Wealth Opportunities in Commercial Real Estate: Management, Financing, and Marketing of Investment Properties

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

A ground-up construction project consists of making a thousand-plus decisions from the big picture to minute details. Appendix G, on the companion website, attempts to break down the decision process into the broad construction categories and then covers some of the big picture issues that must be resolved within the subcategories. I refer to Appendix G as a “Construction Decision Tree.” The trunk or major issues leads to branches or minor issues that leads to smaller stems or more detailed concerns. In addition to highlighting major areas that must be addressed, Appendix G also focuses on Code-required areas such as building height or City-required landscaping or lighting. Furthermore, Appendix G attempts to point out some of the sensitive areas that are often overlooked and if so, may create serious problems in the future such as a failure to install separate electric meters for tenants that have equipment with heavy energy usage or the lack of planning for water shut-off values in dental offices so as to avoid after-hour breaks that might relate to dental equipment that could result in major flooding. A comprehensive outline of all of the potential decisions that might have to be addressed is beyond the scope of this text, but Appendix G on the companion website sets forth a rough outline of the major areas wherein decisions of construction type or other concerns must be addressed.

The developer must also be conscious that during the construction ...