First Subdivide - looking for Contacts, Engineers and Advice

[Ryan Young]

Hello Bigger Pockets Friends!

I'm working on my first subdivide and could use any advice and suggested resources. This is an ideal scenario where the land owner is a family friend so they're willing to work with me. It's 161 acres in one of the fastest growing counties in the country, Kaufman, Texas. The property has several gas easements on it, but we've figured out the ideal layout... for now. This county wants to stay more rural, so we are keeping this subdivide pretty simple and creating two acre lots for now, until the county tells us otherwise. I know that the original plan will not be the final plan, just a starting point. 

My plan is to seller finance the property in phases. I would do a joint venture but the property owner wants no risk. The frontage road is a nicely paved county road so these lots will have the least amount of cost to develop. There is already electricity running to the property and across the middle of it. I am looking to develop 8 two acre lots first along the frontage road. Then I plan to use the proceeds to fund the rest of the development. Right now I have an initial site plan and we are working on a drainage plan to start the conversation with the county. Being a newbie, I couldn't get a civil engineers attention b/c they are all too busy with so many people moving here. The one's that would give me attention wanted a $10,000 retainer just to begin the conversation. Needless to say, I looked for other options. I got resourceful and found some international engineers that did the initial drawings for me. Needless to say they were far less than $10,000 and they even gave me the CAD files. I know my next step is to figure out my expenses for the whole project in order to figure out how the seller finance phasing structure will work. Once I have all the costs, I can present my proposal to the land owner and go meet with the county. 

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to price out the expenses to develop 66 lots on 161 acres without first having to pay a civil engineer a retainer? I'm also looking for any civil engineer referrals and or any advice at all. 

Thank you in advance, your insight is greatly appreciated!

-Ryan