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Prepared for Gouraw Undale · 6 November 2026

Your first Melbourne townhouse site,
found, tested and secured.

Thanks for the time today. Here's everything I promised on the call: how I test a site before you ever see it, a sample of the due diligence, a feasibility you can play with on your own numbers, the work we've done, what clients say, and the platform it all runs on.

A d36 renovation in Reservoir
100+ hours
Time back

Portals, agents, council maps, overlays, inspections, builders' numbers and negotiation. All done before a site reaches you.

$50k to $100k
Money kept

What off-market access and hard negotiation are worth on a site at this price. On a development, every dollar off the land is margin.

Builders to drafters
Connections brought

A vetted shortlist of the people you need on the ground in Melbourne, handed over with the keys.

1What you told me

The brief as I heard it. If anything's off, tell me and it changes before a single site is looked at.

The site
600 to 800 sqm
Knockdown in an established Melbourne suburb. Site budget under $1.2M.
The build
3 to 4 townhouses
Two storey, about 160 sqm, 3 bed 2 bath, mid-spec. Around $500k each, turnkey.
The buyer
Owner occupiers
Families and couples who'll pay for a new, low-maintenance home close to transport and schools.

Why Melbourne, why now

  • You've done this before. Duplexes and triplexes in Perth. You know the build. You don't know Melbourne's councils, agents and streets yet.
  • Perth's build pipeline is stuck. Brick supply and trade shortages are dragging out every job. Melbourne has a deep pool of builders to tender to.
  • Knockdown beats an old rental. No compliance upgrades on a tired house under the new rental standards. A clean site and a new product.

Where this project leads

  • This one is for growth. Buy the land right, build to a clear spec, sell or hold to owner occupiers.
  • The profit funds the next move. A rooming house at a low loan to value ratio, for passive income.
  • So the land price decides everything. Overpay by $80k on the site and it comes straight off the money that funds the rooming house.

2Where I'd look

Your three suburbs, plus the north-east corridor I raised on the call. Each one gets tested on the same rules, so the choice comes down to which street gives you the best site for the money.

Your list

Preston

Deep owner-occupier demand and good transport. Competition for sites is strong, so off-market and pre-auction is where the value is.

Strong buyer poolCheck zone schedule
Your list

Reservoir

More 600+ sqm blocks within budget than Preston. Townhouse product is well proven here. Street by street, the end price moves a lot.

Land within budgetEnd values vary by street
Your list

Burwood

Higher end values in the east, but land costs more. Fewer sites will clear $1.2M at this size, so the numbers need to work harder.

Higher sale pricesTighter on budget
Worth adding

Greensborough

Bigger blocks for the money and infrastructure investment along the north-east corridor. Some pockets carry overlays, so it's site by site.

Larger blocksCheck overlays
Worth adding

Eltham

Large leafy blocks and strong family demand. Vegetation and bushfire controls rule out plenty of sites, which is exactly what the desk check catches.

Family demandVegetation and bushfire
No guessing on end values. Before you see any site, I pull recent sales of new 3 bed townhouses within walking distance and put the real number into the feasibility. That's what makes a site a yes or a no.

3How a site gets to you

The methodology. Every lead, listed or off-market, runs through the same four gates. Most don't make it past the first one, which is the point. You see three to five serious contenders, never the noise.

1

Desk check

Zone, schedule, overlays, lot size, frontage, easements, title. Minutes per site, and it kills most of them.

2

Site check

On the ground. Slope, trees, drainage, services, neighbours, street feel, what the buyer will see when they pull up.

3

Feasibility

Real comparable sales, your build rate, soft costs, duty, GST and holding. If the margin isn't there, it's dropped.

4

Presented

The full report in your portal, my recommendation and the price I'd pay. You decide in one call.

100+ factors, one report. The next page is the template every site is scored on. Green clears, amber needs a question answered, red is out.

4What's checked on every site

Every site is run through our HomeSnoop integration: 1,000+ datasets from 100+ sources, at council level, not just state maps. Here's every data point, and why it matters on a townhouse project.

Planning and development

Zoning and controlsDevelopment applicationsEasementsCovenantsHeritage listingsCharacter overlaysFuture road reservationsDwelling densities

Developer lens. What you can build, how many, and what council has approved next door. DA history shows the precedent for 3 or 4 on a lot.

