Construction Developer Fee Revenue and Expenses

We just recently became the developer of a construction project. We do not own the land. We will not be building it ourselves. We are purely the developer and will receive a developer fee once the project has completed. My question is - when do I recognize the revenue and when do I recognize the expenses associated with this project? I know there are new revenue recognition rules out there but the applicability is murky. I believe that we should be expenses all expenses incurred related to this project as period costs (as opposed to capitalizing). However, should I be recognizing income at the same time even if the project is not complete? What method do I use? Am I expensing the expenses in the right period? Any help is greatly appreciate.

4 Comments
 

Are you sure that the fee is paid only at 100% completion? A lot of the time it is paid out in installments throughout the project.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

Are you talking GAAP revenue recognition or recognition for purposes of a CF? For GAAP, the new revenue recognition rules shouldn't affect this too much as it falls under the reporting requirements for long-term contracts, so you would be reporting revenue under the percentage completion method.

I come from down in the valley, where mister when you're young, they bring you up to do like your daddy done
 
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