I spent the last week working with 14 teams of grad students in the University of Miami's Masters in Real Estate Development + Urbanism program (MRED+U). Each of these teams of 4-5 people have been assigned an infill parcel in the Allapattah Neighborhood of Miami.  Their packet included a purchase price and the basic zoning information under the current Form-Based-Code Miami 21.  The team were typically a mix of  MBA candidates taking the class as an elective and students enrolled in the MRED+U program who are required to take the class.  Many of the MRED+U students come from urban design or Architecture.

Here's what I found myself explaining in various ways:

• Likely Rent is your first constraint.  Know what your tenants can afford to pay in rent.  If you can't get the rent needed to support an expensive building, see if you can build a less expensive building.
• If you are building a small project, look at the broad market for the neighborhood, but target staff from local institutions like the hospital and the airport.
• Understand how design impacts construction cost.  Know how the building code, the zoning code and the Fair Housing Act impacts the cost and complexity of basic building types.
• Form follows parking (especially in small infill projects). Figure out the most efficient parking approach early in your design and pro forma process.  The zoning may allow up to 5 stories, but may also require so much off-street parking that you don't have room to park the number of cars required by the number of units that you would build in the 5 story building.
• If you can't figure out what to build, try two very different designs to force you to weigh the trade offs in cost and revenue.  Keep them at the same level of detail to help you see the differences.

Watching bright and engaged people trying to figure out how to do something for the first time is very compelling.

When I hear the question "How Do I get Started as a Developer?"  it is usually followed by a string of questions which amount to "Can you draw me a map that will guide me through every detailed step to becoming a developer?"

People who are interested in this line of work come from a wide range of starting points.  A lot of them already have a fair amount of skill in one aspect or another of the built environment.  They may be very accomplished in one or more specialized areas as a contractor, broker, planner, activist, architect, or property manager.  They know enough about how things work to recognize that they have a lot to learn outside of the field that originally led them to development.

So let's group the skills a developer needs into 7 groups:

1. Urban Design, Site Selection, Site Planning and Civil Engineering.
2. Building Design.
3. Deal Architecture, Pro Formas and Finance.
4. Entitlements.
5. Construction and Construction Management.
6. Marketing, Sales, Leasing and Property Management.
7. Communication and Follow Through.

Very few people master all of those skills.  If you start with small projects, you can gain an overview, and understanding when they are needed at the various stages of a project.  You get a sense of the basics for each skill set.  If you don't have the skill which the project requires, you can't go without.  So you should borrow or rent the needed skill.  Look for people who are genuinely interested in your project and who are actually happy to teach you about their specialty.  I figure a developer does not have to know everything, but they should have a good idea who to call before it is too late.

After a number of Small Developer Boot Camp (calendar here) Jim Kumon and Gracen Johnson have put together the graphic above which has three types of skills and activities allocated over 5 phases of a development project.  I think it is a substantial improvement over the list of 7 skills because it give the reader a sense of when they need to know what, or when they have to find help as they move their first project from idea into an actual building.  This is a work in process, so comments and critiques are welcome and needed.  What do you think?