Planning Stage

Hire a Civil Engineer

A local Civil Engineer is needed to design your stormwater planning and grading plan. You will need these plans before you can get a building permit. Your city’s planning department may be able to recommend a good local civil engineer. Another source of leads for engineers can be to see who has done work on other nearby projects (self-storage or other commercial work), or for newer developments, check and see who designed the over overall development.

Hire Feasibility Consultant

If you are uncertain about the your project or if your lender requires it, a third party feasibility study can help determine if the project is worthwhile, as well as advise you on unit mix, estimated rent up speed, and project size.

Interview a General Contractor

If you are building a complex project, if local regulations require it, or if you do not have time available to oversee the construction process, you should consider hiring a General Contractor to manage the construction process. A General Contractor will add a layer of expense to the project, but he or she may save you money by reducing waste and rework, negotiating better rates with subcontractors, and getting you open quicker which can reduce interest expense. Large, complex projects may also require an architect. Trachte’s building package includes stamped structural plans from a licensed structural engineer. Our staff will collaborate with you and other member of your design team throughout the planning and construction process.

Get Land Under Contract

Before investing in design work, you should have the land under contract. When making the offer to purchase, your goal is to maximize the amount of time you’ll have to get all approvals and permits before closing on the property. This will help reduce interest expense and if your loan includes an interest only period, it can allow you to extend that period further into the rent-up process to help your cash flow. You want to avoid the possibility that you invest time and money into the approval and permit process only to have the seller back out of the deal or renegotiate terms.

Choose Management Method

Determine your desired management style for first phase as well as long term plan – these decisions will guide some construction elements such as office or kiosk enclosures and mechanical design.

Create your site plan

With the land under contract, you are ready to spend the money on a detailed site plan. You’ll start by locating the retention pond if one is needed, then create rough layout of building outlines while considering the elevation changes on the property. Fill in the unit level details next. Once the layout and site mix are right, continue with stormwater, mechanical and landscape design. If the project will have an office or architectural features, those also need to be planned on in detail.

Watch a webinar on the topic of site planning here.

Create your Mechanical Plans

Your subcontractors will need to know where everything will be before they can quote it. You may be able to create your own plan for very simple projects. Most projects will benefit from the assistance of a professional engineer or architect to create lighting, life safety, and mechanical (HVAC, water, conduits) plans.

Create a Detailed Financial Projection

With solid plans in place, you are ready to create a projection with the level of detail that your lender needs.

The detailed unit mix along with your competitor research gives you the basis to create a very specific income projection.

With the construction plans developed, you are ready to request bids from your contractors.

The Advanced Investment Calculator tool makes it easy to formulate a very detailed financial projects for your project.  Watch our webinar for more guidance on how to use it.