When discussing our built environment, people often mention "the code."

However, there isn't really one "code," and most people have no reason to know exactly how codes affect our towns and cities.

When trying to illustrate the complexity of the rules that shape our built environment to someone new to the industry, I've found it helpful to start by explaining the different types of codes.

This is my cheat sheet: 1 - Zoning Code: The town's/city's overall vision.
Divides land into districts (residential, commercial, industrial, etc).

Sets rules for:
-Building height & size
-Lot coverage
-Density (units per acre)
-Parking requirements
-Permitted uses

Sometimes zoning is approved through an administrative process that simply reviews proposals vs. the code requirements.

Other times, new projects are reviewed by elected or appointed committees, which can make the process less straightforward and overall more costly.

You know those 50-page documents with complicated charts that contractors issue (AKA schedules) and that nobody looks at?

You need to look at them & reviewing them is not that hard.

This is how I do it & the things I look for:

1-Procurement

2-Buy-outs

3-Submittals

4-Installation (trade overlap)

5-Milestones 1-Procurement
This is the most important part of a schedule. Every trade should have a schedule for when they are planning to purchase materials.

It should be based on material lead times.

Not knowing when materials will be purchased can be a major issue on a project.

Reviewing the procurement section for each trade is key. This is the time to question long-lead times & plan accordingly.

When building or renovating your own house, it's not always reasonable to have counsel review a contract.

Whenever my friends ask me for help ensuring they have good contracts for their home projects, these are the things I tell them to watch out for: On Business terms:
- Termination for convenience with notice.
- No 'breakup' fee.
- No nonrefundable deposits if the project doesn't go forward.
- Determine who is handling all permit requirements (if applicable)
- Establish a budget & a schedule as exhibits to the contract.

From working on dozens of branded hotels, here are 12 design standards that boutique hospitality can borrow from their less ‘hip’ cousins.

(Hope you enjoy the "beautiful, magical, art deco" images h/t midjourney)

1 - Full-length mirror. Every room should have a full-length mirror, no exceptions. Bonus points for mirrors installed in the public areas/elevators that can provide a last glance before leaving the hotel. 2- Blackout option. The option to fully black out light is a must! This requires covering the window fully, at the top, the sides, and the middle.

Most brand standards require a 2-4" curtain overlap at the middle closure and a valence at the top that extends 6-8" beyond the sides of the window opening.

Bonus points if you can make all devices in the room have a 'night' or 'dark' mode so they do not emit light if undesired.

Whenever I hear someone talking about how easy it would be to convert an office building to residential, I think of the first repositioning project I ever worked on.

500K SF of semi-vacant office into 500+ luxury rental apts. 1958 vintage building w/ some asbestos & a complex structure. The entire building (30+ floors) transferred via plate girders at the 5th floor to accommodate a triple height space below.

The floor plate also set back every 10 floors, then every 3 floors.

Quick primer for anyone in tech looking to 'disrupt' anything in the world of real estate or construction: 1- The industry isn’t complex b/c we don’t use software.

It’s complex because we rely on uniquely human skills that are impossible to replace.

This is why one software solution doesn’t serve everyone who interfaces with it.

As promised, this is #1 in the series of posts breaking down 6 Construction Management tactics every developer should know.

#1 How to review a pay application.
This is a fundamental responsibility of a GP, and it will require that you become familiar with the standard AIA G702 and G703 documents.

Ensuring the project accounting follows reality is critical. When reviewing a pay app, there are six things to check for: 1- Is it notarized? While this is not a legal requirement, many lenders require it.

2-That a lien waiver is provided. Lending agreements always require some type of waiver. Additionally, most states have construction lien waiver laws. Ensuring your waivers follow local law and lender requirements is crucial.

The best way to accomplish this is to review the waivers as part of the pay application review process.

The close-out of construction is not the time to begin collecting releases, especially when the lender requires subcontractor lien waivers since subs that finished their scope early in the project may no longer be easy to contact.

People often ask me "what is the craziest thing you've ever worked on?"

The answer (until now) has been: turning a plane into a bar.

...and while the project was uniquely challenging on its own, it was the schedule that made it extra wild.

Start date April 12. Target opening May 15th.

This is a quick story of turning a plane into a bar. The plane is a 1958 Lockheed Constellation (dubbed Connie).

Connie's journey started many months before this story.

The story of the journey is for another time.

After she arrived in NY, a lot had to happen before we could get started on the interior work.

Quick primer for anyone in tech looking to 'disrupt' anything in the world of real estate or construction: 1- The industry isn’t complex b/c we don’t use software.

It’s complex because we rely on uniquely human skills that are impossible to replace.

