I’d be the first to concede that it’s probably just as well that property development isn’t taught in schools. While the upside could be that we see a few more new homes being built, the main issue is that, on a Careers Officer’s options list, the role of property developer would stand out from the crowd. What do I mean? Well, imagine the scene. Little Johnny’s sitting across from the Career’s Officer being told about the various career paths on offer. He’s flipping through the Big Book of Jobs and reaches the page that covers dentistry. The Careers Officer gives him the low-down on what the role involves, and Johnny asks what qualifications he needs. It turns out that he’ll first need to bag three A-levels, then complete a 5-year degree course in dentistry before doing a further year of on-the-job training. And if he wants to become a specialist, he can add an extra 3 to 5 years’ training on top of that. Little Johnny looks somewhat unconvinced and asks the obvious question that every self-respecting 16-year-old should ask, namely, ‘How much dosh would I trouser for being a professional fang checker?’. The Careers Officer stifles an eyeroll and rattles off the facts; in his first year of practice, Johnny can expect to earn around £42k, which rises to around £55k in subsequent ‘early-career’ years.

Not enamoured with doing 8 to 13 years of training or the prospect of staring down people’s cake holes for a living, Johnny flips to the next page, which is entitled ‘Property Developer’. ‘What about this one?’ he asks, stabbing a finger at the page. The Career’s Officer, having made a mental note not to task the Lower Fifth with indexing the Big Book of Jobs alphabetically again, duly recites the details. What qualifications do you need? None. What on-the-job experience should you have? None. What physical work do you actually do? Not a great deal. What are the hours? About one day a week, on average. By this point, Little Johnny is thinking that he quite likes the sound of being a property developer. But then his eyes narrow. There has to be a catch, and he reckons he knows what it is. So, he asks the question – how much cash is there in it? To which the Careers Officer replies that a first-time developer can expect to make between £100k and £500k in profit from a small commercial conversion scheme, which would typically take around 18-24 months to complete. She’s about to add that he could make more money if he did multiple projects, but when she looks up, Little Johnny’s no longer paying attention. He’s whipped out an iPad and is already halfway through spec’ing a new Range Rover.

You get my point. Property development has no real barriers to entry, and the rewards are not only substantial but can also be achieved relatively quickly. Plus, you don’t actually do a lot because most of the work is done by other people. So, what’s not to like? But there’s a ‘but’ (you knew there would be). To be fair, it’s certainly not a showstopping ‘but’; however, it’s definitely something you’d want to know before signing up. And that is that if you approach property development as an uneducated newbie, you run a grave risk of being taken to the cleaners.