The development budget in DealWorthIt isn't a form with fixed boxes — it's a list of cost lines you build yourself, one line per cost, each declaring how much, when it's spent, and who funds it. Draws, interest and total development cost are all built from these lines, so the budget is where the whole calculation starts.
Anatomy of a cost line
- Category — Land acquisition, Hard costs, Soft costs, FF&E, Developer fee, Other project costs, or Contingency. Categories organize the reporting; they don't change the math. There's one rule: at least one line in a category other than Contingency must carry a positive amount before the project calculates.
- Basis — a fixed amount, per unit, per gross SF, per rentable SF, or a percent of other named lines. Nothing is derived for you: a developer fee or contingency is only a percentage of costs if you choose that basis yourself.
- When it's spent — see the curves below.
- Funded by — every line must say whether the equity-and-loan stack may fund it or equity only. This is required with no default, because the funding order the financing section runs is only as honest as what each line declares.
Spend curves — when the money goes out
Each line spreads its amount over its months with a spend curve:
- Straight-line (the default) — equal per month. Front-loaded and back-loaded tilt the spend toward the start or end; the S-curve follows the classic slow-fast-slow construction pattern.
- Custom — your own monthly weights (which must sum to exactly 100%) or explicit monthly amounts (which must sum exactly to the line's amount). Deliberately strict: your declared schedule is never quietly renormalized to fit.
- Single month — the whole amount in one month; typical for land at closing or a fee due on a date.
Rounding is handled honestly: every month books its weighted share and the final scheduled month books the residual, so a line's schedule always sums to its amount exactly.
Tracking an overrun
A line can carry an original and a revised amount (advanced). The effective amount is the revised one when present, and the difference is reported as Declared overrun — reported, not modeled: a real overrun is expressed by editing the line, and the overrun figure exists so the change is visible rather than silent.
What rolls up
Total development cost is built from the funded ledger: the cost lines, capitalized interest and financing fees through the exit — with cost per unit, cost per gross SF and costs before interest alongside so you can quote whichever basis the conversation needs. The loan payoff at exit is repayment of capital, not a development cost, and isn't part of it.
What the budget is not
It's a forecast, not a job-cost ledger: there's no percent-complete or cost-to-complete tracking, no draw-request reconciliation, and no automatic cost escalation over time. Financing costs don't live here either — origination and other lender fees, and interest, belong to the loan and are handled by the financing section.
Common questions
- "Where do I put closing costs on the land?" — As lines. Land acquisition is a category like any other; split the purchase and its costs into as many lines as you want visible.
- "My custom curve won't save." — The weights must sum to exactly 100% (or the amounts to the line total). The strictness is the feature: what funds and draws is precisely what you declared.
- "Why is a line unfunded?" — The budget says how much and when; whether a source can actually pay it is the financing section's funding order. An unfundable line is reported, never quietly absorbed.
