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forumposter123@protonmail.com's avatar

When I built my old SFH land cost was 23%. It was a larger then average lot though, if I had gotten one of the more cookie cutter small lots it could have been less. Hard costs (labor and materials) was under 50% (can't remember exactly).

Sales cost (broker commission) and taxes were big. The town for instance charged $50,000 simply for the right to build a unit in the town. There there were all sorts of other town, county, and state taxes and fees. I get the impression this portion of the costs would be scalar, as in if I built a two unit property many of the fees would be twice as much.

Overall, it seemed like the town had calculated what the consumer surplus on new building would be and then charged fees that captured most of that surplus.

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bnjd's avatar

"But of course, remember this requires a rezoning, which means the developer probably has to spend several years fighting for permission to do the project."

How much does zoning, permitting, and other local compliance issues add to soft costs? These are examples of soft costs?

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