Mr. Pei’s sudden praise left Liang Qianfan stunned.

After being dazed for two seconds, Liang Qianfan said somewhat embarrassedly, “But Mr. Pei, it’s not just about the design plan, there’s also the cost issue!”

“Just take this apartment for example, the property itself only costs 500,000, but a complete renovation and decoration would cost at least 300,000. The decoration would cost almost as much as the property itself! It’s too impractical.”

“And you bought two buildings at once, a total of 32 units. If we decorate according to the 300,000 standard, the decoration fees would amount to nearly 10 million…”

“The previous commercial-residential building, too, a total of 77 units, with each unit decorated at a standard of about 120,000, which would also cost 10 million.”

“With some margin, the decoration for these apartments alone would cost 20 million…”

Mr. Pei fell silent.

Liang Qianfan heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Mr. Pei had simply not calculated the economic cost before. He probably just saw that the properties were cheap and wanted to buy them, without considering the decoration expenses at all.

Although the decoration cost for the building in City Dawn was also high, it had a large area!

Moreover, that was a high-end decoration, which could be rented to the wealthy.

This apartment was already in such a dilapidated state, no one would buy it or live in it, yet it would still cost at least 300,000 to decorate. This was just too unreasonable!

It wasn’t that it was useless, but the cost-performance ratio was too low.

However, after a moment of silence, Pei Qian asked, “20 million… can we go higher? Would it be difficult to add another 10 million?”

Although buying the buildings had already spent most of the money from the box office of “Beautiful Tomorrow,” AiLiDao had started distributing revenue share!

After winning the award last month, the views of “Beautiful Tomorrow” on AiLiDao were skyrocketing, and under the revenue-sharing contract, large sums of money were being credited each month. Pei Qian couldn’t wait to spend more money on decoration, after all, spending on decoration seemed to be the least risky way to spend money.

Liang Qianfan blinked, realizing he had completely misunderstood.

What did this mean? Mr. Pei didn’t think 20 million was too much, but rather too little?

Liang Qianfan couldn’t help but frown, his brain working rapidly.

“Mr. Pei, I understand now.”

“You want to use exquisite design and luxurious decoration to give these properties in ordinary locations a luxury attribute, so that you can rent them at a premium to tenants who are not sensitive to price?”

“The previous property had a large area and high rent, so the choice of tenants was also narrow, and it could only be rented to the wealthy; while these newly acquired buildings are all small units, and the buildings themselves are very cheap, so you intend to attract ordinary middle-class groups through this luxurious decoration method, essentially providing them with an opportunity to experience a luxurious lifestyle…”

Pei Qian: “…20 million, not a penny more.”

With Liang Qianfan’s reminder, Pei Qian suddenly realized that this could indeed lead to serious consequences.

The system set a rent ceiling for Sloth Apartments’ properties, and although it would consider decoration, it was mainly based on the average price of properties in the same location and with the same area.

That’s why the large flat that Pei Qian lived in previously could command such a high rent, mainly because of its large area.

But these newly purchased buildings all had small units; the commercial-residential building had less than 40 square meters, and the properties here were only just over 60 square meters. Moreover, the former was commercial-residential, and the latter had a poor location. Even with the best decoration, the system would not allow Pei Qian to set very high rents.

It would probably max out at the 2,000-4,000 range.

If at this point Pei Qian were to luxuriously decorate these properties, spending a fortune on branded sofas, huge TVs, expensive furniture, etc., and having Liang Qianfan design them…

It would indeed deter some particularly poor tenants, but it would also attract those middle-class people!

Then those artsy young people would look and think, although this property is smaller than others, has an odd layout, poor lighting, can’t accommodate their furniture, and has a bunch of flaws, and the monthly rent is more than a thousand more expensive than other properties, but it’s a luxurious decoration!

Just the sofa alone is worth ten to twenty thousand. Paying an extra thousand in rent to enjoy such a luxurious lifestyle, wouldn’t they be breaking down the doors to move in?

Pei Qian caught onto this logic and realized that these properties truly couldn’t be luxuriously decorated like the previous one. After all, few wealthy people in Jingzhou could afford to rent the previous large flat, but the smaller the unit, the less sensitive tenants were to premium pricing.

Moreover, with such small units, the rule of only allowing entire rentals would be greatly compromised.

“Let’s go with the standard you just mentioned, 20 million. Decorate the properties here at a standard of 300,000 per unit, and the commercial-residential ones at a standard of 150,000 per unit. That’s settled.” Pei Qian emphasized once more.

Liang Qianfan: “…”

Wasn’t he supposed to try to understand Mr. Pei’s intentions more?

He had just tried today and failed on the spot?

Indeed, this was a technical job that required more practice.

Liang Qianfan had thought he already understood Mr. Pei’s approach, but as soon as he voiced his thoughts, he was mercilessly slapped down by Mr. Pei.

He couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed.

On the other hand, Pei Qian’s gaze toward Liang Qianfan became even more appreciative.

Good, I like this kind of brother who can’t hide his thoughts and says whatever he thinks!

Other employees understand behind my back, and they don’t tell me even when they understand; you understand right in front of me, and you express your understanding completely.

