Current project

[mjpliv]

Here is a plan elevation view and some pics of one (of many) current projects on the go. I took the pictures on the way in to work this morning.

http://www.buildersmatrix.com/info/wd08/0001.JPG
http://www.buildersmatrix.com/info/wd08/0002.JPG
http://www.buildersmatrix.com/info/wd08/0003.JPG
http://www.buildersmatrix.com/info/wd08/elevation.jpg

I based the design for these townhouses on an artist's conception drawing of some being built in the Boston area. Those were three storey where mine are two storey (grade level basement).

I put them on my server rather than use up Rich's webspace.

[roger g]

I'm impressed. It has always intrigued me how builders/developers do what they do and how they do it. I really don't know how they do it. What with financing, zoning and all the other stuff it is beyond me. One time I was going to do a development (small) and I was going to pay cash for everything. (It's the way I've alwayas been) The town was behind me but they kept throwing up roadblock after roadblock though they didn't see them as being road blocks at all. Afte awhile I told them that if THAT was help,DON'T HELP! They kept asking for different engineering drawings for different things. One was to do with a ditch which they said was a creek running through the property. I backed out of the deal because they couldn't give me any assurances that they wouldn
t ask for anymore costly things. A town can just up their taxxes to pay for added bills but I wold go broke.
Anyways, I'm sure my hurdles could have been handled by someone with proper knowldege. I was completely out of my depth and had no way of gaining that knowledge.

roger

[mjpliv]

Gaining approval for a development can be an exasperating process at the best of times. Although our company is not the developer on the project in the picture, we are the primary builder. This project will consist of about 50 units a year for the next 20 years. This does not include commercial structures.

I do know that the developer has been working on this project for about 5 years. I would not want to hazard a guess on how many millions of dollars have been invested to date! Being within a larger municipality, Halifax, the development aggreement in place took over three years to develop. Not only did they have to deal with environmental issues but also infrastructure issues. Things like school loads, traffic loads, sewer and water loads all had to be addressed. As one of the partners in the development we have to "pony up" in the expense of adding a completely new interchange onto a provincial highway adjacent to the development when we reach a certain density.

Here is a link to the home page for the development for those that are curious http://www.ravines.ca

So, yes! Being a developer is not for the faint of heart! It requires deep pockets and a lot of work.