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DealCalc calculator guide

New Construction Calculator

Ground-up deals need a different workflow than rehab deals: land basis, hard costs, soft costs, contingency, LTC, interest carry, selling friction, and project margin.

Primary outputProject Profit
Primary outputProject Margin

Calculator

Build the full development stack before trusting the sale price.

DealCalc separates development cost, capital stack, and exit proceeds so profit is not overstated by missing carry or selling friction.

Example inputs

  • Land / Lot Basis$120,000
  • Hard Cost Budget$385,000
  • Soft Costs$68,000
  • Contingency %10%
  • LTC %75%
  • Projected Sale Price$760,000

In-app workflow

  • Pick the calculator in Analyze.
  • Enter assumptions and review Deal Score.
  • Save the deal when the numbers deserve a second look.
  • Upgrade for AI Insights, Project Tracker, portfolio, and investor-ready reports.

Results

Read the result like an investor, not a spreadsheet.

LTC Max Loan$420,000
Cash Required$166,250
Interest Carry$37,125
Total Development Cost$659,525
Projected Sale Price$760,000
Net Sale After Debt$298,375
Capital Returned$166,250
Unreturned Cash$0
Project Profit$100,475
Project Margin13.2%

Metric explanations

DealCalc metric names used on this page

  • LandLot acquisition cost or conservative land basis used in the deal.
  • Planned Build SqftFinished square footage for the new home or building, used for hard cost estimates.
  • Hard Cost / SqftHard Costs divided by Planned Build Sqft.
  • Hard CostsVertical construction and site work.
  • Soft CostsDesign, permits, fees, engineering, and overhead.
  • ContingencyReserve applied to hard and soft costs. Underfunded contingency is fake profit.
  • LTC Max LoanMaximum loan supported by the loan-to-cost assumption and eligible cost basis.
  • Cash RequiredFresh cash needed during the build after debt proceeds and land-equity treatment.
  • Interest CarryConstruction debt interest through the Build Months assumption.
  • Net Sale After DebtProjected Sale Price after Selling Costs, debt, and interest carry.
  • Capital ReturnedCash Required that comes back at exit before profit is counted.
  • Unreturned CashCash Required that is not recovered at exit before profit is counted.
  • Total Development CostTotal project cost after interest carry and selling friction.
  • Project ProfitProjected Sale Price minus Total Development Cost.
  • Project MarginProject Profit divided by Projected Sale Price.

AI Insights

Use the guide to learn. Use the app to decide faster.

Contingency quality

DealCalc AI Insights calls out whether the contingency is believable for the scope.

Cash recovery

The app separates Cash Required from Capital Returned so you can see what comes back before counting profit.

Project tracking

If the project moves forward, DealCalc Pro connects the analysis to Project Tracker budgets, receipts, invoices, and payments.

Step-by-step guide

How to use this calculator workflow

  1. 01

    Enter Land / Lot Basis, Hard Cost Budget, Planned Build Sqft, Soft Costs, and Contingency %.

  2. 02

    Set LTC %, Construction Rate %, Build Months, and any Developer Fee.

  3. 03

    Add Projected Sale Price and Selling Cost %.

  4. 04

    Review Cash Required, Interest Carry, Total Development Cost, Project Profit, and Project Margin.

  5. 05

    Use Project Tracker in DealCalc to compare budget to actuals once construction starts.

Common mistakes

Where investors usually distort the answer

  • Treating land equity as spendable cash without lender confirmation.
  • Leaving out soft costs, permit delays, or interest carry.
  • Using a thin contingency to make Project Margin look better.
  • Calling Project Profit strong without checking Cash Required and Capital Returned.

FAQs

What does a new construction calculator show?

It should show Land, Hard Costs, Soft Costs, Contingency, LTC Max Loan, Cash Required, Interest Carry, Total Development Cost, Project Profit, and Project Margin.

Is this the same as a rehab calculator?

No. New Construction needs land basis, LTC, soft costs, contingency, build-period carry, and sale friction. Rehab calculators focus on renovation scope and resale.

Why use DealCalc Pro for construction?

The calculator gives the underwriting view, while Pro adds Project Tracker, receipts, payments, budget variance, and reports.

Run it in DealCalc

Run the build math and track the project in DealCalc.

This page is built to teach the workflow and drive search traffic. The full DealCalc experience adds saved deals, AI Insights, Project Tracker, portfolio dashboards, and investor-ready reports.

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