Diplomatic developer finds Niche success

THIRTY years ago Paul Bitdorf escaped the clutches of repressive communism in his native Poland in search of a better life as far away as was possible – in Western Australia.

Last week, the successful Perth businessman became Poland’s first honorary consul in WA.

It is an amazing transition that highlights not only the enormous changes that have taken place in Eastern Europe during the past couple of decades, but also offers insight into the opportunities this state offers for newcomers who are starting with almost nothing.

Mr Bitdorf is managing director of Nicheliving, a company he co-founded about 10 years ago with fellow directors Danne Forte and Ronnie Elhaj.

Nicheliving followed on from Mr Bitdorf’s early career in real estate, which began after he found that, upon arrival, his masters degree in environmental engineering was only needed in the more remote parts of Australia.

“As a fresh new migrant I was hesitant to go to the bush,” Mr Bitdorf said.

He believes it was his business success – recognised by being a finalist in the 2009 National Ethnic Business Awards – that drew the attention of the Polish government, which was seeking a representative in fast-growing WA.

Mr Bitdorf claims Nicheliving is unique in the property development world, doing everything from buying the land, subdividing it and then creating home-and-land packages for the houses the group builds. It even offers finance, wealth management advice and property management services for property investors.

Furthermore, Nicheliving has targeted affordable housing as its market segment, aiming to present quality homes mainly for under $300,000.

Mr Bitdorf said Nicheliving’s attitude to affordability was that it included the long-term management of the building, which means each house is architecturally designed to fit the block and is orientated to take advantage of that position.

The trade-off with this bespoke building approach is that Nicheliving gets the most out of the land, using that higher cost design to maximise density.

“We don’t do little dog boxes on pieces of land without any recognition of direction and energy consumption,” Mr Bitdorf said.

“Affordability is not only the initial price you pay, it is also how much it will take to live in that home.”

The business claims to have developed $400 million in affordable housing, with turnover reaching $150 million and a permanent staff of 45.

The challenge for Mr Bitdorf’s group is that it only wants to develop on parcels of land of 8,000 square metres or more in established suburbs so that residents can take advantage of existing infrastructure, which is also part of the affordability message.

“That is hard in established suburbs, we are very opportunistic,” he said.

“We amalgamate land, we buy surplus land from churches and shopping centres.

“Land is the biggest challenge because we are very fussy.”

Mr Bitdorf is looking forward to his role as consul, believing he can help Polish and Australian companies connect to do business.

He said it was very much a business development role, although he is also connected with the general Polish community in Perth.

Poland has a rich mining history going back centuries, Mr Bitdorf said, and both the Polish government and Australian mining companies have recognised the potential links. Local resources companies had already held recruitment drives there.

“There are a lot of middle management and mining workers that are definitely world class,” he said.

But one of the things that attracted him to Australia, the distance from Poland, was one of the biggest challenges to doing business and recruiting people from there today – especially as the central European nation has remained economically robust despite the woes of others in its region.

“There is the tyranny of distance.”