Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 706

The most popular post on this blog is this one here called, " What real estate developers do and why I became one ." This post alone has been responsible for a good chunk of the organic traffic that this site receives since I wrote it back in 2014. If you search for "real estate developer" in Google it usually comes up on the first page.

Probably because of this post, the number one question I receive in my inbox is about how to become a developer or how to transition into development from some other discipline. Usually this comes from someone who is early on in their career and/or is in architecture (which is not surprising given my background as a fake architect ).

I have tried to respond to this question publicly and at scale with a number of different posts. But many of you probably haven't seen them before, and so I figured it would be a good idea to summarize some of them here (they're usually tagged with " developer dirt "):

• Transitioning from architecture to development

• Studying to become a real estate developer (book recommendation)

• Three-legged stool (the three things that every project needs)

• What you should study to become a real estate developer

• Planning staff reports (why they're worth reading)

• Demystifying the development pro forma

If you're looking for a more succinct summary of what to do, here is what I would suggest to you. You basically have three options.

1) You can convince someone to take a chance and hire you, even though you likely don't have any development experience. Maybe you have a background in something relevant such as real estate law, architecture, or politics (good). Or maybe you don't (less good). Either way, the best way to position yourself is to understand what it is that developers do and figure out a way to create value for them from day one. You want to be in a position to say, "Yeah, I know I don't have any direct development experience, but I can do X, Y, and Z for you starting today and I think that would be helpful to you for the following reasons."

2) Get a relevant degree. I'm thinking an MBA in real estate or some sort of master's in real estate development. The reality is that the development business has, in many ways, become more institutionalized. It has gone, though obviously not entirely, from rich private families developing with their own balance sheets to more institutional capital sources, such as pension funds. Because of this, there are going to be hiring managers out there who need to check off certain boxes. For example, does this person have a real estate degree? This may make it harder for someone to take a chance on you if you don't have the right experience and/or credentials.

3) Just go out and do it. Despite becoming more institutional, the development business remains, in my view, a deeply entrepreneurial endeavor. You have to be able to problem solve and you have to be creative. The best developers I know don't focus on can't , they focus on how . Because there are too many obstacles in this business. A can't mentality wouldn't get you very far. So consider renovating a triplex, building a laneway suite , or doing something else that allows you to take a piece of real estate and create some additional value. Because that's all that development really is at the end of the day.

If you found this post useful, please consider sharing it with someone that you think would benefit from it. And if there are other topics that you would like me to cover (or cover in more detail), please feel free to leave a comment below or to at me on Twitter . I prefer Twitter over email because it forces brevity. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, all.

Photo by  Bernard Hermant  on  Unsplash

Constructed throughout the 1930s, the R.C Harris Water Treatment Plant ( pictured above ) is the largest water treatment plant in the City of Toronto. It produces over 120,000 million liters of water each year, which represents about 30% of Toronto's drinking water .

Designed by Scottish architect Thomas Canfield Pomphrey , it is also the city's largest collection of Art Deco buildings. This makes the complex pretty unique. Because it was designed to be both a critical piece of municipal infrastructure and an architectural icon.

If you've ever visited the grounds, you'll know that the plant is the furthest thing from utilitarian. There's an opulence to the buildings and an incredible attention to detail, both of which are characteristics of the Art Deco movement. And if you've never been, I would encourage you to go.

The above photo was taken on Sunday afternoon.

I recently discovered a company called Hinter (a colleague, who clearly knows me very well, sent it to me). It's exactly the kind of the company that I would love to start, if only there were 30 hours in a day. They're a non-traditional hotel in that they work with "iconic architects" to build unique spaces that are distributed and hidden in nature. (They also have a policy of planting 10 new trees for every booking.)

Today's post is a profile of their Hinterhouse (hh1) by Montréal-based Ménard Dworkind Architecture & Design . The space is located in La Conception, Québec, which is about 15 minutes from Mont-Tremblant. It's 980 square feet (which is all you really need) and has 2 bedrooms. There's also a private sauna and outdoor shower in a separate outbuilding. As soon as I saw it, I felt inspired and immediately opened up Realtor.ca to look for available land. Maybe it will do the same for you.

All photography by David Dworkind .