Has anyone used PS Corporation (Aust) Pty Ltd based in South Melbourne?

Welcome to the forums twiggymcg.

That does seem high, and may take up some of your profits. It depends how much, and how willing are you to share that profit for the experience?
I don’t know the company but I’d suggest looking around at other service providers who can also put you in the right direction. If you can find a buyers agent down there with investing experience, they can find you a place that meets your requirements and a good one will know what local developers are paying for them. (Don’t want to sound biased as I’m a buyers agent but there are licencing requirements if you’re buying property for people, so do be aware of that). Their fees may be a lot less than 24k, although many do charge 1-2% of purchase price. On top of buying at the right price they should be able to put you in touch with other experienced professionals (eg surveyor, planner, architect) who have been there, done that, and are happy to help.

The trick with getting a helping hand to start you off, is being clear about who’s getting the best deal. Newcomers can be easy targets for a big margin for businesses. The parties who are doing it for you will certainly have their own network of professionals who they want to work with, but check who they are and if you want to work with them down the track. If you’re planning on repeating the process it’s worth building relationships to help you in future. Are their service fees higher than what you’d pay if you were a regular customer? Sometimes these close relationships have kickbacks all over the place, and you don’t get the best outcome. And is the main provider you’re signed up with happy to have you by their side at every stage, or do they prefer interstate or time-poor investors who are more hands-off?

Speak to council and see if you can sharpen up your numbers, they can give you accurate costs and explain the process. Subdivs are mainly about paper shuffling, up to construction stage anyway if you are doing a build as well, so you’ll be dealing a lot with your surveyor/planner primarily. Council will also be able to give you a hand with the “subdivisability” of a block, free of charge. If you can find out from council which DAs have been for subdivisions, check out who’s drawn up those plans and follow up with the architect for more leads. Sometimes the best way to learn is by getting your hands dirty, rather than having someone hand it to you on a plate. If you’re intending to do more developing, personally I’d lean more in favour of spending time with councils and seeing the portfolios of subdivisions done by experienced surveyors and town planners. It’s not wasted time, it’s building a strong foundation to keep moving forward time and again.

I’d prefer to retain control and deal personally with all the service providers myself. Choose wisely and you’ll find they have enough experience to guide you in the right direction as part of their job description, no extra fee required.

There’s one thing you can’t have and that is a guarantee when it comes to town planning permits. You would probably need to under-develop the site to assure? a positive outcome. Even then there are many variables out of your control.