Property Developer Show - The Podcast

Steve Carnes is a property developer with over 30 years’ experience in the industry, having worked at Knight Frank and Savills, before moving into property development full-time. Since then, he’s delivered north of £1 billion in GDV across city centre conversions, tower buildings and large-scale mixed-use schemes.

In this episode, Steve pulls back the curtain on what large-scale development actually involves, from navigating complex planning processes and the challenges of developing in city centres, to how his materials increased by £2million overnight, why it can genuinely be easier to borrow £50 million than £5 million, his unfiltered take on Manchester versus London, and how he structures deals to protect against the risks most developers don’t see coming.

If you’ve ever wondered what separates developers working on 1-2bed strategies from those taking on major tower and mixed-use developments, this is the episode to listen to.

🎟️ Join us live at the Property Developer Show as we tour different cities across the UK in 2026! Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to connect, learn, and grow within the property development community.
Register for free tickets at: https://propertydevelopershow.co.uk

🎟️ Commercial Property Expo is heading to Manchester on 4th November 2026! The UK's first must-attend event dedicated to the world of commercial real estate, investment, and development.
Grab your free ticket at: https://commercialpropertyexpo.co.uk/

🏡 Partner offers for property entrepreneurs:

PDBC: £50 off a 12-month membership: A dedicated discount club that gives property developers & landlords access to exclusive deals, discounts, and preferential rates on the products and services you use regularly. Use code: PDS to secure the discount: https://pdbc.uk/

GoHighLevel: 30-day free trial: Your all-in-one CRM and automation hub to manage deal pipelines, client communications, handle follow-ups and help you simplify your process: https://www.gohighlevel.com/property-developer-show 

TerraQuest: Find and assess land using exclusive data from national planning portal: https://www.terraquest.co.uk/

📱 Property Developer Show:
https://instagram.com/propertydevelopershow/
https://tiktok.com/@propertydevelopershow
https://linkedin.com/company/property-developer-show
https://facebook.com/propertydevelopershow

Contact Steve:
https://www.meadwaydevelopments.co.uk/
https://instagram.com/meadwaydevelopments/
*Steve has since confirmed that the Chester development was renamed HQ Chester

00:00 Coming up
00:21 What does it take to be a successful property developer? 
01:46 Steve’s property journey 
08:05 Property Developer Show
08:40 Commercial Property Expo
09:20 What risk really looks like in large scale development
14:03 Over £1billion GDV
14:25  Favourite scheme to date  
17:24 Planning process
20:33 Planning corruption  : the red line that shouldn’t exist
26:04 How to keep moving forwards in a difficult market 
28:47 AI in property development
32:41 Knight Frank, Savills and building the northern market
36:51 TerraQuest
37:18 Property Developer Buying Club
38:03 Making the transition from agent to developer
41:11 How Steve structures and funds deals
50:38 Going from £100k to £1million
52:16 How to follow Steve & reach out

Property Developer Show ©️ serves solely as a podcast platform. The perspectives and opinions presented by our guests, sponsors, and third-party contributors are independent and do not represent our own views, nor should they be considered as investment advice. We do not provide guidance on investment strategies for individuals or organisations. It is recommended that all investment decisions be approached with caution under the supervision of professional advice. Some episodes, descriptions, or related content may contain affiliate links. If you choose to use these links, Property Developer Show may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Property Developer Show is a trading style of Voxity Media Ltd. ©️ 2025 Voxity Media Ltd.

Dion Ferra went from homeless at 17 to building a property portfolio, after working as a labourer and mechanic while running his own 500-client mechanic business.

Dion joins us for this special bonus episode of To The Point to answer seven quick-fire questions. From what he'd do if he were starting again today to how he learnt about property, this episode is packed with insights from an active SME property developer. 

To hear Dion’s full episode, head to https://youtu.be/xLFIt0xZMy8

🎟️ Join us live at the Property Developer Show as we tour different cities across the UK in 2026! Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to connect, learn, and grow within the property development community.
Register for free tickets at: https://propertydevelopershow.co.uk

🎟️ Commercial Property Expo is heading to Manchester on 4th November 2026! The UK's first must-attend event dedicated to the world of commercial real estate, investment, and development.
Grab your free ticket at: https://commercialpropertyexpo.co.uk/

🏡 Partner offers for property entrepreneurs:

PDBC: £50 off a 12-month membership: A dedicated discount club that gives property developers & landlords access to exclusive deals, discounts, and preferential rates on the products and services you use regularly. Use code: PDS to secure the discount: https://pdbc.uk/

