In-house vs Outsource
A couple of people, including myself, are thinking of starting a CRE Dev firm. We have combined skills and experience in earthwork, foundation/pad, engineering, architecture, CAD,  sales, marketing, and accounting. Our thought is to combine as much of the dev process in-house as possible.

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What are your thoughts on trying to do as much as possible in-house? Is it worth it? (as opposed to contracting out) Dealing with small scale suburbs.
[{"id": "eg8xh4i", "text": "I can share a few thoughts as someone who works primarily as a \"outsourced\" developer for my clients.\n\n1. In-house is always going to be cheaper than out-sourcing.  If you are cash constrained it may be the (only) way to go.\n2. I am a registered Architect and there is no way I am putting my name anywhere near a set of plans.  The fees for design and engineering is just so low (comparatively speaking) in my opinion it is just not worth doing it in-house.  I suppose if your focused on smaller scale residential it may be OK to consider, but I'd be very hesitant to do anything commercial for sure.\n3. Sales/marketing/accounting sure seem like the easy ones to do in house.  I'm happy to recommend a few software tools if you'd like.\n\nFeel free to shoot me a PM if you'd like any more detailed info.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eg8y2jl", "text": "Having that expertise is definitely a value add!  Check out [upwork.com](https://upwork.com) and [freelancer.com](https://freelancer.com) to get cost effective help with many of the other steps along the way you might not have listed here.  I have done everything from brochures, web design, photo editing, CAD work, landscape work, you name it on these sites.  \n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\nFreelancers require a lot of help so having a solid knowledge is the only way to get the results you want, you can't just hop on there with zero real estate knowledge and expect a full service operator.   But the cost would be maybe 1/4th to 1/10th vs. a market rate professional in the US for most services.  ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eg9rztx", "text": "What are you building? For your own account or would you be providing services to other developers?", "replies": [{"id": "eg9sxsm", "text": "Commercial buildings in smaller downtown suburb. Ideally for are own account.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "egb11w7", "text": "Currently doing this at the moment. Watch out for insurance (PI in the UK) you need multiple projects to dilute it's overhead % to a negligible amount.", "replies": [{"id": "egb2jxj", "text": "Very cool. That\u2019s a major concern for us because the more we do in-house the less amount of projects we can take on. Just trying to find the best balance. What do you guys contract out?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "egf8cd9", "text": "I've spent 30 years in commercial real estate, first as a commercial appraiser then as a corporate real estate manager for various retailers.  My husband has a building construction degree from a top school and we have bootstrapped several development projects.  \n\nI'd say we've been successful because we have the ability to really research a market, determine the demand for and real value of a completed project and to know the cost and what will be involved in getting the building and other improvements constructed. \n\nThe critical thing I see missing in your team is construction expertise - I don't mean how the building goes together, your engineers and architects understand that.  I mean familiarity with current cost data in your market, what subs to work with, the day to day challenges in getting a project built in your market.\n\nMy husband went back to school and got a degree in construction based on his interest in development, because construction is obviously the most expensive part of the process. \n\nBased on our experience and other small and large successful developers I've seen, I'm not sure how people in all those disciplines will earn a full time living in a development startup.  To me, the most important thing to have is in-house accounting expertise, meaning strong construction accounting experience. It is easy to contract out the other items.  ", "replies": [{"id": "egfef9k", "text": "Great point on the lack of actual construction expertise. We have tons of experience with earthwork, and laying foundations but not dealing with construction itself. We definitely just wrote that off as outsourcing from the start, having at least the accounting knowledge of the discipline would be wonderful. Perhaps we try and bring that in-house as well.", "replies": [{"id": "eggdxaz", "text": "It's great to have construction knowledge in any trade, that's a big help.  Perhaps those folks might be friends with a GC who could help you through the initial concept &amp; design process of your project, working with your engineer on the site plan and architects &amp; engineers from various disciplines (structural, mechanical etc) on the building design.  Architects &amp; engineers don't know costs like a GC does.  Also when my husband is involved in the design process he can create efficiencies in the construction process or value adds.  We're developing a 60 unit apt complex right now.  While trying to add architectural interest to the exterior of the buildings,  he found his design could accommodate storage closets along the building exterior corridors.  Residents will rent then at extra charge.   Where one section of a 4 story building is just 3 stories, he's created a roof terrace lounge  area with a fire place &amp; outdoor kitchen.  TVs can also go up there.  \n\nMy husband has done I think $150 million in various commercial projects over the years.  He says another way a lot of contractors &amp; projects go wrong is not having proper job costing, not knowing where they are on every project at all times, whether or not a particular job is profitable.  You need someone with specific construction accounting knowledge.  That can be a good full charge bookeeper or someone with an accounting degree but we've never had a CPA in house.  ", "replies": [{"id": "eggf0yw", "text": "Wow that is awesome. Congrats on the success. We do have a CPA on hand but again no specific cost knowledge of construction discipline. Would like to convince a GC to come on board. Will have to network further! Thank you for the feedback and good luck on big project.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]