A little while back, I came across some extra marketing collateral of ours that was previously in circulation with the motto of “Make the Numbers Work.” Some of the collateral may or may not have had an expletive gesture mixed in of “!!@!%#!!@!!”. You get the point.
It was all good fun, and I thought it was great!
That’s the foundation of getting a new project out of the starting blocks. Make the Numbers Work! Of course, a project has to pencil for it to make sense for the developer and investors. An easy way to do that is to start cutting finishes and amenities, but that will not help you compete in the market or get the rents you need. Sometimes, it is needed to get you there, but it often doesn’t even get you a good bang for your buck.
You should first try to attack what’s “behind the walls” to save on costs. These are things that residents don’t see; this doesn’t help you lease it up but can add up to big savings. Another avenue is to rethink your amenity spaces and overall square footage in a way that may allow you to add some more units, whether it be repositioning the amenities or making the appropriate spaces smaller when possible, and then you can add units with the square footage gained.
It’s typically not easy and needs a collaborative development team. We’d love to hear from you if you need some help, Making the Numbers Work!
Don Diedrick
Director of Business Development
The Douglas Company
