MODEL DESIGN
How to Build a Construction Project Cost Tracker
Overview
ARTICLE IN PROGRESS
We're writing a deep engineering essay on DV-004. How we built it, the design choices behind it, and how to use it. The model itself is live and available today.
DV-004 is the cost ledger for a development project. Budgeted, committed, and spent at the GL line-item level from land closing through stabilization. It is the single source of truth for development costs and the handoff bridge into the DV-1xx pro forma series, so the pro forma and the actual project remain in sync.
Planned Sections
When the full piece is published, it will cover:
- The cost ledger problem: budget vs committed vs spent at GL line-item granularity.
- Design choice: single source of truth for development costs.
- Design choice: handoff structure into the DV-1xx pro forma series.
- Design choice: contingency draw tracking.
- What the tracker is not (it is not a project schedule, not a draw certification).
- How to use the tracker from land closing through stabilization.
For an example of the engineering-essay format this article will follow, see how we engineered AQ-141, the Multifamily Opportunistic Pro Forma Model.
About the Model
DV-004 is an Institutional-tier, cross-asset construction project cost tracker. GL line-item ledger, contingency draws, handoff structure to the pro forma series. Built for REPE developers needing a single source of truth for development costs through the build.