You’ve helped me correct a potential mistake. A teachable young man!

Pei Qian cleared his throat: “Mr. Liang, about what I mentioned earlier, asking you to be the head of Sloth Apartments, how are you considering it?”

“Of course, to be precise, it should be as a partner. You can directly enjoy the senior management benefits of the Tenda Group, including monthly bonuses based on the TPDb website ratings and project investment.”

Liang Qianfan became even more tempted.

A month ago, Mr. Pei had already expressed his intention to recruit him, and at that time, Liang Qianfan, with the idea of showing some restraint, didn’t immediately agree.

During this month, Liang Qianfan had also learned more about Tenda and had already made up his mind.

He had to join! The benefits were too good!

As the person in charge, he could receive very generous bonuses based on the project’s reputation and investment, which would be crushing compared to his previous studio in terms of income.

Moreover, working with a leader like Mr. Pei would be a huge boost for his career development!

Liang Qianfan almost agreed immediately, but after hesitating for a moment, he said, “Mr. Pei, may I make a small request?”

Pei Qian couldn’t help feeling a little pleasantly surprised.

Oh, this young man could withstand the temptation of Tenda’s benefits and was still bargaining with him?

Not bad, I like this kind of young man who bargains with me, it saves me the trouble of racking my brains to find reasons to increase your salary.

Come on, squeeze me hard!

Pei Qian nodded: “Of course, feel free to ask!”

Liang Qianfan cleared his throat: “Mr. Pei, I’ve noticed that you have many physical stores, and they’re continuously expanding, including Slackin’ Internet Café, Slackin’ Takeout stores, Tuoguan Fitness, and so on.”

“I will, of course, decorate Sloth Apartments without hesitation.”

“But I’ve noticed that the decoration of your other stores seems a bit ordinary. If you plan to renovate all these stores in the future… could you entrust this task to me as well?”

“No other reason, I just feel that the current store style doesn’t quite match Tenda’s level.”

Pei Qian couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed.

Just this?

Aren’t you going to take the opportunity to ask for a higher salary or something?

But thinking about it, this proposal wasn’t bad either.

Pei Qian nodded: “Of course, I’ll leave it all to you! So, after you finish with Sloth Apartments, start looking around. Whichever store is doing good business, you decorate that store!”

If it were in the past, when Slackin’ Internet Café hadn’t become popular, Pei Qian would definitely have flatly refused Liang Qianfan’s request.

What renovation? Why renovate when we’re losing money so well now?

But now, things were different.

Slackin’ Internet Café was already popular, already packed, renovating it again wouldn’t make it more popular or profitable, and it would cost decoration fees and prevent business during the renovation period.

Coming and going, how much money would be lost?

It was such a good deal!

So Pei Qian emphasized, letting Liang Qianfan specifically choose those stores that were making a lot of money for renovation, and those loss-making stores, like Tuoguan Fitness, could not be touched at all.

Liang Qianfan nodded: “Yes, Mr. Pei, thank you for your trust in me!”

Although he didn’t quite understand why Mr. Pei wanted him to start renovating the profitable stores first, Liang Qianfan didn’t ask further. After all, entrusting such an important matter completely to him already showed Mr. Pei’s trust in him.

“Alright, Mr. Pei, then I’ll create a few renderings based on the characteristics of the new housing types shortly. After you select one, I’ll immediately find a construction team to start work!” Liang Qianfan couldn’t help but feel full of energy.

The commercial-residential building was easier because the hard decoration was mostly done, mainly focusing on soft decoration, which could be completed relatively quickly; the apartments in the lakeside district were more troublesome, with two entire buildings requiring hard decoration, needing a large number of construction teams, and the construction period would be very tight.

Of course, the advantage was that all the unit types were the same, so one design plan would suffice.

“Select renderings? No, no, no, no, there’s no need to create new renderings, just use the same style as before,” Pei Qian emphasized, “minimalist style.”

After thinking for a moment, he added, “Smart home systems and big TVs aren’t necessary; you can consider the cost about the overall decoration budget. The important thing is the overall style, it must be consistent!”

That big TV cost 240,000, and it was a limited edition nationwide; even if he wanted to buy more, he couldn’t. Moreover, Pei Qian was also worried that if he equipped such small units with such expensive TVs, what if many people broke down the doors just to rent the apartment for the TV?

After all, the rent for these small units would be much cheaper than the large flat in City Dawn.

It was better to stick with the bare walls style, ensuring a deterrent effect on ordinary people, while also avoiding excessive luxury that might attract a group of artsy youth or the middle class.

Liang Qianfan was stunned: “Use the minimalist style here too?”

“Mr. Pei, the newly purchased buildings are all small units, and using a minimalist style in small units would have a greatly reduced effect; moreover, storage space is even more important in small units. If we eliminate it all, these properties will be uninhabitable.”

Pei Qian couldn’t help but beam with joy.

Reduced effect? Uninhabitable?

Excellent!

This is exactly what I want!

Even professional architects think this is unsuitable. How could I possibly make money with this?

Absolutely not!

Pei Qian smiled slightly: “Don’t worry, this is the style of Sloth Apartments. Since it’s the same brand, the style must be unified, right?”