1. Build trust: Good track record of a builder impresses the people most. To build trust, exhibit previous works completed successfully in your advertisements. Reputation travels fast. When it becomes known that people living in flats built by a builder are happy and have no complaints, bookings for the next project swells.
2. Good location: While planning to set up a colony, keep location in mind. Location is one of the most important factors that speeds up the booking. Proximity to a good city, connectivity and availability of a main highway, availability of telephone, availability of internet facilities with wi-fi technology, provision of cable network or DTH satellite, pollution free environment with greenery all-around and small distances from railway station, airport and bus stand matter a lot.
3. Go green: Choose a ratio of 65:35 or more for open area : occupied area. Concentrate on landscaping. Develop parks. Let there be greenery all round. Plant trees early. Must develop a jogger’s track. All these will bring a healthy feeling to the flat buyers.
4. Develop services: Develop water supply and sewerage services fast. Lay metalled roads. Provide street lighting. Put signboards showing directions and flat numbers. Complete 24x7 power back-up arrangements for essential services. Still better, if you are building a market, a club and a swimming pool. Approach district administration to make local buses run up to your colony. Let these services be in progress when flat-aspirants pay visits to your colony. The development will leave a good impression on them.
5. Sense of security: Provide proper boundary wall for the colony. Provide barbed wire fencing of proper design with at least four runners over the boundary wall. Provide gated security. Let there be round the clock guard at the gate to scan the visitors. Sense of security plays a great part in tempting the buyers to buy a flat. Must take full and actually effective fire fighting measures.
6. Site visits: Keep conveyance available for any one who approaches you and seeks to book a flat. Almost force him to pay a site visit through free conveyance provided by you. Keep a good guide who could explain the plus features in easy language and in a brief manner. Keep care of customer’s time. The way a test ride makes up the mind of a car buyer, a site visit plays significant role in winning a customer.
7. Structural design: Must get the building designed from a competent structural engineer. Make the structures quake resistant. Never adopt design evolved on basis of thumb rules. Change your mindset and drive the thought out of mind that a structural engineer will make the buildings costlier. He will rather help in saving money by providing economical RCC work.
8. Durability: Make the buildings stronger and durable. Current practice is to ignore quality and supervision and cover all defects through attractive finishes. Choose durable materials and specifications rather than brittle but attractive looking products. This will bring long-term benefit. Let the flats be maintenance free for years to come.
9. Reasonable profit: Look for a reasonable profit only. Greed leads to doom. Produce more, sell more with less profit per unit and see your profits soar. Don’t try to kill the golden eggs laying hen in one day. Nobody stops you from preparing realistic estimates, counting unforeseen expenses and counting escalation in prices but profits must be reasonable.
10. Transparency: After reading the brochures, a buyer are going to develop a certain idea of the size of the flat that he is going to own. Take care that his dream is not shattered when his flat is handed over to him. Let there be full transparency in the deal.
Presenting a 10-point program - if followed, is going to invite a better response to their housing schemes: