My First Commercial Development

[Rich Hupper]

I am going to be orchestrating the construction and development of my first commercial building this year. I have the vision, the land, the money, a trusted attorney/engineer, the right zoning and acreage. I do not have the know how to do all the site work or construct the building, however I know a lot of contractors who can do the work. Can any seasoned developers tell me some of the pitfalls they experienced with their first development? I know there will be many. My vision is to construct a steel building for contractors, and other small business owners to lease space to run their businesses. 

Thank you

[Michael Jones]

@Rich Hupper I actually have a book coming out on this in the next month.

If you've never done this, I would highly recommend a GC. While it's possible that you'll come out ahead managing the contractors yourself, I think this will take longer and have a higher probability that one of your contractors will do a less than desirable job.

You should make darn sure you get a good engineer that the city will vouch for.

Pad your budget/estimate by 20%. Theres going to be surprises.

Absolutely, positively DO NOT START until the plans are 100% approved by the city. Do not rely on an estimate until the plans are approved by the city. Things will change. Even if the city approved the first round, they always have things they catch and want to change at the final approval.