Michael McCullough
Sun
A Calgary home builder is bringing its discount development formula to the Lower Mainland, with plans to eventually build as many as 1,000 homes a year here.
Working like the Westjet of the real estate industry, Pointe of View Developments tries to substantially undercut the price of new homes wherever it builds. It’s already doing that in New Westminster, offering condominiums for tens of thousands of dollars less than comparable new housing.
“The whole premise of what we do is cost-manage the development so we can pass savings on to buyers,” Pointe of View vice-president of development and acquisition David MacKenzie said in a telephone interview from Denver Thursday.
At the firm’s Copper Stone project, to be built on 3.5 wooded acres adjacent to Royal Columbian Hospital, the 231 units range from one-bedroom suites for $134,000 to two-bedroom and dens for $241,000. That works out to between $210 and $232 per square foot. Other wood-frame buildings in New West typically go for $255 to $265 per square foot, MacKenzie said, or $270 in neighbouring Coquitlam.
“It’s a little under the going rate,” agreed Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders Association. Given today’s fast-rising building costs, he wondered aloud how the developer could make money.
“I hope he’s got his trades lined up,” Simpson said.
MacKenzie said his company builds to code, uses the same materials and markets its projects like everybody else, but finds ways to use space more efficiently and looks for cost savings on every contract. The company also benefits from scale, selling more than 2,000 units in Alberta, Toronto, the B.C. Interior and the western U.S. last year alone.
“We’ve honed this and worked it for so many years,” MacKenzie said. “Maybe we’re willing to take a tighter margin than other developers. I don’t know.”
Founded in Edmonton and relocated to Calgary a decade ago by owner Randy Klapstein, Pointe of View has been targeting the Lower Mainland for expansion for several years, he added, but its low-cost formula was stymied by high land values. Then it bought the Royal Columbian property from the City of New Westminster in a competitive bidding process last summer.
More than half the units in the project have been sold, mostly to first-time buyers, since the project came on the market a month ago, said project marketer Alan DeGenova of Focus Marketing. Construction of the first phase is set to begin on May 1, with completion next spring.
“It’s not a 10 out of 10 here but it’s solid product,” DeGenova said.
Pointe of View is using the project to pilot a new online design system that allows buyers to configure their suite over the Internet.
In Calgary, where the company accounts for an estimated 40 per cent of new multi-family housing, it has a showroom where buyers can work with designers to choose the finishes. The Internet design system allows Vancouver-area buyers to do the same thing remotely, MacKenzie said.
“They build on a cookie-cutter model, if you will,” DeGenova said.
The floor plans are identical, but buyers can mix and match from a range of interior finishes, as well as upgrade the flooring or window coverings, like options on a car. This is where Pointe of View makes much of its margin, he said, pushing the price up by a few dollars a square foot.
CHEAP SPACE:
New to the Lower Mainland, Pointe of View Developments prides itself on undercutting the going price for multi-family housing. Here are the average prices per square foot of new suites in a:
Yaletown high rise: $500 (approx.)
Coquitlam wood-frame: $270
New Westminster wood-frame: $255 – 265
Copper Stone development, New West: $210 – 232
Source: Pointe of View Developments
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