This is why one software solution doesn’t serve everyone who interfaces with it.

When building or renovating your own house, it's not always reasonable to have counsel review a contract.

Whenever my friends ask me for help ensuring they have good contracts for their home projects, these are the things I tell them to watch out for: On Business terms:
Termination for convenience with notice.

No 'breakup' fee.

No nonrefundable deposits if the project doesn't go forward.

Determine who is handling all permit requirements (if applicable)

Establish a budget & a schedule as exhibits to the contract.

It is only fitting that the most aggressive schedule I've worked on was also on one of the most unusual projects I've ever done.

Start date April 12. Target opening May 15th.

This is a quick story of turning a plane into a bar. The plane is a 1958 Lockheed Constellation (dubbed Connie).

Connie's journey started many months before this story.

The story of the journey is for another time.

After she arrived in NY, a lot had to happen before we could get started on the interior work.

Have you ever wondered how your house works?

Here are 6 things most homeowners should know about their house (especially those who hope to DIY home projects). 1- Water shutoff valves & electrical panel locations. (Nobody likes to see their living room turned into a swimming pool)

2- Utility entry points & routing to the house for water, electrical, sewer, gas & cable. (That corner of the yard may not be the best spot for a new tree)

Weekly update.

Good weather continued (except for 1 day) so we had lots of progress.

We got the final list of framing ‘deficiencies’ at inspection & addressing them this week.

Reinspection early next week. Meanwhile, downstairs: passed 4-way & insulation started last week. Insulation inspection is today & drywall install also starts today.

This means we spent time over the wkend ensuring we were happy with the location of all ceiling elements.

Cheat sheet on development timelines (assuming a ~$60M multifamily residential project):

How long to select a contractor?
8-12 weeks

How long to negotiate a construction agreement?
12-16 weeks How long to find & hire an architect or engineer?
8 weeks

How long from schematic to completion of construction documents?
12 mos

How long from schematic to permit set?
6-8 mos

How long to build (assuming nothing exotic)?
24-30 mos

In another episode of small business ownership...

At the beginning of the year, my computer was hacked, & all passwords were stolen.

It was unclear how they got in, but none of the antivirus measures I had in place caught it.

There were two issues I had to deal with: 1-Securing my information

2-Ensuring the bug wasn't still actively stealing passwords

When this first happened, I wasn't sure what they were after, so securing the most sensitive data was the first step.

When building or renovating your own house, it's not always reasonable to have counsel review a contract.

Whenever my friends ask me for help ensuring they have good contracts for their home projects, these are the things I tell them to watch out for: On Business terms:

Termination for convenience with notice. No 'breakup' fee.

No nonrefundable deposits if the project doesn't go forward.

Determine who is handling all permit requirements (if applicable)

Establish a budget & a schedule as exhibits to the contract

6 simple strategies you can borrow from large RE development shops to better manage the construction process: 1. Create a set of standards for all work.

From contracts to design aesthetics and performance.

Create a working doc to memorialize what works, what doesn't.

For the new faces & old faces (that still don't know what I do):

I am a professional project manager on the design & construction side of RE development.

I run my own shop, but in the past, I've worked in-house with some of the country's largest developers. At MADDPROJECT, we rep proj. owners from design & const. team selection through proj. completion.

Over the past 5 yrs, we have completed:
~$1B over two million SF - multi-fam (>1,000 units) & hospitality (>600 keys)

~$10M Bespoke hospitality TI work

Across 30 jurisdictions.

From experience working in multi-family projects, we have gathered 7 rules of thumb for non-luxury apartment product that help us work very quickly assess project feasibility: 1) 12' bays. This magical dimension accommodates frontage for standard living rooms & bedrooms. It is also structurally feasible to span w/ wood or concrete. 1-beds req. two bays, 2-beds req. 3, etc.

It is only fitting that the most aggressive schedule I've worked on was also on one of the most unusual projects I've ever done.

Start date April 12. Target opening May 15th.

This is a quick story of turning a plane into a bar. The plane is a 1958 Lockheed Constellation (dubbed Connie).

Connie's journey started many months before this story. The story of the journey is for another time.

After she arrived in NY, a lot had to happen before we could get started on the interior work.

Some data & observations after going through Culture Index onboarding a few weeks ago:

53% of ppl are 'passively disengaged' at their job

13% of ppl are 'actively disengaged'

This means 6/10 ppl you reach out to that are otherwise employd will take your call for an opportunity Lack of engagement can come from many factors, but it is mostly related to poor management.

One of the most common mistakes I see management make is underappreciate & undercompensate excellent team members.