The Small Developer/Builders Group on Facebook now has over 600 members. Small Developer/Builders Group

Some members are curious lurkers, some are practicing developers, and many are on the fence trying to figure out what it would take to make the move from their current day job into developing small scale, incremental projects. We have seen several clusters of folks connect through the group and decide to meet up in person.  It's been quite marvelous to watch the group grow in number and see the discussion move past daily posts of whatever is on my mind that I think might be useful.  Click the link above and ask to be added to the group if this sounds like something you want to explore.

The August Small Developer Bootcamp in Duncanville has been capped at 75 participants.  There were 56 people registered as of lunch time Friday.  So just 19 spots are left.  If you were intending to join us in Duncanville, now is the time to go over to the registration page and sign up.  It looks like the event will fill up at the early bird registration price of $100.

Boot Camp Registration / Strong Towns

Reprising this post because folks keep asking me about it via email, etc.

These thresholds fit a three story apartment building or mixed use building into the fire/life safety requirements of the International Building Code (IBC) and the accessibility requirements of the Fair Housing Act.

1. All ground floor units are accessible/adaptable (minimum one unit). 2. TYPE V wood frame construction with fire sprinklers. 3. When built with a single stair, upper stories are limited to four units each. (more than 4 units on a floor and two stair will be required separated by a rated corridor at least 1/2 the diagonal of the building floor plate in length --1/3 for buildings with fire sprinklers.) 4. 2nd floor units are limited in size to 125′ max. exiting distance from the furthest point inside the unit to the entry door. 5. 3rd floor units are limited in size to 125′ max. exiting distance from the furthest point inside the unit to the entry door. (3rd floor units can be two story units with internal stairs as long as the max. exiting distance of 125' is observed).

Code research and design by David Kim

A comment from Will Dowdy:

This is a good summary. It’s probably worth being explicit about that ground floor unit. If you don’t have a unit on the ground floor, the requirement for accessibility is shifted to the second floor of the building, which means that you’re stuck with an elevator. BIG problem. This design is an elegant solution.

Here is the To Do List I accumulated  at CNU 23 in Dallas

• Figure out ways to reinforce the connections between the rapidly growing ranks of the Rookie Developers to reduce everyone's learning curve.

• Set Up FaceBook Groups for Small Developer/Builders with a sub-set the "CNU Lady Developers". (and no, I did not name the group...)

• Develop a TurboTax-like Wizard for developing basic development pro formas with Keith Hopkins of Stage Capital Group.

• Webinar with Mike Hathorne on using Google Earth to organize site selection materials for small projects.

• Get a working group going with bankers and appraisers to vet the patches, hacks and workarounds needed for small projects in walkable urbanism.

• Line up one Small Developer/Builder "Shark Tank" and get it funded.

• Submit comments to HUD on expanding the amount of non-residential space in mixed use building financed with the HUD 221(d)(4) Loan program. (Proposed changes in the HUD MAP Manual are still in the public comment phase which closes May 14th).

• Get materials into shape for the Lean Urbanism "Developer in a Box" Tool by October.

• Coordinate the framework for the Lean Building Types Tool with Bill Dennis and David Kim so that it dovetails with the Curated Sketch-Up building types tool kit Bill is shepherding.

• Figure out the communications strategy for recruiting and mentoring small developers builders with Ben Brown and Scott Doyon.

• Figure out a structure for rookie developers to do their first project next to seasoned operators, (sort of like a medical residency).

There is clearly a lot to do. In addition to all this mentoring and advocacy, David Kim and I have our own projects to deliver between now and CNU 24 in Detroit  June 8-11, 2016. A number of people have volunteered to help with this stuff, but don't be surprised if I am calling you to enlist you in the effort.  Contact me on Facebook if you want to be added to the Small Developer/Builders group.  Email me if you want to help with something on this list.  janderson@andersonkim.com

Post a comment here on the blog or email me if I told you that I would put something on this list and have forgotten it.  It has been a big week and I am pretty sure that something important has slipping my mind by now....