Development budget and draw profile
Land, hard and soft costs, contingency, fee, S-curve.
By Surojit Chakraverti, founder of L3VLUP and an investor running a long-short healthcare and technology equities strategy.
On this subject: development budget and draw profile.Updated 2 October 2026
Part of real estate models, with the models, labs and guides around it.
What it does
What a building costs and when the money goes out. Land is paid at the start; hard costs follow an S-curve, slow while the site is prepared, fastest through the frame and the envelope, slow again at fit-out; soft costs (design, permits, legal) and a contingency are drawn alongside; the developer fee is a percentage of hard and soft costs. The cumulative cost by quarter is what the funding schedule has to meet.
Where it lives
The same schedule in each model that carries it, with the rows to open. Open a model in the browser, go to the sheet, and click the lines.
- Assumptions, rows 6–8: Quarter number, Refinance at the end of quarter (stabilisation), Sale at the end of quarter
- Assumptions, rows 11–16: Land, paid at Q0, Hard costs, total, Hard cost draw profile (S-curve), Soft costs: design, permits, legal, % of hard costs…
- Budget, rows 6–15: Land, Hard costs, Soft costs, drawn with the hard costs, Contingency…
What a reviewer looks for
- Hard costs drawn evenly.
- No contingency, or a contingency on land.
- The developer fee charged on land.
Learn it, then build it
Vocabulary: Yield on Cost, Profit on Cost.