only grant these loans when the marketing is already started. “It varies from bank to bank, but they generally require that we have sold 30 to 50 per cent of the units depending on the location,” says Paul Jaquan, founding president of Reid. “Our visibility is low during the assembly phase, there is always a risk that the building does not see the light of day.”

However, the project is becoming more precise at this stage and all the teams of the promoter are working together.