Hard Cost for Land Development

[Mark Monroe]

What's a great way to figure out hard cost for residential land development, back of a napkin? I know each state will be different, is there also a good resource find out the difference cost per state?

[Jamie Hora]

I dont think there is a very simple answer to your question.  If you are wanting just back of the napkin, the best way would be to find someone locally who has completed projects similar to the size of what you are looking at and have their experience be a point of basis.

In general you will have the soft costs: Surveying, Entitlements, Civil Engineering, Geotechnical Testing.  

For hard construction costs, you really need a preliminary site plan for esimtating cost. If you get an engineer/architect involved to create a preliminary site plan, these questions below can be answered.  Main factors for the development costs:

1. How much linear footage of roads will need to be installed. (Length of watermain & san swr usually correspond 1:1 with length of road).

2. Are water/sanitary mains existing at the boundary or frontage to your site? If not, will the developer be fully responsible for extending City services, or will City cost-share in this. 

3. What are the existing grades & topography of the site.  Will retaining walls be needed? Will dirt need to be hauled in or hauled offsite?

4. What is the stormwater/detention requirement for the jurisdiction. Can the site flow water directly offsite (highly unlikely)? Is detention required? If so, the space of a detention pond needs to be included as a reduction of the acreage you have available for developing. 

If you have a preliminary site plan with those answers, you should be able to request some general estimates from contractors. Depending on the level of information provided, expect their numbers to be inflated. 

Hope this helps get you on the right track!