What would this project cost, and would it get financed?
A screen, not a study. For a duplex, an apartment community, a hotel, a retail center, self storage, a car wash, a gas station or a medical office: cost to build from 2026 surveys, income from local rents and rates, the loan a lender would size, the equity you need, who lends on this kind of project in your county, and the market tests professional developers run before they commit. Run it before you pay for the study your lender will require.
Built for
- Duplex, triplex or fourplex2 to 4 units
- Apartments50 to 300 units
- Hotel60 to 150 rooms
- Retail center15,000 to 100,000 sq ft
- Self storage50,000 to 100,000 net sq ft
- Express car washone express tunnel
- Gas station and convenience store3,500 sq ft store, 12 to 16 dispensers
- Medical office10,000 to 40,000 sq ft
What is in the screen
- Cost to build, three ways
Land, hard cost, soft cost, contingency, interest reserve and fee in a low, typical and high case, from HVS, NAHB, Terrapin and 2026 cost surveys, with the source on every line.
- The loan a lender would actually size
Loan to value, debt service coverage, debt yield and construction loan to cost, whichever binds. For a duplex or fourplex you live in: FHA, VA and conventional rules, 2026 limits and the self-sufficiency test.
- The equity you need, and your gap
What you must bring against what you have, and what closes the gap: a partner, a seller note, a smaller building.
- What the pros check first
Jobs per permit, pipeline against stock, who can afford the rent, vacancy, storage per resident, traffic, flood zone. The thresholds homebuilders, developers and REITs use, scored for your county.
- What makes a pro walk away
Development spread, negative leverage, exit cap, land share, leverage, appraisal below cost. Each tested, each sourced to a developer who said it on the record.
- Who lends here
Every bank branch and locally headquartered bank in the county, and the SBA 7(a) and 504 loans made for this kind of project there since 2010, lender by lender, with charge-offs.
- Demand and supply
Residents and private jobs, rents and vacancy, permits in the pipeline, competing supply against the state rate, hotel tax receipts, traffic counts at the site.
- PDF and a saved screen
A document you can hand to a partner, a lender or a broker. Adjust size, land, equity and the site address on the same project as often as you like.
What the people who build say they look at
The screen is built around what professional developers and public homebuilders say on the record. A few of them:
“Employment levels and job growth; income level of potential homebuyers; local housing affordability; availability of land and lots in desirable locations on acceptable terms; land entitlement and development processes.”
D.R. Horton, annual report FY2025. The factors it weighs before putting capital in a market, from its filing with the SEC.
“Our business is predicated on job growth. Job growth drives not just multifamily but single-family housing.”
Sean Rae, Crow Holdings Development, 2026. Multifamily Executive, September 2026.
“We’re not getting deals approved in which the exit cap rate is under 5.5 percent.”
Annie Hirst, AMLI Residential. InterFace Multifamily panel, REBusiness Online.
“It doesn’t take many assets to get your supply and demand out of whack in a smaller city.”
Bob Faith, Greystar. The Real Deal.
“Nothing can affect the future performance of a hotel more than unexpected changes in the supply dynamics.”
Luigi Major, HVS. Hospitality Net.
“Use per capita as a yellow flag, never a red or green light.”
Garrett Byrd, Radius+, 2026. On self storage square feet per person.
“When you build new, you are paying retail for everything.”
Richard Golding, BiggerPockets, 2026. On building versus buying a duplex.
Questions
- Who is this for?
- Anyone pricing a project bigger than a storefront: a duplex or fourplex you might live in, 50 to 300 apartments, a 60 to 150 key hotel, a strip center, a storage facility, an express car wash, a gas station with a store, or a medical office building. On land you own, land you are looking at, or just a city.
- Is it a feasibility study?
- No. It is the screen you run before paying $7,000 to $80,000 for one. Lenders, the SBA and HUD require an independent study; this tells you whether the project is worth that spend, and what the study will have to prove.
- How accurate are the numbers?
- They are published 2025–2026 benchmarks and public county data, each with its source and a low, typical and high case. They are not bids, appraisals or loan quotes. Expect the ranges to hold and the point estimates to move.
- Does it work outside Texas?
- Cost, income, financing, rents, permits, jobs, population, renter incomes, competing supply, banks and SBA history are national. Traffic counts and hotel tax receipts are Texas only for now, so those two panels say so elsewhere.
- Can I change the inputs after I pay?
- Yes. Size, segment, land price, equity, the live-in question and the site address can be adjusted on the same project without another purchase. A different project type or city is a new screen.
- What is the refund policy?
- An unused screen is refundable within 7 days. Once a screen has run it is delivered and is yours to keep; it is not refundable.
Opening a storefront or a service business instead? That is the $59.99 Neur Report.