The Construction team at Milk Chocolate boasts years of experience across planning and execution. Depending on your property, we’ll take one of two approaches when it comes to construction.
If you’ve got an investment, we’ll undertake a relatively neutral renovation or build that helps boost your property’s rental yield or capital growth, and appeals to a big range of renters.
If it’s your family home, we’ll work closely with you to discern your individual tastes. Our Design and Construction teams will then take your brief to realise the home of your dreams.
Regardless of the property, we’re working on you can rest assured your project will be one of top-notch quality. What each of our projects has in common is that it’s a product of our unparalleled passion for property.
Our ethos
At Milk Chocolate, we relish the opportunity to work with properties that need a bit of a facelift or even a major overhaul. A core part of our purchasing strategy involves actively looking for properties that have the option to renovate, extend or subdivide. Not only does this allow us to flex our renovation and building muscles, but it also offers a major value-add to our client's homes and investments.
These works don't need to be carried out by you, however, these options will provide value for the following buyer, ideally creating an emotional sale price.
By improving a property’s specifications or presentation, or even increasing floor space gives the home a more valuable capital growth position that only strengthens over time. It also means we can appeal to a wider selection of buyers when it comes time to re-sell.
Our difference
Before we even pick up our tools, we evaluate whether the project is worthwhile. The very first step in our process involves conducting a feasibility assessment. This is to make sure the works are possible and to gauge how much merit they can offer a property – especially if it’s an investment. Because there’s nothing worse than sinking money into a costly renovation, only to find it does little to enhance your property’s value.
If we decide that the works are worth pursuing, we provide you with a clear picture of the process. You’ll have a thorough understanding of the steps involved, and their expected costs. And if your renovation or build goes ahead, the fee for the initial feasibility assessment will be taken off your total project cost.
When it comes to embarking on your project, we do it all in-house: design, planning, project management and execution. Milk Chocolate is a licensed Master Builder working with a trusted network of trades. This means we can tackle anything from new floors or a lick of paint to full subdivision works that include multiple home-builds – and everything in between. Our renovation and building services are available across any kind of property – from small apartments to big family homes – and can either be bundled as part of a new purchase or carried out on an existing property. We also work on projects to suit a range of budgets.
By doing everything ourselves, we make the construction process much more streamlined and stress-free. We have total control over the renovation or build, and can deal with council and external agencies directly. We provide ongoing client support throughout the build, so you’re always on top of the project. And, we offer a faster project turnaround time thanks to our efficient in-house capabilities.
Our fees
We know that construction is often ridden with unknowns and hidden costs. Because of our business model and the fact that we do everything in-house, we’re able to make things much more transparent. We charge a flat fixed fee that covers all professional services, civil engineering, permits, insurance (including builders warranty insurance) and construction.
This flat fee is broken into five or six stages, based on project milestones. Once we complete a milestone, we provide the next fee stage ahead of time. This allows us to maintain flexibility if the scope of the project changes, but also means you won’t be caught out by any sneaky surprises when it comes time to pay.
Our construction process
You’re probably curious about what you’re in for if you undertake a renovation or build through Milk Chocolate. To remove some of the guesswork, here’s how we tend to operate.
Part 1 — Feasibility
If you’re coming to us with an existing property, we’ll run the feasibility assessment to gauge your property’s renovation or build potential, and the projected value the construction can offer.
If we’re buying a new property, our Purchasing and Construction teams will identify your property’s renovation or build potential during the purchasing stage, either add value to an investment or enhancing your new home’s design.
We build a comprehensive agreement that clearly outlines all of the project milestones and fixed-fee stage breakdowns.
Part 2 — Design and planning
After you’ve signed off on the agreement, we get straight to work. If the property is your new home, you’ll work directly with our Design team to establish the right look and feel. It’s your brand spanking new abode, and we want to make sure we nail your ideal aesthetic.
Regardless of property type, we then call on our site trades. At this stage, their job is to undertake the required documentation so we can kick off the design phase.
Once we know you’re 100 per cent happy with the design, we work with the local council to seek all the necessary approvals, and we engage our team of trades.
Part 3 — Construction
Now, it’s go-time! As soon as construction is underway, you’ll be given access to our project management portal that keeps you in the loop across the entire process. Here, you’ll be able to check out the daily progress of the project, ask questions, drop notes and see where your money’s going in real-time.
At the completion of the project, we obtain the Occupation Certificate signalling that the property can be occupied. We also stick around for a while after the project is finalised to look after any issues that crop up.
The actual process may differ depending on your property, its requirements and the scale of the project. But you can more or less expect it to look like a variation of the above.