All in the family

A few years ago, the name of the game at DMCI Holdings, Inc. was putting up high-rise buildings for the middle- to high-end market. Such buildings accounted for 75% of total revenue.

Today, the bulk of the company’s revenue comes from residential units aimed at low- to middle-income families.

"Before, we had a P1-billion project and we dealt with only one person. Now, we are faced with the challenge of building a project similar in worth but talking to hundreds of homeowners," said vice-president for business development Alfredo Austria. "To provide good quality housing at a competitive price and still earn from it, we have come up with a simple strategy. We are the contractor , developer and property manager of nine residential projects of our subsidiary, DMCI Homes."

In-house

As contractor and developer, the company manages the cost of construction. When construction is finished, the company takes on the role of property manager.

As a result of using in-house expertise, DMCI Homes is able to cut down expenses by 30%. Construction is also 30% faster because paperwork is eliminated. Homeowners equally benefit because the monthly dues of P20 per square meter is significantly less than the industry rate of P100/sqm.

"We are responsible for ensuring that the residents are happy with the units that they have purchased and that includes repair and maintenance," said property management group head Jimmy Ocampo. "If you outsource this after sales service, the tendency of the property manager is to take repair and maintenance matters to the developer and they will point fingers as to who should spend on the repair. In our case, I take care of it immediately because there will be no other company to shoulder it except us."

Projects

The first project under the new corporate set-up was Lakeview Manor in Taguig, which was launched in 2000.

"We were selling units at P700,000," said Elmer Civil, vice-president for the company’s housing division.

"We did not even pre-sell," added DMCI Homes general manager Tet Abad Santos. Instead, the company accepted 10-year amortization and financing from bank. It also came up with a trade-off scheme wherein a buyer can upgrade his/her purchase.

"If you purchase a two-bedroom unit and, after some years, you need a bigger space because of a growing family, we will buy your unit at prevailing market price. We will give you a bigger unit–if not in the same project, then in any of our eight other projects. You only need to pay for the remaining balance of the bigger unit," said Austria.

This year, DMCI Homes has a target revenue of P1.2 billion. Next year, the target sales is P1.6 billion.

"It’s a ‘do-able’ target. We have something unique to offer our clients–good quality housing at a low cost," said Austria.