Building Multifamily instead of buying

[Benjamin Pifer]

I'm having trouble landing any good deals in my area. I've put in offers/bids but have been beat out every time. Properties are basically selling for more than what I would purchase them for for decent cash flow. I'm starting to wonder if I should try building my own multifamily instead of buying. I have a little bit of an advantage. My grandfather bought 14 acres of land about 15 years ago and had it divided up and zoned into multifamily and commercial zoning. He also put in infrastructure including paved entrances and all the water/plumbing for the land. He passed away before finishing developement and it now belongs to my father who has been open to the idea of basically giving me some of the land to build on. I have a decent chunk of cash from inheritance too. I'm starting to think it might be a good idea to just build there instead of buying something built. My main concern is how to figure out the cost of building so I can know if it'd be a good deal. It seems more difficult than just running the numbers on something already built. Any thoughts/ideas from anyone who has built their own multifamily? How did you figure out the costs for it? Thanks in advance!