GoHighLevel: 30-day free trial: Your all-in-one CRM and automation hub to manage deal pipelines, client communications, handle follow-ups and help you simplify your process: https://www.gohighlevel.com/property-developer-show 

📱 Property Developer Show:
https://instagram.com/propertydevelopershow/
https://tiktok.com/@propertydevelopershow
https://linkedin.com/company/property-developer-show
https://facebook.com/propertydevelopershow

00:00 Coming up
00:16 Property Developer Show 
00:51 Commercial Property Expo
01:31 If you were starting in property again today, what would you focus on?
02:57 How did you learn about property?
04:50 What is your favourite property strategy?
05:25 The best property or business books
05:46 Name 3 property people that inspire you 
07:06 What motivates you?
08:03 Your dream dinner party: 4 people, dead or alive 

Property Developer Show ©️ serves solely as a podcast platform. The perspectives and opinions presented by our guests, sponsors, and third-party contributors are independent and do not represent our own views, nor should they be considered as investment advice. We do not provide guidance on investment strategies for individuals or organisations. It is recommended that all investment decisions be approached with caution under the supervision of professional advice. Some episodes, descriptions, or related content may contain affiliate links. If you choose to use these links, Property Developer Show may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Property Developer Show is a trading style of Voxity Media Ltd. ©️ 2025 Voxity Media Ltd.

Georgia Braithwaite and Jacob Jones have built a pipeline  over £10 million. They started the traditional way (Jacob bought his first buy-to-let at 19), got serious with a mentor and haven't stopped since.  They currently have 12 active refurbs on the go. 

We get into what scaling a property business actually looks, the cashflow juggle, finding the right investors and why they love buying at auction. 

🎟️ Join us live at the Property Developer Show as we tour different cities across the UK in 2026! Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to connect, learn, and grow within the property development community.
Register for free tickets at: https://propertydevelopershow.co.uk

🎟️ Commercial Property Expo is heading to Manchester on 4th November 2026! The UK's first must-attend event dedicated to the world of commercial real estate, investment, and development.
Grab your free ticket at: https://commercialpropertyexpo.co.uk/

🏡 Partner offers for property entrepreneurs:

PDBC: £50 off a 12-month membership: A dedicated discount club that gives property developers & landlords access to exclusive deals, discounts, and preferential rates on the products and services you use regularly. Use code: PDS to secure the discount: https://pdbc.uk/

GoHighLevel: 30-day free trial: Your all-in-one CRM and automation hub to manage deal pipelines, client communications, handle follow-ups and help you simplify your process: https://www.gohighlevel.com/property-developer-show 

TerraQuest: Find and assess land using exclusive data from national planning portal: https://www.terraquest.co.uk/

📱 Property Developer Show:
https://instagram.com/propertydevelopershow/
https://tiktok.com/@propertydevelopershow
https://linkedin.com/company/property-developer-show
https://facebook.com/propertydevelopershow

00:00 Coming up
00:25 How we built a £10million development pipeline 
08:39 Property Developer Show
09:14 Commercial Property Expo
09:54 How we find deals
11:15 How to finance deals
15:39 Managing cash flow
19:41 How we find investors 
25:00 The biggest hurdles we’ve over one
39:50 TerraQuest
40:17 Property Developer Buying Club
41:02 How we do project delivery successfully 
44:40 Long-term vision
49:30 Lessons that have helped us scale 

Property Developer Show ©️ serves solely as a podcast platform. The perspectives and opinions presented by our guests, sponsors, and third-party contributors are independent and do not represent our own views, nor should they be considered as investment advice. We do not provide guidance on investment strategies for individuals or organisations. It is recommended that all investment decisions be approached with caution under the supervision of professional advice. Some episodes, descriptions, or related content may contain affiliate links. If you choose to use these links, Property Developer Show may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Property Developer Show is a trading style of Voxity Media Ltd. ©️ 2025 Voxity Media Ltd.

Rachel Knight is the founder of TitleSplit. A landlord since 2005 and former corporate sales director at one of the UK's credit bureaus, Rachel left a high-flying career in 2015 to do property properly and discovered a strategy that had been hiding in plain sight for centuries. Today she runs a training and consultancy business helping experienced landlords and developers extract enormous equity from properties they already own or are buying, through the structured process of splitting titles.

Rachel breaks down exactly what title splitting is and why 796,000 UK freeholds remain unsplit, because landlords and developers don't know how. 

