Does a Real Estate Developer have the time to go into every small detail? Where does his God lie?

This business called real estate development sounds so easy: buy land, construct, sell and enjoy profits... If only it was that simple! In my view, a developer or a builder is no less than an expert juggler; he has to perfectly juggle multiple multi-colored balls at the same time. One ball slips off his hand and things can go out of control. Let’s understand why…

Land is no more being made new. It is what it is, hence acquiring the perfect piece of land to create something worthwhile is a full-time job on its own. And, God forbid, if it is SRA or any other form of redevelopment, the level of complexities can be more than that of designing a rocket, probably. Another mighty task to master is project approvals. People think it is just RERA. No, my friend, there are just so many approvals required to put together a project, so many government departments, and some of them are even interconnected. All of this needs detailed studies, presentations and adherence to timelines to get it right… It can be extremely overwhelming. A developer has no choice. He has to get it right. Each time, every time.

And then come those never-ending project-level deliberations: endless meetings with architects, designers, consultants, contractors, finance controllers, sales teams, marketing budgets and HR discussions. The developer is the one making all the decisions. All through the long and tedious construction cycle of the project(s), which sometimes even goes beyond five to six years, he has to take decisions to balance people, purpose and profits. And, mind you, at all times, any wrong decision he takes can go legally against the firm, have financial implications on the business or can even result into an onsite catastrophe. This is, no doubt, too much stress.

As for larger developers, just multiply all of the above into a minimum of ten or twelve projects happening at the same time, all at once!

In such a scenario, how does a developer keep an eye on every small detail? How does he make sure that he is picking, designing and delivering the best projects? What if he misses one crucial meeting and things slip out of hand? A thousand lives are at stake every day while a project is being constructed and even after when people start living, working and shopping in these buildings.

What can he do to keep his eyes on everything? They say God is in the details and if he is not able to look into those details, then where does his God lie??

The answer is TEAM – Trust Empower And Monitor. The first thing is to create a strong leadership team. Look for three characteristics when you are hiring a senior leadership member in your organization-

Competence:

The person should be Competent, not just the best in the industry in his/her field, but a plain genius. The good news is that there are such people in our country who have enormous experience in handling projects and have seen all kinds of challenges there are to see. Sometimes with their own ideas and sometimes by someone else’s, they have seen problems being solved and solutions being made. You need to find these people and recruit them. No matter the location they are in, or the resources it takes to hire; never settle for mediocre talent if hiring for the top spot. With competency at the top, the chances of errors are significantly reduced, and they and their teams work more efficiently and effectively, producing better results.

Proactiveness:

The person should be Proactive, which simply means they can see the future. They should have the capability to anticipate outcomes and plan actions in advance. As an example, while you are busy looking at land parcels, meeting officials for approvals or trying to put together the finances of an upcoming project, they should be able to work on the blueprint of how the next stages will be rolled out. Lining up the workforce, consultants, budgets and schedules well in advance so that you can walk in and just take those critical go, no-go decisions. In short, the person should be a champ at all five Ps of Proactiveness: Predict, Prevent, Plan, Participate and Perform.

Engaged:

No person will be motivated to perform their duties if he/she does not feel connected to a common goal. Traditionally, as developers, people tend to be a little more closed than they should be, leading to a feeling of disengagement by their employees, sometimes even at the leadership level. Come out of that huge Director’s room a bit more, mingle with people, walk into a leader’s cabin and have a cup of tea. These actions will make them feel that they and their viewpoint are important to you, that they have been hired for accomplishing a common goal and not just to follow orders coming from the top.

In conclusion, having competent, proactive and engaged leaders in the company can free a developer from so many meetings which can be easily skipped and instead give him the time to look at those details he never had the time to look into. All that needs to be done is, once the right people are hired, sincerely trust them with their competency, empower them through active engagement and closely monitor the results on a regular basis.

The developer will still be busy; he might still be juggling around but surely much lesser than before!?