LSBU Property Developers Coursework

Learning Outcomes

This coursework will fully or partially assess the following learning outcomes for this module. On completion of the module you will be able to apply demonstrate and evaluate:
The characteristics, relevance and use of data modelling and process
Modelling techniques
The characteristics, relevance and use of project management tools and Techniques
Discuss the relative merits of process, data and event-based models
Develop a range of appropriate models for requirements capture and systems design
Manage a project and prepare a professionally structured project report
Develop skills for both autonomous and independent practice, inluding oral and written communication skills
Assessment Criteria and Weighting
LSBU marking criteria have been developed to help tutors give you clear and helpful feedback on your work. They will be applied to your work to help you understand what you have accomplished, how any mark given was arrived at, and how you can improve your work in future.
Full details of the criteria, interpretation, weightings and rubric to be applied are included in the main task specification below.

Quality assurance of coursework specifications
Coursework specifications within CSI division go through internal (for new modules with 100% coursework also through external) moderation. This is to ensure high quality, consistency and appropriateness of the coursework as well as to share best practice within the CSI division.

LSBU Property Developers Ltd, buy renovate and re-sell properties. All LSBU’s properties are either: houses, bungalows, flats, or maisonettes in and around the London area. LSBU has a strict policy of only buying properties from licensed auctions where they know properties are available at low prices. At any auction LSBU may (or may not) purchase properties that it considers are a good investment. LSBU does not rent its properties (and it has no intention of doing so!) it only buys repairs and sells them on (hopefully for a profit!). On a good day LSBU may purchase as many as six or seven properties at a single auction.
LSBU has a small team of four Property Scouts who visit property auctions in various locations around London each day to purchase properties for renovation. On occasions two LSBU Property Scouts may attend the same auction together, but usually they attend separate auctions to maximise the chances of purchasing suitable property for development. A record is kept of every property purchased including: the Property Scout’s employee ID, the auctioneers (the company conducting the auction), the auction date, the auction location, the listed price of the property (from the auctioneer’s catalogue), the price paid by the Property Scout, the property details (e.g. address, postcode, description of the property)
Once purchased, each property is fully inspected by LSBU, and a list of repairs required for that property is made by an LSBU surveyor. To minimise costs LSBU has a list of standard repairs that it can perform, each with an approximate cost and time constraint. A given property may need no repairs whereas another property may need several repairs. With this information, once a property has been assessed for repairs, the cost and time needed to complete all necessary work can be estimated.

LSBU collaborates with several people in the renovation process: They keep a list of skilled workers who may be called upon to come in and perform specific repairs on each property. However, it has a strict policy of assigning only one skilled worker to perform each specific repair on a particular property. In this way the LSBU surveyor can accurately monitor which workers are performing which repairs, and assess whether the job is done within time, budget, and quality requirements. The re-sale value of a property is calculated by adding the repair costs to the price paid at auction, then a commission of between 5% and 20% is added to ensure that a reasonable profit is made when selling the property.
On completion of all required repairs each property is re-inspected by an LSBU surveyor and if all work is done to the required standard, a certificate of work completion is issued for the property. If not, the worker hired for any sub-standard repair will be recalled, completing the work to LSBU’s satisfaction at no extra cost.
LSBU is gaining a reputation for being a source of regular work for skilled locals in the building trade and competition to obtain work from them is becoming quite intense. When a repair is completed and inspected as being satisfactory a fixed rate single cash payment is made to the
skilled worker for the repair job.
Having received a work completion certificate each renovated property is then advertised for sale on LSBU’s web site. Initially one and possibly more web adverts are placed for each property. In circumstances where LSBU has properties that are on the same street or sometimes within the same housing development/estate a single web advert may be placed advertising multiple properties.