🎟️ Join us live at the Property Developer Show as we tour different cities across the UK in 2026! Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to connect, learn, and grow within the property development community.
Register for free tickets at: https://propertydevelopershow.co.uk

🎟️ Commercial Property Expo is heading to Manchester on 4th November 2026! The UK's first must-attend event dedicated to the world of commercial real estate, investment, and development.
Grab your free ticket at: https://commercialpropertyexpo.co.uk/

Register for the TitleSplit masterclass which is usually £97, but for our listeners it's completely free: https://pages.titlesplit.com/TSFReeMCPropertydevShow

🏡 Partner offers for property entrepreneurs:

PDBC: £50 off a 12-month membership: A dedicated discount club that gives property developers & landlords access to exclusive deals, discounts, and preferential rates on the products and services you use regularly. Use code: PDS to secure the discount: https://pdbc.uk/

GoHighLevel: 30-day free trial: Your all-in-one CRM and automation hub to manage deal pipelines, client communications, handle follow-ups and help you simplify your process: https://www.gohighlevel.com/property-developer-show 

📱 Property Developer Show:
https://instagram.com/propertydevelopershow/
https://tiktok.com/@propertydevelopershow
https://linkedin.com/company/property-developer-show
https://facebook.com/propertydevelopershow

00:00 What is Title Splitting?
02:15 Best Title Split deals Rachel’s seen??
06:42 Commercial Property Expo
07:21 £1.04m uplift the same day
12:58  When can you split Titles?
23:27  How Title Splits are financed
29:09 Property Developer Show & PDBC
30:29 East London deal  - £1m profit
36:57 Rachel’s first title split 
41:15 Is this over-leveraging? 
46:01 Valuations on split blocks explained
54:08 How can people learn more 

Property Developer Show ©️ serves solely as a podcast platform. The perspectives and opinions presented by our guests, sponsors, and third-party contributors are independent and do not represent our own views, nor should they be considered as investment advice. We do not provide guidance on investment strategies for individuals or organisations. It is recommended that all investment decisions be approached with caution under the supervision of professional advice. Some episodes, descriptions, or related content may contain affiliate links. If you choose to use these links, Property Developer Show may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Property Developer Show is a trading style of Voxity Media Ltd. ©️ 2025 Voxity Media Ltd.

Dion Ferra’s journey took him from labourer, to mechanic and now property developer. Left homeless at 17, Dion quietly built a portfolio of social housing stock while running his own mechanic business with 500 clients. 

Dion breaks down the differences between investing and developing, why ground-up is a completely different game full of trap doors most people don't see coming. We get into the importance of team, killing your ego, building agent relationships, joint ventures, daily routines, and why if you think you're going to make quick money in property, you've already got it wrong. 

🎟️ Join us live at the Property Developer Show as we tour different cities across the UK in 2026! Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to connect, learn, and grow within the property development community
Register for free tickets at: https://propertydevelopershow.co.uk

🎟️ Commercial Property Expo is heading to Manchester on 4th November 2026! The UK's first must-attend event dedicated to the world of commercial real estate, investment, and development.
Grab your free ticket at: https://commercialpropertyexpo.co.uk/

🏡 Partner offers for property entrepreneurs:

PDBC: £50 off a 12-month membership: A dedicated discount club that gives property developers & landlords access to exclusive deals, discounts, and preferential rates on the products and services you use regularly. Use code: PDS to secure the discount: https://pdbc.uk/

GoHighLevel: 30-day free trial: Your all-in-one CRM and automation hub to manage deal pipelines, client communications, handle follow-ups and help you simplify your process: https://www.gohighlevel.com/property-developer-show 

📱 Property Developer Show:
https://instagram.com/propertydevelopershow/
https://tiktok.com/@propertydevelopershow
https://linkedin.com/company/property-developer-show
https://facebook.com/propertydevelopershow

00:00 Mechanic to property developer
02:25 How a passive portfolio let him walk away from his business
04:38 Commercial Property Expo
05:13 The mindset that removed the fear of starting over
09:55 Lessons learned from becoming a developer
16:15 What makes a successful property developer?
19:00 Big plans, land and Cambridge
20:16 How do you finance projects
23:18 Sourcing strategy
27:00 Property Developer Show & PDBC
28:21 Biggest challenges developers face
32:45 Top advice for aspiring property developers
39:20 Where to start if you’re new to development 
42:00 How to get in touch 

Property Developer Show ©️ serves solely as a podcast platform. The perspectives and opinions presented by our guests, sponsors, and third-party contributors are independent and do not represent our own views, nor should they be considered as investment advice. We do not provide guidance on investment strategies for individuals or organisations. It is recommended that all investment decisions be approached with caution under the supervision of professional advice. Some episodes, descriptions, or related content may contain affiliate links. If you choose to use these links, Property Developer Show may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Property Developer Show is a trading style of Voxity Media Ltd. ©️ 2025 Voxity Media Ltd.