Argus Bits

What Are Affordable Housing Requirements? In more affluent and expensive housing markets, it is often common that a local jurisdiction...

Land Planner vs Civil Engineer? In the creation of grading and site improvement plans, the effort usually requires the services...

The Role of Structural Engineers? In last week's post, we talked about the various design phases of architecture.  The final...

Phases of Architectural Design? In looking at a scope of work for an architect, you might see the scope refer...

The Role of Land Brokers? It seems that the role of a land broker can vary from market to market,...

How Do Deposits Work? When making an offer for land, the Letter of Intent contains the price being offered and...

Grant Deed vs Deed of Trust? With respect to title reports and title insurance, you can tend to hear a...

Raw Land? Paper Lots? Blue Top Lots? Finished Lots? During the process of land acquisition, the condition of the lots...

Purpose of Cash Flows? Having started my career as a financial analyst, I ran a lot of pro forma models...

Key Consultants for Entitlements? As a land developer, the commencement of an entitlement process will mean you need to hire...

Bonds and Bond Exoneration? It is very typical that a local jurisdiction will require bonds to be posted prior to...

Why A Dry Utility Consultant? One of the key consultants in land development is the civil engineer, who is responsible...

What Is Forward Planning? In land development and homebuilding, I have often heard the term “forward planning” and have also...

What Makes Sites Inefficient? In a previous post, we talked about rules of thumb for density based on lot sizes...

What Defines A Small Project? If you are land developer or a land broker trying to sell land to a...

Balancing Dirt Onsite? When a land planner or civil engineer is starting a grading plan design, one of the prime...

The Role of Gravity In Site Planning? When creating a site plan design, a land planner or civil engineer will...

Why Cluster Lots In A Site Plan? When the site plan design begins, the lot sizes and dimensions are driven...

Converting Retail Uses To Residential? For many years in California, one of the toughest sales to a city was the...

Using Resales As Market Comps? When looking at a potential project and conducting the market analysis, the best market comps...