Renovation & construction
An investor dashboard for a development project
The dashboard should show what changes decisions: cost to complete, timetable, permits, sales, cash, risks and quality, each tied to an owner and action.
A dashboard should not show everything. It should show what changes a decision: cost to complete, timetable, permits, sales, cash, risks and quality. Each measure should connect to an owner and a possible action.
A finished building has several kinds of readiness
Completion of construction is not the same as an asset that can be handed to a buyer and recorded in the property register. Technical, administrative, title and utility matters, financing and contractual promises all need to close. One unfinished workstream can hold up the whole building.
Use the same numbering for units, areas, annexes and specifications across the project. Update cash flow against actual handover conditions, not the reservation date. Compare buyer-facing materials with the approved scheme before signing; internal controls can draw on DNPI's investment methodology.
Keep an audit trail of investment decisions
Maintain one dated, versioned record covering forecast cost to complete and cash, the critical path and permits, and sales, cancellations and remaining stock. Attach source files. No figure in the memo should lack a unit, period and calculation owner. Explain why alternatives were rejected so that settled choices are not reopened without new evidence.
Update without erasing the past
When new evidence arrives, do not delete the previous conclusion. Add a version, describe the change and recalculate linked decisions. The investor sees the latest recommendation but can reconstruct when an assumption became confirmed and which reserve was released. This trail helps when teams change, a bank reviews the project, the scheme is sold or variances are analysed after completion. The related property-register check is context, not a replacement for transaction documents.
An example without invented numbers
One pack appears complete but does not establish the critical path and permits. Another is less polished but substantiates cost to complete and cash and traces sales, cancellations and remaining stock through budget and time. Use the second in the base case; leave the first conditional.
Red flag: a report without a cost-to-complete forecast records the past but cannot manage the project. Pause before another commitment, obtain a targeted conclusion and update the model. Retentions or exit rights require contractual agreement, not unilateral action.
Assemble the handover file
Connect each unit to the scheme, certificates, register description and buyer contract. Close cost to complete and cash, critical path and permits, and sales, cancellations and stock separately. Sales should use only approved plans and specifications; financing should use the real handover schedule. If a discrepancy appears, correct the source and every dependent document rather than adding a note to one file.