Hazards and environment

Flood riskFlood planning areasHistoric floodsFlood aerial imageryOverland flowBushfire riskHistoric bushfiresSlope and contoursLandslip riskAcid sulfate soilsProtected vegetationSignificant treesBiodiversityWaterways and wetlands

Developer lens. Overland flow sets floor levels, slope sets the drainage cost, a significant tree can take a whole dwelling off the plan.

Services and infrastructure

Buried water pipesSewer mainsStormwaterPower linesTransmission corridorsGas pipelines

Developer lens. A sewer main through the middle of the lot or a missing drainage point is a five-figure surprise. We find it before the offer, not after the permit.

Noise and transport

Flight pathsMain roadsRoad noise corridorsRail noise corridorsPublic transport

Developer lens. Owner occupiers pay for a quiet street near the train. Noise corridors cost you on the sale price, transport earns it back.

Neighbourhood

Owner occupier ratiosSchool catchmentsSocio-economic indicatorsPublic housing areasCrime statisticsCrime trends

Developer lens. Tells you who buys your product on this street and what they'll pay. A good school zone is worth real money on a 3 bed townhouse.

Market insight

Property sale historyPrice estimateComparable salesComparable listingsMarket trendsRental estimateRental yieldComparable rentals

Developer lens. The end value in your feasibility comes from here, sales of new stock within walking distance. Rentals give you the hold-and-refinance fallback.

On top of the data, the things only a person can check. The townhouse and low-rise code fit, builder pricing for the layout, demolition and asbestos risk, council contributions, the vendor's position and the best way in. That's the part I do.

5Sample due diligence scorecard

How the data and my own checks come together on one shortlisted site. The statuses here are a sample to show how it reads, not a real address.

Planning

  • Clear
    Zone and scheduleWhat the zone allows on this lot, and any local schedule limits on height, site coverage or garden area.
  • Clear
    Townhouse and low-rise codeWhether a 3 or 4 townhouse layout fits the state's deemed-to-comply rules.
  • Question
    OverlaysHeritage, vegetation, flooding, bushfire, design and development. Each one costs time or yield.
  • Clear
    Permit historyPrevious applications on the site and on the street, and how council decided them.

The land

  • Clear
    Size, frontage, shapeEnough frontage for separate driveways and a layout that doesn't waste land.
  • Question
    Easements and covenantsDrainage and sewer easements, single-dwelling covenants on title.
  • Clear
    Slope and drainageFall to the legal point of discharge. A rear fall can mean a costly easement through the neighbour.
  • Out
    TreesProtected trees that fix where the buildings can go. On a red, the site is dropped.

Services and build

  • Clear
    Sewer, water, power, gasCapacity for extra dwellings and the likely upgrade costs from each authority.
  • Clear
    DemolitionAsbestos risk by era of the house, access for machinery, and the cost to clear.
  • Question
    ContributionsCouncil open space and infrastructure levies on the subdivision.

Market and deal

  • Clear
    End valueRecent sales of new 3 bed townhouses nearby. The number that drives the feasibility.
  • Clear
    Buyer depthHow fast new stock sells here, and who buys it.
  • Clear
    Land valueComparable site sales, so we know what the site is worth to a developer, not just to a family.
  • Clear
    Vendor and methodWhy they're selling, how long it's been on, and the best way in: pre-auction, off-market or on the day.

6Sample feasibility, on your numbers

The model every shortlisted site runs through before it reaches you. Change any input. Defaults are your brief from the call, with placeholder end values and allowances until a real site, real comparables and real quotes replace them. A sample of the method, not a valuation or financial advice.

Site and acquisition
Product
Construction
Design, approvals and statutory
Finance and timeline
Sales
Development profit
Margin on end value
Return on equity
Equity in
Most to pay for the land
Break-even end value
per townhouse

Full cost stack

Sensitivity, margin on cost

Same site, 3 or 4 townhouses

Duty on the general Victorian scale. GST under the margin scheme, one eleventh of sales less land cost. Interest on the land loan for the full timeline, construction draws averaged at half over the build. Confirm tax and finance with your accountant and lender.

7Work we've done

A few from the portfolio closest to your brief: your target suburbs, the north-east corridor, buying from interstate, a rooming house, and running multi-unit works.

Preston
Preston · off-market purchase
Six figures under market

A period home held by one owner for 25 years. Came through our network, due diligence secured before anyone else knew it existed.

+$130k gainOff-market
Reservoir
Reservoir · buy, renovate, sell
$185k below median to $120k above

Bought after it passed in at auction. Re-levelled, roof restored, full interior, landscaping. Sold at auction well above the area median.

