He lost $150k. Now he’s revealed how to become a property developer

A Queensland property developer who lost his entire $150,000 investment when a project collapsed has revealed how he went from development novice to juggling six subdivision projects in just two years. Somerset Developments founder Daniel Rayner, 34, had never completed a subdivision when he decided to learn the development game from the ground up. Queensland property developer Daniel Rayner lost his entire $150,000 investment when a project collapsed. Image supplied. His crash course began after he invested $150,000 in a Melbourne townhouse development in 2022, only for the developer to collapse about a year later. Rather than turning him off development, Mr Rayner said losing the lot prompted him to find out exactly how the industry worked. Before attempting his first subdivision, he spent more than 100 hours researching potential sites, spoke to 12 town planners, tendered work to 35 civil contractors and crunched the numbers on more than 30 properties. A block of land in Rosemount that developer Daniel Rayner has bought. His first project involved turning a single property at Bellmere, in the Moreton Bay region, into four lots. Two years later, Mr Rayner is working across six su...