The small developer – The underdog

Abstract: This paper aims to describe how a small developer can survive in a market dominated by a few large developers. Plan monopoly gives municipalities’ absolute right to control land use. This often results in lowered prioritizing of innovation and new thinking, in favor of larger projects which are characterized by monotonous design. We have investigated how municipalities in the Stockholm area perceive smaller developers by performing interviews with several development managers. We have investigated what factors that plays a role when a developer wants to make his entrance into the market. Is the background just a complicated law to interpret, or is there any area where the municipalities can further assist small unproven developers? We have also interviewed some developers to understand what the reality looks like from their perspective. We will describe the problems they face and how they do when they compete against larger players. We have found that due to the fact that municipalities are bound to certain laws and regulations, they can’t adjust these to fit the small developer. They can however choose to divide the land area into smaller sizes which makes it possible for smaller developer to buy them. Another intriguing conclusion drawn from this study is that small developers tend to organize themselves into groups with other developers with similar size and condition. By joining together they become stronger financially and more competitive against larger developers, and hence get better options of buying land from the municipalities.