$305k swing to medianWorks managed
Yallambie
Yallambie · auction, interstate client
Won from Sydney

Client stuck after months of searching remotely. Tightly held pocket in the north-east, fiercely contested auction, bought on the day.

+$128k gainBought remotely
Macquarie
Macquarie, ACT · project management
Four units, one manager

End-to-end works across four units on a corner block: design, kitchens, bathrooms, landscaping, trades and authorities.

Trades procuredMulti-unit
Oak Park
Oak Park · pre-auction
$115,000 under the street

Interstate clients. Walked from two auctions on the numbers, then bought before auction on negotiated terms.

$115k underTerms negotiated
Frankston
Frankston · rooming house, interstate client
45 assessed, one cleared

Nine-room rooming house brief, all-in under $1.1M. Corner block secured at $800,000, the floor of the guide, with eight rooms off the existing layout and townhouse permits behind it.

Floor of the guideTownhouse permits

Full portfolio of 30+ projects at d36property.com.au/projects

8What clients say

5.0
★★★★★
36 five-star Google reviews. Every review d36 property has received is five stars.
Read them all on Google
RR
Ricardo R
★★★★★ Rooming house purchase

"He found a good house for me that I would be turning it into a rooming house. The location was ideal... Thank you Dineth, till my next project!"

PB
Peter Batt
★★★★★ Bought from overseas

"Being in a completely different timezone, I really needed a passionate and proactive buyers advocate with fast and efficient communication. Dineth and his team exceeded expectations in all regards."

JL
Jai Luke
★★★★★ Bought from interstate

"He provided insightful data on my shortlisted properties that I wouldn't have considered or known about by myself. Dineth was instrumental in helping me negotiate, understand when to walk away, and physically attend auctions, as I was interstate."

AH
Adam Hubbard
★★★★★ Investment purchase

"He is genuine, he really cares, and goes over and above to help you. He also uses fantastic technology to help his clients which gives you a huge advantage."

SP
Steve Prince
★★★★★ Home purchase

"Within a week he had secured the perfect home as well as negotiating $50k off the asking price. He handled the difficult discussions and made the whole journey easy and stress free."

PK
Penny Kakoliris
★★★★★ First home

"Having Dineth by my side gave me the confidence to keep going. He showed up to every inspection and auction, answered my calls no matter the hour."

$19M+
purchased for clients
Under 45 days
average to secure
21
suburbs bought in
36 / 36
Google reviews at five stars
PropVault
The tech behind every decision

Every recommendation I make is backed by data you can see.

I built PropVault to run d36. Buyers agencies across Australia now license it to run theirs. For you, it means a site is never a gut call: every number in front of you shows where it came from.

1,000+
datasets on every site
100+
data sources, council level
50+
DD and market checks per site
Side by side
scenarios on the same site
1 · Data in

Every source, one site profile

  • HomeSnoop due diligence: planning, overlays, hazards, services, noise
  • State planning maps for zone, overlays, easements and transport
  • Comparable sales, listings and rentals for new stock
  • Council development applications nearby
2 · Decisions

A feasibility engine, not a spreadsheet

  • Townhouse, rooming house and buy-and-hold templates
  • Scenarios compared on one site: 3 vs 4, sell vs hold
  • Residual land value, so the offer is set by the numbers
  • Every version kept, so you see what changed and why
3 · You see it

Your own portal

  • The shortlist, with my recommendation and the price I'd pay
  • The full DD report and feasibility for each site
  • Contracts, dates and documents in one place
  • The same engine runs your rooming house next

10How it runs, and the fee

Click any stage. Blue is what I do, green is what you do.

Fixed fee
$20,000 + GST

End to end: strategy, sourcing, due diligence, feasibility, negotiation and handover. Fixed, so I'm never paid more for you paying more.

To start
$5,000 + GST

On signing. The search starts that week.

At exchange
$15,000 + GST

Only once your site is secured.

Timeline
30 to 45 days

The average to secure. Open-ended until the right site is found, at no extra cost.

11Next steps

Nothing to sign today. Have a read, and send me your thoughts on WhatsApp.

1

You review this

Questions, changes to the brief, suburbs to add or drop. Send them over on WhatsApp, as many as you like.

2

Agreement and first invoice

When you're ready, the agreement and the $5,000 + GST invoice go out the same day.

3

Strategy call, then the search

We lock the brief, the suburbs and your numbers, your portal goes live, and sites start landing in it.

Dineth Ekanayake · d36 property · 0404 901 345 · dineth@d36property.com.au