I graduated in 1990 as a Civil Engineer from the University of Newcastle in New South Wales and started to work as a Site and Design Engineer. In 3 years, I was running the branch office. In 1995, I was offered as a Project Manager handling larger projects which required a higher level of management skills handling clients, government officials and a team that is located in all parts of the world.

In 2000, I started a company offering Property Development and Project Management services. We provide a ‘One-Stop’ agency, working with clients from the initial proposal for the land purchase through to the design phase, getting the necessary permits, implementing the construction works and finally delivering the final product, fit for occupation.

Our creed was ‘High quality delivered, On Time, On Cost’.

To date, I have completed more than 2,500 units of landed properties. In 2015/2016, I delivered a twin 36-storey tower project comprising of 668 units of serviced apartments and 4 20-storey towers which has a total of 998 apartments. The largest project I’ve been involved in is an 8-storey shopping mall with a hotel block and a serviced apartment tower. The project cost was in excess of $200 million.

Today, I have returned to a robust property market here in Melbourne. With my long and diverse experience in conceptualizing and delivering projects, I aim to make the experience of being part of one of our ‘collectives’ to be both instructional, collaborative and fruitful.

Since 2004 I’ve been involved in a number of property syndicates, joint ventures and co-investments with family, friends and acquaintances.

My first foray into the world of co-investing was a participating in an eight townhouse joint venture property development with seven other parties in eastern Melbourne suburb of Donvale.

A few years later in 2008 I decided to run a collaborative lifestyle experiment with an old friend of mine and bought a weekender in the Otways hinterland in a small town called Birregurra. Nearly 10 years into our experiment, we have been sharing the upsides (spending quality time together, bushwalking more, growing and eating our own food) and the downsides (weeding, maintenance and paying the mortgage) of the property with our partners.

In 2010 I teamed up with three friends to undertake another property development. We finished our four townhouse project in Northcote in 2013. Sharing a quarter of the costs and ending up with a townhouse each, everyone was so happy with the end result that at completion we all decided to occupy the dwellings. Since then we’ve been living side by side, sharing meals, drill bits, sugar, the odd potato, babysitting duties and garden maintenance.

In all of these co-investment experiments everyone has had to make compromises. However I think these ventures have worked because we have all had a balanced attitude towards the concepts of ownership and utility. As a result, it feels like we’ve all benefited from an experience none of us would have been capable of as individuals. Not only this the co-investment model has suited us because none of us could afford to do it on our own, we all had our careers to manage, and while we wanted to invest in property, we also wanted to live our lives and not have all our surplus cash flow tied up in servicing properties.

I know that today many people want to invest in property for their future but affordability is a real issue. In particular I know that many of my friends and family who have not already invested in property are wondering how they are going to enter the market.

From personal experience I know that setting up a property syndicate can allow people to sustainably invest in something for the future while allowing them to still enjoy their lifestyle by not sucking up all their income.

So in 2010 I thought it was time to share my knowledge about an innovative and sustainable way to grow a property portfolio that you may not have thought of…

If you would like to find out more about my experiences with investment syndicates and joint venture developments please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’m more than happy to help if I can.