🏗️ How I Help Struggling Developers Get Back on Track

Finding the Right Site • Securing Zoning Approvals • Controlling Construction Costs

by Daniel Kaufman, Real Estate Developer & Investor

Building Smarter, Not Harder

If you’re a developer, you know how fast momentum can fall apart.

The site looks perfect until you realize the zoning isn’t there.

The pro forma works until you see the real bids.

The city “loves the vision” until you’re six hearings deep with no vote.

I’ve lived that cycle — from rewiring historic houses, while getting my architecture degree, to walking ski-in/ski-out sites in mountain towns, to working through approvals on coastal infill projects. The lesson is always the same:

Most projects don’t fail because the idea is bad. They fail because one part of the process is misaligned.

That’s where I step in.

I help at the three points where developers usually bleed time, money, and sanity.

1️⃣ Finding the Right Site

The right site is not “whatever’s for sale in a hot market.”

The right site is the one that supports:

1. what you’re trying to build,
2. what the zoning will actually allow,
3. what the numbers can realistically carry.

Here’s what I do for you:

1. Off-market & early looks
   
2. I source sites through direct relationships with owners, brokers, planners, and local contacts — before they get shopped to everyone.
3. Fast feasibility screening
   
4. Day one we’re looking at zoning allowance, density potential, infrastructure/utility access, slopes, soils, wetlands, easements, traffic exposure, school district, everything. The goal is to kill the bad sites early so you don’t waste 60 days chasing something unbuildable.
5. Product + place alignment
   
6. You’re not just buying dirt. You’re choosing a story: ski-town workforce housing, coastal rentals, boutique multi-family in a walkable downtown, etc. I help make sure your brand, your renter/buyer, and your exit all line up with the dirt you’re tying up.
7. True land value modeling
   
8. I’ll run the “what can we build / what can it earn / what can we realistically finance” math to back into the max price you can pay for that site and still hit your return.

Result: You stop guessing. You stop overpaying. You stop falling in love with impossible dirt.

2️⃣ Zoning & Entitlements: Getting to “Shovel-Ready”

Most deals die in approvals. Not because the project is bad, but because nobody’s steering the process.

How I help:

1. Map the path to approval
   
2. Rezoning, variances, site plan review, planning board, select board / city council, utility coordination, fire access, stormwater — we lay out the actual steps, in the actual order your municipality requires.
3. Political and neighborhood strategy
   
4. Every town (especially in New England markets and smaller Northeast towns) has its own pressure points: traffic, school load, parking, short-term rentals, “character,” etc. You can’t just drop a site plan in front of them and hope. I help build the story that answers those anxieties instead of triggering them.
5. Team orchestration
   
6. I keep architects, civil engineers, traffic, landscape, survey, environmental, counsel, and your lender-facing materials moving in sync. If you’ve ever watched one missing drainage detail delay a vote a full month, you understand why this matters.
7. De-risking for lenders/investors
   
8. The closer you are to fully entitled, the easier it becomes to raise money or secure financing because you’ve taken a giant chunk of risk off the table.

Result: You get from “great concept” to “we’re approved to build this” without burning a year and your carry costs.

3️⃣ Construction Cost Control

Okay. You’ve got the site. You’ve got the approvals. Now you actually have to build it without blowing the pro forma to pieces.

Here’s how I get hands-on:

1. Early value engineering (without killing the look)
   
2. We identify where you’re overspending for visual effect you could get cheaper, and where trades are upselling systems you don’t actually need. The trick is lowering cost without making the project feel cheap.
3. Contractor/sub alignment
   
4. I help you source people who can actually execute at your budget level — not just the GC who “does beautiful work” but comes in 25% high on framing and sitework.
5. Sitework reality check
   
6. Dirt work, utilities, drainage, ledge, retaining walls — that’s where budgets quietly explode. We get ahead of that with eyes-on-the-ground, not just numbers in a spreadsheet.
7. Contingency and schedule discipline
   
8. Everyone says, “Yeah, we’ve got a contingency.” Then they spend it in month two. I help you manage your contingency and timeline so that one bad surprise doesn’t wipe your exit.

Result: The deal you pitched to lenders is the deal you actually build — not the wishful version.

Why Developers Bring Me In

Here’s what you’re really getting with me:

1. I’ve done it in the real world, not just in a deck.
   
2. I came up doing the physical work. Electrical. Rehab. Field problem-solving. I’m not guessing what trades cost — I’ve lived it.
3. I speak investor and municipal and contractor.
   
4. Most people only speak one of those languages. You need all three.
5. I see the through-line.
   
6. Site → Entitlements → Budget → Exit. These are not separate problems. They’re one pipeline. I keep it whole.
7. I protect story and numbers at the same time.
   
8. Your project should still reflect who you are — mountain town energy, coastal lifestyle, thoughtful design — without tanking the return.

Ready to Talk?

If you’re:

1. stuck on a site you already control,
2. bleeding time in zoning and hearings,
3. panicking about current construction pricing, or
4. trying to figure out where the next deal even is…

I can help you move, not just think.

I offer a free 30-minute strategy call where you walk me through the situation, and I map out your next 90 days: where the leverage is, where the risk is, and what has to happen next.

📞 Contact:

Daniel Kaufman

Real Estate Developer | Investor | Technologist

📧 Email: danielk@outlook.com

📍 Based in Maine | Working on projects nationwide

🏡 Tags

#RealEstateDevelopment #Zoning #Entitlements #ConstructionCosts #SiteSelection #Multifamily #Townhomes #Infill #AdaptiveReuse #DanielKaufman