Subdivision Of Land Then Building - Anyone Done It?

This is probably just a pipedream given that the block is absolutely enormous (the land adjacent to it the same size has been divided into four to give you an idea).

But hey, a girl can dream.

Brief background on our situation - we need a bigger house but I only want to stay working part-time while DD is young. Our family in two years may have shrunk (if DSD moves out when she's 18 to go to uni) or may grow (if we have another baby).

I'd given up on buying for various reasons and figured we'd be better of renting in the interim until we figure out what we'll actually need long term. But I'm having no luck finding a suitable rental house either.

Then I saw this block. It has a crappy two-bedroomed house on it. But that's OK, we could convert that into kitchen/living/study/laundry and then behind it build the bedrooms, linked with a glassed-in walkway. It has an existing garage/workshop which is almost the size of the 2 bedroomed house. That's incredibly appealing to me. I'd love two interconnected spaces - one for living and one for bedrooms. I'm not a great one at visualising stuff but this is messing with my head because I can see it in my mind and getting incredibly excited.

But as I said, the block is huge and will probably be worth more than we can afford.

So, thinking outside the square, the only way we could do it would be to subdivide. I know that there'd be lots of hoops to jump through in terms of permits from the council etc. but just wondering if anyone else has done it.

Was it a nightmare or was it relatively smooth sailing? Did you subdivide and draw up plans for the other house on the subdivided land and sell those as a package with council approvals etc. Did you subdivide and build the other house, then sell?

Like I said, probably will turn out to be a pipedream but just trying to see if there's any way to make it do-able.

I don't have personal experience, but my MIL and her sisters have just been through this with the property they inherited from their parents. A quarter acre block in an inner Melb suburb with an old house on the front. They subdivided, had plans for a second house drawn up and approved by council. They whole process took them about 8 months but is now worth at least $100k more and they didn't have the hassle of building the second home. I think they only paid a few thousand in fees and plans.
I would look at the area first. What is the average block size, and are other people in the area subdividing? Find out as much as you can from the council and other people in your area.

Very interested in this thread as well as we are also looking at options to either invest in a large piece of land and then subdivide later.

Rang our accountant today (this may not be irrelevant) but what he said about land investment is that you cannot claim negative gearing on it unless you are making an income out of it but you can claim a capital loss on it.

Best wishes and yes ... a girl can dream =)