Argus Bits

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...

What Are Street Sections? In our last post in talking about public and private streets, we referred to the street...

Public vs Private Streets? In most site plans and tract maps, I would think that the streets are designed to...

HOA - Is It Necessary? It seems that most residential developments have a homeowners’ association established, especially if you compared...

Right-of-Way Dedications? In our last post, we talked about rules of thumb for density relative to lot sizes and product...

Density - Rules of Thumb? During the initial stage of land development, a developer needs to conduct some fairly thoughtful...

What Does "Land Residual" Mean? During the land acquisition process or in the financial analysis, “land residual” is a commonly...

Key Needs To Start Preliminary Engineering? Before a civil engineer can start the preliminary engineering and project design, some key...

Is Annexation Difficult? Here in California, we have the Local Agency Formation Commission (better known as LAFCO), which oversees the...

What Are Technical Studies? During the entitlement process, many states require some form of assessment as to the environmental impacts...