How to Choose a Property Development Partner: 9 Checks Before You Commit
To choose a development partner, check four things in this order: that they have delivered schemes like yours and can prove it, that the way they are paid lines up with your interests, that the people who will run your scheme are named and experienced, and that the agreement says clearly who decides what and how each side gets out. Everything else, from presentation to promised values, comes after those four.
A development partner is not a supplier you can swap halfway through. Once the land is committed, the planning application is in and the money is drawn, changing partner is slow and expensive. So the choice deserves the same rigour as the land purchase itself.
The checks below are the ones we would want an owner or investor to run on us. They work whether the partner is a joint venture developer, a development manager on a fee, or a builder-developer offering to take the scheme from planning to completion.
First, be clear what kind of partner you need
"Development partner" covers very different arrangements. Decide which one you are buying before you compare anyone.
| You want to | The partner you need | What you keep |
|---|---|---|
| Stay the owner and keep the upside, without running the scheme | A development manager, paid a fee | The land, the decisions, the profit |
| Share the risk and the profit | A joint venture developer | A share, set by the agreement |
| Sell the site with its potential, not just its current value | A developer buying on an option or promotion basis | A price or share of the value at sale |
| Fund a finished building without developing | A developer under a forward-funding agreement | The completed asset |
Our development management page and our guide to joint venture agreement key terms explain the two most common routes in detail.
The 9 checks
1. Track record on schemes like yours
Ask for schemes of a similar type, size and complexity, completed, not just consented. A partner who has done a dozen new-build schemes on open sites may struggle with a conversion behind a retained façade in a conservation area.
Ask: which three schemes are most like mine, and can I speak to the owners?
Walk away if: the examples are all at a different scale, or the references never materialise.
2. Who did the work
Development teams are built from individuals, and good people move. Be clear whether a track record belongs to the company or to directors from their previous employers. Both are useful, but they are not the same thing. On our own site, for example, our Development Director's 4,000+ homes are stated as his previous experience as a housebuilding managing director, not as Craftex projects.
Ask: which of these schemes did your company deliver, and which did your people deliver elsewhere?
3. How they are paid
The fee structure tells you what the partner is rewarded for. A percentage of build cost rewards a bigger build. A share of profit rewards the result. A fixed fee rewards sticking to scope. None is wrong, but you should know which you are buying. See development management fees explained.
Ask: do you receive any other income from the scheme, from consultants, contractors or agents?
4. Financial standing and insurance
A partner that runs short of money midway puts your scheme at risk. Check filed accounts at Companies House, how long the company has traded, and its insurance: professional indemnity for advice and design, public liability and employer's liability for site work. Ask to see the certificates.
5. Who builds it
This is where many partnerships fail. If the partner plans the scheme but someone else builds it, ask who carries the risk between the two. A builder-developer with construction in-house removes that gap but should still price the build openly. If construction is tendered, ask how the contractor will be chosen and who manages them.
6. The named team
Ask who will run your scheme day to day, how many other schemes they are running, and who steps in when they are away. A strong board means little if your scheme is handed to someone in their first year.
7. Planning judgement
In London, planning often decides the scheme's value and timetable. Ask how the partner reads the borough's policies for your site, how they approach pre-application advice, and what they think is realistic. Be wary of a partner who promises a consent before reading the local plan.
8. Reporting and control
Agree what you will see each month (cost against budget, programme against plan, the risk register, the cash forecast) and which decisions come back to you. In a joint venture these are the reserved matters. With a development manager they are the approvals in the appointment.
9. The exit, in both senses
How does the scheme end: sale, letting, refinancing, or holding? And how does the partnership end if things go wrong: termination rights, deadlock, step-in, what is paid on exit? Partners who have thought about failure tend to manage it better.
Red flags
- Values promised before anyone has appraised the site properly.
- Pressure to sign heads of terms quickly.
- A track record that cannot be checked, or references that never call back.
- Reluctance to show insurance certificates or accounts.
- A proposal that is vague about who pays for what.
- No answer to "what happens if this goes wrong?"
- Talking down other firms instead of explaining their own approach.
How to run the selection
- Write a one-page brief. The site, what you want from it, how involved you want to be, your timescale and your appetite for risk.
- Long-list three to five partners who have done similar work.
- Ask each for an initial view of the site. How a partner approaches a free first look tells you a lot about how it will run the scheme.
- Meet the people, not just the directors. Ideally on one of their sites.
- Check references and filings. Speak to at least two owners they have worked for.
- Compare proposals on scope and terms, not just headline fees or promised values.
- Take legal advice on the appointment or joint venture agreement before signing.
What we offer as a partner
Craftex is a London property development and construction partner, founded in 2016, with construction as an in-house department and around 70 per cent of our labour in-house. We run development schemes from £3M to £150M GDV, and depending on the project stage we can co-invest, take 100 per cent of the risk, or work on a percentage or fee basis. The team includes a Development Director who previously delivered more than 4,000 homes, an Operations Director with 37 years in construction on projects up to £135M, and a Preconstruction Director with more than 50 years in the industry.
Our Allitsen Road feasibility study shows how we approach a site at the start: four design options for a vacant building in a conservation area, tested against planning policy and viability. See our property development services for the full process.
