Property development can be a profitable business if you're able to get into it. If you're new to the development game and looking to make your first project a success, you've probably realised that the profit you make can be significantly diluted if you get too much help and hire too many contractors. Yet the profits can also decline when your project takes longer than it should.

Because of this last point, there's one person you should definitely hire to help with your first property development project — a town planner. Here are the reasons knowledgeable town planners are more than worth the cost.

They can prevent problems you'd never see

When you have an experienced town planner on your team, you'll have someone who will have many projects under their belt and a good working knowledge of pretty much anything that could go wrong. If they don't already know the requirements for the area you're developing in, they know how to find out quickly and thoroughly.

If you do it on your own, there's plenty you could miss, which will lead to significant delays or even the need to abandon your project.

They know how to streamline the permit process

Applying for planning permission is a major headache with an extensive application to prepare and various pieces of documentation to gather.

Instead of struggling through it, get a town planner to help. They can prepare the whole application for you or give you enough input to do it more easily yourself, and they'll be able to warn you about anything that could be a problem after it's submitted.

They can free up a lot of your time

When you're in the planning stage of your development project and awaiting approval, there's likely to be a lot of back-and-forth communication with your local authority. This can take up a considerable amount of your time and drag you away from other important tasks.

In most cases, your town planner will be happy to act as a liaison on your behalf, so they can deal with things without your involvement and fill you in later.

They'll make the unexpected a lot less stressful

Property development projects go wrong, no matter how much care you take. They tend to do it when you least expect it, especially when you're new to the whole thing.

One of the things that can happen is that your planning application gets rejected and you need to go to court to appeal the decision. Having a town planner to work with is incredibly valuable if this happens, as they can help maximise your chances of getting your project back on track.