That’s where most first-time developers get surprised - not because the deal was “bad,” but because approvals, utilities, environmental issues, or municipal politics stretched timelines and burned capital.In Upstate NY especially, relationships with zoning officials, planning boards, engineers, and utility providers matter as much as capital.

• Are you using umbrella policies, specialty endorsements, or standalone environmental policies?

Great topic — ground-up projects can produce strong margins, but execution risk is where many investors get caught off guard.From the builder/developer side, the biggest challenges we consistently see are:1️⃣ Site Work UnknownsFill, compaction, drainage, and soil conditions can shift budgets quickly — especially in markets where lot conditions vary significantly.2️⃣ Utilities & Impact FeesWater/sewer access, well/septic requirements, and local impact fees are often underestimated during underwriting.3️⃣ Environmental FactorsProtected species, wetlands, and flood elevation requirements can affect both timelines and build costs.4️⃣ Permit TimelinesApproval periods — particularly when civil or environmental reviews are involved — can extend holding costs beyond initial projections.5️⃣ Builder Execution CapacityProject success often comes down to the operator’s systems, trade relationships, and cycle times — not just the numbers on paper.Because of these hurdles, we’re seeing more investors lean toward ready-to-build projects — where feasibility, plans, and permitting are already in progress or completed — as a way to reduce entitlement risk and shorten timelines.Ground-up can be extremely rewarding, but the upfront diligence and execution planning are what ultimately determine outcomes.Always happy to compare notes with other investors and builders working through similar projects.

Every component of a house comes with a design life.

A comp on the other side of town is 305k.

Environmental, zoning/use, and survey are the biggest due diligence items in commerical.

The asset itself doesn’t really change much year to year.Campgrounds feel almost inverted.A lot of the risk is front-loaded and structural: zoning, environmental constraints, infrastructure costs, layout decisions, access, utilities, and seasonality.

Cost seg is simply the art and science of teasing out the individual depreciable components of a multi-component asset.

Diversity is a fundamental component.  

Structural problems are things no amount of money fixes: a terrible floor plan, shared systems that cap your rent upside, environmental issues, zoning restrictions, a neighborhood that is genuinely declining rather than "transitional," or a property that is functionally obsolete for what today's renters want.The "sits on market" signal is useful but it needs context.