Chapter 535 - Stick to Four Bare Walls! (1/2)

Boss Pei’s praise had come out of nowhere. Liang Qingfan was shocked.

Two minutes later, he regained his composure. He looked slightly embarrassed as he said, “But Boss Pei, this is not just about the design —it’s about the cost as well!

“Take this apartment for example. It costs five hundred thousand yuan. Full renovations and modifications would cost at least three hundred thousand yuan. That’s almost as much as the house itself! It wouldn’t be worth

“On top of that, you’re buying two buildings. That’s thirty-two apartments in total. If the renovation of each apartment cost three hundred thousand yuan, it would add up to close to ten million yuan in total…

“There were seventy-seven apartments in the previous residential-commercial building as well. If the renovation of each of those apartments cost 120 thousand yuan or so, it would add up to another ten million yuan.

“Including the cost of making those apartments look more luxurious, renovation of all these new buildings alone would cost twenty million yuan…”

Pei Qian fell silent.

Liang Qingfan heaved a long sigh. It was just as well. Pei Qian had not done his calculations before this. He was only deciding to buy those buildings because they were cheap. He had not considered the cost of renovation.

Renovation of the building in the Dawn of Prosperous City cost a lot as well, but the apartments were huge! What’s more, they were exquisitely renovated. That meant they could attract ballers to rent the apartments.

On the other hand, these apartments were so run down that no one wanted to buy them or live in them. Spending three hundred thousand yuan just to renovate each of them would be too foolish!

It was not utterly useless, but the price-quality ratio would be extremely low.

However, after a few seconds, Pei Qian asked, “Twenty million yuan… could we increase it? Would it be difficult to spend another ten million yuan?”

Buying the buildings would spend almost all the revenue earned from the sale of Tomorrow is Beautiful’s tickets. However, Aili Island was still going to split their profits with Tengda! After winning an award last month, Tomorrow is Beautiful’s views on Aili Island were ballooning. Under the contract for shared profits, Tengda Corporation was to receive a huge sum of money each month. Pei Qian could only wish to spend as much money as possible on renovations. After all, there were very low risks involved in pouring money into renovations.

Liang Qingfan blinked and then realized that he had misunderstood Boss Pei. What did he mean? Boss Pei had not thought that twenty million was too much, but too little?

Liang Qingfan frowned as the cogs in his brain turned at full speed.

“Boss Pei, I understand now.

“Do you want to renovate the apartments exquisitely and luxuriously to give these ordinary houses a luxurious character? Is your aim to rent these apartments at high prices to tenants who would not be sensitive to price?

“The previous apartments were huge and expensive, leaving us with very little choice of tenants other than ballers. However, these new apartments are much smaller, and the buildings are cheap. Are you planning to make them look grand to attract ordinary petit-bourgeois and give them a chance to experience the high life…?”

Pei Qian: “Let’s not add a single cent to twenty million yuan.”

Liang Qingfan’s reminder suddenly made Pei Qian realize that there would be dire consequences to his actions.

The System had an upper limit for Sloth Apartments’ rent. Although it would take the extent of renovations into consideration, the prices would still be based on the location, area, and average price of apartments with such configuration.

The apartment that Pei Qian was living in could be pegged at such a high price because of its large surface area.

However, the new buildings were all small-sized. The apartments in the residential-commercial building were less than forty square meters while the apartments here were less than seventy.

What’s more, the former was a residential-commercial building and the latter was in a bad location. No matter how nicely they were renovated, the System would not allow Pei Qian to charge too high a rent.

He guessed that each apartment would cost about two to four thousand yuan.

If Pei Qian made the apartments look luxurious by spending large sums of money on branded sofas, gigantic televisions, branded furniture, and the like… and if Liang Qingfan designed the apartments well…

They would be able to dissuade particularly poor tenants, but they would also attract all the yuppies!

Those pretentious, cultural youngsters would see that the apartment was small, oddly-shaped, and had poor lighting; they would not be able to buy their own furniture, and they would face a lot more problems; and monthly rent would cost a thousand yuan more than other houses. However, the apartments looked grand!

Just one sofa would cost ten to twenty thousand yuan. For an additional one thousand yuan each month, those yuppies would be able to live a luxurious life. Of course, they would fight one another to stay in the Sloth Apartments.

After regaining his composure, Pei Qian understood that these apartments could not be as extravagantly designed and furnished as the previous ones. After all, the previous ones were huge, and few ballers in Jingzhou would be able to afford them. However, the smaller the apartment, the less sensitive tenants would be toward premiums.

Furthermore, these apartments were extremely small; limiting tenants to entire tenancies would be much less effective in dissuading people from renting.

“Let’s work according to the standard that you set earlier-twenty million yuan. Spend three hundred thousand yuan on renovating each apartment here and 150 thousand yuan on renovating each apartment in the residential-commercial building. That’s it, then.” Pei Qian emphasized once more.

Liang Qingfan: “…”

Wasn’t Liang Qingfan supposed to understand Boss Pei’s intentions better? Today was only his first attempt, and yet he was already failing so badly?

Indeed, this was a technical job that required much more practice. Liang Qingfan had thought that he already understood Boss Pei’s way of thinking. However, just as he voiced out his thoughts, Boss Pei ruthlessly slapped him across the face.

He could not help but feel disappointed.

Yet, as Pei Qian looked into Liang Qingfan’s eyes, the former could not help but grow in appreciation.

Good. I like brothers like those who are not good at hiding their words and who say things as they are!

The other employees try to figure me out behind my back and then don’t tell me when they think they’ve figured me out. You work at understanding me right in front of me and then tell me exactly what you understood.

You’re teachable because you correct me before I have a chance to take a possible misstep!

Pei Qian cleared his throat. “Mr. Liang, I asked you to be the person-in-charge of Sloth Apartments earlier. Have you considered it?

“Of course, more accurately put, you would be a partner. You would enjoy the treatment of Tengda Corporation’s higher management, and you’ll be awarded a bonus each month based on your project’s initial investment and rating on TPDb.”