No doubt every developer would like to have all units of a new project sold out by the time construction is finished. But finding holiday home buyers and convincing them to invest their hard-won money can be a trick for up-and-coming developers. Not so for Bay Shore Projects, a small Phuket company that specializes in marketing and building — and selling out — small-scale projects aimed at value-conscious buyers.

Company founder Michael Petersen came to Phuket 18 years ago, starting in construction of holiday-home projects. With 15 years of experience building locally, Bay Shore Projects moved into developing and marketing its own projects only three years ago. The company’s just-finished Rawai Condominiums represents the biggest undertaking to date, but Bay Projects already has larger projects in the works. Developed in partnership with a successful holiday-home developer from Greece, Puro Resort will be a 250-unit sports-oriented resort community on 30-rai of land in Hua Hin.

The secret to Bay Projects success? Sales Associate Heinz Adrian explains that it comes from finding a good market niche, offering properties that represent real value and only marketing their own projects.

“A lot of companies come to us to sell their properties, and we don’t do it,” Adrian says.

Work on the Rawai Condominiums project started two years ago, and construction broke ground six months later. With a five-storey building surrounding a common swimming pool, the development offers 41 one- and two-bedroom units of 60 to 180sqm each. All come with a balcony, and units on the upper floors have a views out to Chalong Bay and Koh Loan or across the hills of Rawai. From the roof, residents and guests can take in almost the entire sweep of the southern tip of Phuket from one of Rawai’s highest vantage points. A small restaurant will operate on the roof offering snacks for sun worshippers enjoying the view. Only the two penthouse suites remain unsold.

Adrian says that Bay Projects markets through agents in Europe, mainly France, Scandinavia, Germany and Belgium. Often, he adds, buyers spread the word more effectively than any advertising campaign.

“Our main business is actually word-of-mouth,” Adrian says. “We sold three apartments in the Rawai Condominiums to one guy, and he came back with five friends. It’s amazing. All these people write me from Russia, Eqypt, the States.”

Rawai Condominiums developed by Bay Shore Projects, 123/7 Moo 4, Rawai. 08-4247-4818. www.bayproject.com.