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Last week, I mentioned that I was at the last few days of my Due Diligence Period (where I took a look at the property in Harrisburg and had to make a final decision on whether to move forward or not). This is both an exciting and a scary time - for someone who is exploring just re-starting home building again (after a hiatus of about 8 years). In case you just joined my weekly newsletter - I'm taking you inside the mind of a Home Builder (me) who is exploring a lot in uptown Harrisburg, PA....

Good morning, My Friend! As the Easter season is in full effect, I can't help but think how the age-old question of "Which came first? The chicken or the egg?" applies to where I'm at right now with this building project in Harrisburg. OK - full disclosure: that question has nothing to do with Easter. It was just my attempt at pulling it together with "egg" to start off this email. I hope you'll bear with me. 🙃 Anyway, I'm torn between WHAT to build on these lots and HOW TO ESTIMATE to fully...

Good morning! Last week I announced that I entered into an Agreement to buy an infill lot in uptown Harrisburg, PA. That Agreement included a 20-day "Due Diligence" period - a time where I look a little more closely at the project to see if it's feasible and/or I'm willing to move forward. So - this is what I've been doing in the last week (and what Home Builders often do when they enter into a Due Diligence period): I reviewed the Zoning Ordinance for the City of Harrisburg, and I determined...

Good Tuesday morning to you! This email will wrap up my series on the basics of homebuilding financial terms that you need to know. Stick around until the end - as I have some exciting (but, admittedly, scary) news to share! If you've just joined my newsletter (thank you very much), the past few weeks, I've reviewed: Assets Liabilities Owners' Equity Revenue All of these things are primary headers on your financial reports (the Balance Sheet and the Profit/Loss Statement). The final financial...

Happy Tuesday Reader! This email is a continuation of my series on understanding basic homebuilding finance terms and concepts. In the past three emails, I've covered the three parts of a Balance Sheet: Assets Liabilities Owners' Equity Now it's time to review the two primary classes of financial data on your Income Statement: Revenue Expenses I want to focus on Revenue this week, and I'll wrap this small financial series up next week with Expenses. For those of you who have joined this...

Happy Tuesday Reader! This email is a continuation of my series on understanding basic homebuilding finance terms and concepts. In the past three emails, I've covered the three parts of a Balance Sheet: Assets Liabilities Owners' Equity Now it's time to review the two primary classes of financial data on your Income Statement: Revenue Expenses I want to focus on Revenue this week, and I'll wrap this small financial series up next week with Expenses. For those of you who have joined this...

Good morning Reader, Let's say you've been reading my last few emails where I've been talking about the importance of putting together a consistent schedule template. And let's say you recognize that it is important to have a baseline to measure against. Let's even say you've locked your Superintendents in a room and created the baseline. Now you may be saying to yourself, "Now, what?!?" OR - truth be told - you might be saying, "Yeah. That's pie-in-the-sky thinking and there ain't no way my...

Good morning, Reader. On this snow-covered morning (at least here in Central PA), it seems like a good morning to gather around a fireplace and hear a story told by yours truly. Imagine me sitting in a comfy chair in my robe and slippers. A bubble pipe hanging from my mouth and a big storybook in my lap. I open it up and start to read - and you're transported to the magical world of new home construction. The Three Superintendents Once upon a time, there was a Home Builder who just wanted to...

Happy Tuesday, Reader Last week, I wrote about how Home Builders often take schedules one-at-a-time (like I did). And the problem with that was that you just keep doing things the same way - and - you never learn or get any better. So - how do you start getting control of schedules in a homebuilding business? You create a Schedule Template. What's a Schedule Template? Quite simply, a Schedule Template is just a pre-determined set of construction activities that are arranged in an order to...