What were you doing when you were 24 years old? Many of you were probably just enjoying working life after walking out of the university gate.

But Donpiwat Preedawiphat, the eldest son of the Preedawiphat family who run the country's leading producer of steel for construction - the Lao Peng Nguan Group - founded his own property business: Thanapat Property Development.

At the suggestion of his father, Donpiwat, 27, thought the property-development business would be the best choice at that time.

Fortunately for him, it has been a big time for the country's property industry since 2000, after flopping from the economic crisis of 1997.

Riding on the right track brought Donpiwat a big success with his first townhouse project of 35 units on Arun-Amarin Road. The project was sold out within a few months after its launch. He recognises the point that should hit customers' hearts.

"If you're a buyer, you should not make a decision to spend millions of baht on a house from unknown developers," he says.

The property-business amateur revealed that one secret to success at the time was being a son in the Preedawiphat clan. The Lao Peng Nguan Group has earned a name for trustfulness and honesty among its trading partners in the construction industry for more than 30 years.

Only a few might know that behind the success of such renowned projects as Rama VIII Bridge, Suvarnabhumi Airport and the industrial ring-road bridge were steel products provided by the Lao Peng Nguan Group. And its major clients include CH Karnchang, Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction and Italian-Thai Development.

Donpiwat started Thanapat Property Development with seed capital of less than Bt1 million. He borrowed some money from a commercial bank to finance the first project. After closing the sales of his first project, he put up two more town-house projects on Rama III Road and Suksawad Road. He received as much as Bt300 million in loans from financial institutions.

Competitors began launching similar residential projects. However, his company still closed project sales within six months after launching.

Donpiwat never stopped walking. He tried to develop a high-rise property project like a condominium when a chance knocked on the door. He joined hands with his father's friend, a veteran in the construction industry, to set up a 50:50 joint venture for putting up a Bt500-million condominium in Sukhumvit Soi 24. The project features eight storeys with 78 units.

As he said previously, there have been new entries in the property-development business. The young entrepreneur with a bachelor's degree in business administration from Bangkok University, where he graduated in 1999, began to add more designs into his residential projects, in order to differentiate them from those of his rivals.

Since 2004, the houses developed by Thanapat Property Development have been vivid with their own unique designs. There are now five functional home lifestyles: family, entertainment, spa, steam and work. For example, for the family, the home was designed to have a large living room, while the spa model is provided with a spa room.

The company's target group is young executives or young businesspeople who earn not less than Bt100,000 a month.

"As for me, I like having a large workroom," says Donpiwat.

In the first three years of operation, the company had a target of opening two to four new projects a year. But some new projects planned for launch this year have been postponed, because Donpiwat waits to assess influential factors such as interest rates, oil prices and customers' buying behaviour.

This year, only one new project has been launched by the company. Next year, he expects to launch three or four property projects, including one in Phuket.

Apart from finding ways to offer customers the best product, Donpiwat also found a lot of problems behind his beautiful houses. One was a shortage of contractors causing construction delays. All these things gave developers a larger burden of production costs.

He fixed these things by screening professional contractors. Thanapat Property Development now deals with more than 20 contractors. Despite facing the routine problem with construction, he still focuses on property development as its core business.

"We train our staff to become property developers who have skills in turning vacant land to whatever is the highest added-value project," he says.

Currently, Donpiwat has 100 staff to help him run a company with registered capital of Bt1 billion. In the next stage, he plans to list his company's shares on the Thai bourse. For the first nine months, the company expects a net profit of Bt60 million on revenues of Bt1 billion.

"Our key success is hitting the heart of customers and working fast," says Donpiwat.

"Most of our staff are younger than 30 on average, resulting in the same way of thinking, working and developing products."

In addition to learning from others, he also applies all the good things from successful businessmen to his own principles in doing business. He learned the way to behave with modesty from Dhanin Chearavanont, chairman and CEO of the Charoen Pokphand Group, and how to reorganise the company from Banthoon Lamsam, CEO of Kasikornbank.

"I enjoy doing my work and will be stepping ahead," he says with confidence.

"Someday, everyone will recognise the name of Thanapat. We would like the company to become one of the country's top five property developers."

Sasithorn Ongdee

The Nation