Breaking Down a $1M+ Real Estate Development (28 Townhomes)

An onsite breakdown of a 28 townhome development: how a project this size is structured from land to exit.

Fircrest site development is finished. Utilities are in, roads are paved, curbs and sidewalks are poured, and the public landscaping is installed. This is the handoff moment: the developer’s job is done and the builder’s job starts.

What finished looks like

There was already an existing sewer main, so the work was connecting laterals rather than extending a system. The roads are paved, and the green marks on the fresh asphalt are the locate crew marking the sewer lines, with water lines running to each meter box. Power was trenched earlier and the equipment is now installed: a transformer, a pedestal, and a junction box, all placed by the power company.

Even after passing inspection, the utilities get located again so the city inspector can physically see them in the ground during his walkthrough. Every lateral is stubbed out and staked with a spray painted 2x4, plus sewer cleanouts for required access.

Public versus private, and why it matters to your budget

As part of the approval to create the lots, the public sidewalk and the landscaping in the right of way have to be installed at the developer’s cost, and then they are no longer his. Everything from the property line back stays private and will belong to the eventual unit owners. That public improvement work is a real line item that people forget when they price a subdivision.

One item still outstanding: the cluster box unit for mail. It gets installed near the end of vertical construction, because the city does not need it now.

As-builts: proving you built what was approved

With the site work done, the surveyor comes back and maps everything: every sewer line, every water line, the curbs, the sidewalk, the asphalt, and the heights of all of it. That becomes the as-built plan set, meaning as actually built. It goes to the city, which compares it against the approved civil plans and signs off.

Running the two tracks in parallel

While the plat works its way through recording, the vertical side is already moving. Construction plans are drawn, structurally engineered, and in city review. First round comments came back and the resubmittal goes in this week, with approval expected in two to three weeks.

Both tracks have to finish before building starts, so running them at the same time rather than in sequence is what removes months from the schedule. The plat has to be recorded and the building permits have to be approved. Waiting for one before starting the other is a self-inflicted delay.

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