Developers - bandwidth + scope
Curious how much mid level developers are taking on at your shops.
How many projects do you oversee, and what stages are they in?
Currently leading 2 under construction, one in permitting, and constantly looking at new pursuits/ working on LOIs. Feeling a bit spread thin..
Based on the most helpful WSO content, mid-level developers often find themselves juggling multiple projects across various stages, which can indeed feel overwhelming. Here's a snapshot of what others have shared:
Project Load: It's not uncommon for mid-level developers to oversee 2-3 projects simultaneously. For example, one contributor mentioned managing six developments totaling 862 units, which is a significant workload.
Stages of Projects: Developers typically handle projects in different phases, such as:
Challenges: Feeling "spread thin" is a common sentiment. The role often involves "babysitting" various stakeholders like engineers, architects, and construction teams, which can be demanding.
Advice: To manage bandwidth effectively:
If you're feeling stretched, it might be worth discussing workload distribution with your team or exploring ways to streamline processes.
Sources: Life at Mega Developers, Calling all people in Development, Software Engineering seems like the best job one could have, Software Engineering seems like the best job one could have
I've been at a few shops, both large/institutional and smaller/entrepreneurial. At the smaller firms, it was common as a Development Manager to lead two large-scale ground-up ($80M-$130M each) projects at a time. One might be in construction/lease-up and the other in design/planning. Additionally would work with VP/SVP to underwrite/site plan new opportunities as they came up. If a new 3rd or 4th opportunity started getting real traction and it was time to start spending money, there was likely a transition to another person on the team or more help was brought on (especially if the firm expected to have several more deals, not just this one new one). At the larger firms I had significantly more resources and bandwidth to oversee 8+ deals but had direct reports, dedicated owners rep once they got to construction, and lots of adjacent department support (design, preconstruction, etc). It does sound like you're probably a little bit stretched, but it depends on a few other factors: how frequently are you having to analyze new opportunities / frequency you're expected to crank out LOI's (1 every week/month/several months), are you having to also source the opportunities 100% or are you more so analyzing deals that someone else at your firm is sourcing and nurturing, how complex/large are the projects you're managing and how involved are you in the granular details of design/construction in addition to everything else (capital stack, financial model, IC decks, investor/lender decks, monthly investor updates, etc), do you have a dedicated construction manager / owners rep supporting you on the construction deals, how big is your shop (how many other development folks and how many deals and what size are the deals...does everyone have similar workload and do others pull their weight?), do you have any support (like share an analyst/junior staff, if not a direct report) to help take care of the smaller things (rent comps, filling out permit forms, researching impact/permit fees, compiling data, etc), do you have any other internal resources (precon/design experts to help review drawings, budgets, etc).
For instance, if you're having to actually nurture seller/broker relationships, source new opportunities all by yourself and analyze them and negotiate the PSA and have a target of several signed PSA's per year (probably sending out several LOI's per month), in addition to running multiple construction projects and oversee predevelopment projects with no internal resources or junior staff and you're expected to be in every detail of design/drawings/construction/budget/contracts, yeah that's insane. But if you do have some internal resources, aren't super in the weeds of design/construction (or have people who are so you don't have to), and it's only 1 LOI every other month that's brought to you by someone else and you're mostly underwriting and prepping the LOI, then in that case if you're still stretched, it could be because your firm's processes might be slow and causing unnecessary grinding. In that case, maybe your firm would benefit from a more standardized/templatized process (template proforma model, template LOI's, template PSA and same attorney working it each time, standardized decision making / IC process with known expectations of when a deal is brought and what materials /info are required, standard consultant contracts pre-negotiated with insurance companies, standard GC contracts, standard reporting processes, etc.)
The "spread thin" line stood out. In other operating seats I've seen, the math on workload usually breaks on pursuits and LOIs, not on whatever is already under construction. UC has a schedule. Pursuits don't. Curious whether your shop has any filter on what makes it to your desk, or if it's everything by default.
2 under construction, 1 in permitting, and constantly looking at new pursuits/ working on LOIs sounds pretty normal to me. My old company ideally wanted us running 3 deals at once. Sometimes that turned into 2, sometimes 4, but 3 always seemed like a full workload to me.
Thanks for the feedback all (op here), super helpful - maybe just needed a quick vent/talk off the ledge!
Agree that is this is manageable and probably the ‘right’ amount especially given the level of support.
Frankly it was just a tough confluence o events for a stretch of each of those deals having issues/critical dates etc. leveling off a bit now and feeling better about being on top of things - life of a young developer!
The real question here is complexity. The more complex the project the more time it demands. You could be building a 200 unit apartment building that is less complex than a single family home.
Also, what is a "project". A single 200-unit apartment building is one project. A retail development is a project, but there is a real sense in which each of the tenants in that retail center is a separate project. Separate lease, separate permitting, separate buildout, etc.
I’m a VP at a large institutional multifamily developer in a major gateway market. Currently juggling 5 active deals in predevelopment, all 300+ units and all in different phases, so it’s a constant context switch between LOI/PSA negotiations, due diligence, equity conversions, entitlements, design coordination, underwriting, consultant management, and internal approvals.
I sourced one of the deals myself and am still actively sourcing new opportunities on top of managing the existing pipeline, which definitely adds another layer to the workload. No associate underneath me at the moment, just some shared precon support. I’m staying afloat, but it’s definitely a huge effort to keep everything advancing and hit contractual timelines.
That said, in this environment I’m grateful to have a real pipeline at all. A lot of groups are pretty quiet right now. Just one of those periods where you put your head down and grind.
Think I needed to read this. I’m not a VP but have recently sourced a ground-up deal, am QBing another, and am trying to get two more under contract (all 200+ unit deals). Have been working on asset management, value add acquisitions, refinances, etc. in addition, but want to become the lead development guy at my firm. No support underneath me but do have help on precon from our PMs and help on PSA negotiations and capital raises from our CIO. My plate feels very full atm but that’s probably more due to not having a fully formalized role while working on portfolio management and value add work as well. Good to read what level of production is expected at the top developers.
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