Builder FAQ's

Q: What are the advantages of building infill projects?

A: Infill development means building in existing urban and suburban areas. Infill can take the form of a single house, a smaller community, say 6-8 homes or, a multifamily project.

For the small to medium size builder/developer, there’re many advantages to infill development. The main advantage is a proven location. By building in places where you already know people want to live, you can build to that individual market. Rather than guess at values and what sells, in an established neighborhood, values are already established.

Building in an established neighborhood means built-in demand since now, people want to live closer to jobs, schools, shopping etc. With these neighborhood amentias already in place, your job of marketing is much easier. When you create infill housing, you also have less product parity, meaning that there are fewer new homes competing with yours.

Also, infill can be easier to permit. Governments are encouraging more dense neighborhoods, this can result in more flexibility in zoning and development standards and less infrastructure cost. Ultimately, infill can reduce the risk of a new project. Inhabit understands infill and can help you locate and permit your new infill project.

Q: How is what you do different from what a surveyor or civil engineer does?

A: Development is filled with many technical challenges, grading, storm water retention, structured fill, etc. What’s important to remember though is that solving technical challenges is only part of a successful project.

For a project to succeed, it has to excel at both at the technical and market levels. We believe the best way to initiate any project, is to start with the end in mind. Articulate your project goals, (financial, unit count, sell through, green, etc) and work back from there. So, before you commit to a certain site plan, grading plan or development strategy, evaluate it against these goals. Getting a high lot count doesn’t help you, if you build a product that isn’t selling. A mis-match with what you build and the market just increases your market time and lowers your profit.

Obviously, surveyors and engineers have an important part in any project team. However, their approach is by nature technical. Just because something can be built, doesn’t mean it should be built.

Our approach is a little different, we call it LandAtecture. We believe that value is created early-on in a project. It is created by informed analysis to identify your best development options and innovative site and development planning.

Ask inhabit
Everyone’s project is unique. Do you have a question about yours you’d like answered? Just ask inhabit. Our expertise encompasses architecture, development planning and brokerage. Send us an email and we’ll give you the straight scoop.


Ask Now!