In this episode Paul is joined by Steve Morris the co-founder and Managing Director of Linfield Construction, to discuss the viability of building a property development business later in life – especially if you come from a contracting and commercial background rather than following the more typical pure developer route.
The conversation covers listed buildings, conversions, contracting margins and planning risk and why so many opportunities don’t stack up once you price the build and contingency properly- As well as how main contractors actually make (or lose) their money, why pre‑applications and consultants don´t mitigate planning risk for you, and why smaller, high‑quality schemes can be a better approach.
Not every opportunity is worth chasing – saying no to most deals is essential; if something only works on heroic assumptions about planning, build, or sales, walking away is a win, not a loss.
Your past experience is an edge. But years in contracting, buying, or surveying won´t protect you if you are not disciplined enough to fully assess risk, choose the right partners and structure deals well.
Look at planning as a business risk, not just a technical process. Pre‑apps, officers, and consultants do not all work in the same way, they are inconsistent.
You need your own planning strategy. Set clear limits on how much time and money you can spend on chasing planning and a willingness to abandon sites that drag you into a hole.
Remember one big job, or one big client, can wipe you out if it goes wrong. A portfolio of smaller schemes and diverse workstreams can be a way to spread the risk. But this approach is still not risk free.
Later in life, you can design a business that actually suits you- Pursuing smaller, high‑quality projects that you are proud of and don´t require you to spend countless nights away from work is relentlessly scaling, just for the sake of it.
Planning policy has never been more pro‑development and competition from SME developers has never been lower, so if you’re disciplined about risk and viability, now is a surprisingly good time to pursue schemes.“I would much rather be doing new build than conversions.”
“If you can’t ascertain the risk, then of course you need to stick, you know, a much bigger margin and a much bigger contingency on it.”
“Often, pre apps are not worth the paper they’re written on. They’ve basically got no legal or policy weight… people basically give way too much credence to pre apps.”
https://linfieldconstruction.co.uk
Paul Higgs is a Chartered Planning and Development Surveyor with 40+ years' experience in land, planning and development and a 100% success track record in winning planning consents.
Paul undertook his first refurb project when he was just 17 and then worked his way up from labouring on building sites to becoming Head of Land for renowned plc housebuilder,
Barratt Developments. He managed to escape the corporate world in 2002 to set up what is now a multimillion-pound award-winning property development company, Millbank Group.
In 2013 Paul founded the Millbank Land Academy, the UK’s first training company dedicated to property development; to teach established and aspiring developers the insider secrets the big housebuilders don’t want you to know!
Paul is also a founding investor and former board director of the industry-leading PropTech Co, LandTech, and has lectured on Advanced Development Valuations on the MSc Property Development at London South Bank University.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-higgs
Millbank Land Academy: https://www.millbanklandacademy.co.uk
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/paulhiggsofficial
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@InsidePropertyDevelopment
This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
