Question
How do you calculate true development profit?
A builder-friendly definition of true development profit, including land, hard costs, soft costs, financing, sales costs, and timing.
Guides
Residential development guides
Clear explanations of the numbers behind residential development.
The section focuses on what Bivvit can credibly explain now, without pretending to have market benchmarks before the underlying dataset is sufficiently useful and comparable.
Start here
Definitive builder-friendly answers
Each article opens with a direct answer, then gives the formula or definition, why it matters, an illustrative example, caveats, how Bivvit handles the issue, and related questions.
Question
What is the difference between hard costs and soft costs?
A practical definition of hard costs and soft costs for residential builders and developers.
Question
How do you calculate construction budget variance?
How residential builders should calculate and interpret construction budget variance after a project closes.
Question
How does financing carry affect developer profit?
How interest, fees, timing, and project duration change residential development profit.
Question
How do you perform a completed-project review?
The records, calculations, and questions builders should use after a residential development project closes.
Question
Why does project-level accounting data need normalization?
Why cost codes, budgets, actuals, timing, and project definitions must be normalized before residential projects are compared.
Question
What is original budget vs actual cost?
How builders should compare the first project budget with final actual cost after a project closes.
Question
What should developers measure after a project closes?
The essential financial and schedule measurements a residential developer should capture after closeout.
Question
Cost per square foot vs cost per unit: which should builders use?
How to choose between cost per square foot and cost per unit when comparing residential development projects.
Question
How do construction delays affect project returns?
How extra time can reduce residential development returns through carry, sales timing, and capital recycling.
Question
How do you compare multiple completed development projects?
A practical method for comparing completed residential development projects without forcing false benchmarks.
Question
What should a developer learn before building the next pro forma?
What completed projects should teach residential builders before they underwrite the next deal.
Methodology
How Bivvit treats project records
Bivvit explains how residential development metrics are defined, normalized, calculated, and interpreted, while separating documented facts from open questions.
- How to calculate true development profit
- Hard costs vs. soft costs
- How to calculate construction budget variance
- How financing carry affects developer profit
- Original budget vs. actual cost
- How to perform a completed-project review
- What developers should measure after a project closes
- Why project-level accounting data needs normalization
See what happened on your own project.
Send us the records from a completed project. We’ll organize the numbers, show you what happened, and help you understand what to carry into the next one.