Your whole development: land, construction and sales in one place
Group the development’s projects by phase, consolidate their cost with the land, and track the sale of every lot.
Matterial’s developments module is the layer real-estate developers were missing: a level above the projects. A subdivision isn’t a single house — it’s the site development, the housing prototypes and the amenities, usually built in phases and as separate projects. Here you group them by phase and role, add the land cost to those projects’ budgets, and get the consolidated cost of the entire development. On top of that you track unit sales — from available to reserved, sold and deeded — with absorption and margin against that cost, without leaving the platform where the construction already lives.
| Unit | Price | Status |
|---|---|---|
| A-12 · Model A house | $1,850,000 | Deeded |
| A-13 · Model A house | $1,850,000 | Sold |
| B-04 · Model B house | $2,240,000 | Reserved |
| LC-1 · Commercial lot | $3,600,000 | Available |
| B-05 · Model B house | $2,240,000 | Sold |
What problem it solves
A developer lives with two separate truths: on one side the cost of each project (site work, model home, amenity) in its own spreadsheet, and on the other the sale of lots in another sheet or in the sales team’s CRM. Nobody has, in a single number, how much the whole development costs — land included — against how much it will sell for and how much has been placed. The development’s margin is computed at the end, by hand, when the course can no longer be corrected.
How it works
Create the development
Register the development with the land cost; that amount enters the consolidated cost from day one.
Link the projects by phase and role
Assign the site work, housing prototypes and amenities to their phases; the cost consolidates itself from each project’s budget.
Load the units and lots
Add the repeating prototypes (Model A house ×50) and individual units are created so you can track sales lot by lot.
Track sales and margin
Move each unit from available to reserved, sold and deeded, and see absorption and margin against the consolidated cost.
What's included
- The development as a layer above several projects
- Projects grouped by phase and role (site work, housing, amenity)
- Consolidated cost: land + budget of the linked projects
- Add units by prototype (lot by lot)
- Sales status: available → reserved → sold → deeded
- Development absorption and margin on one dashboard
- Per-unit collections with a payment plan: received payments + future scheduled ones with a due date
- Buyer portal with the payment schedule, proofs and documents
How managing a real-estate development works, inside
The development as a layer above the projects
Most construction software thinks in one project: a budget, a schedule, a cost control. But a developer doesn’t sell projects, it sells a subdivision, and that subdivision is made of several projects at once: the site development that lays streets and services, the housing prototypes that repeat dozens of times, and the amenities that give the whole thing value. Each has its own budget and its own progress, but the business is decided on the total.
Matterial’s developments module adds exactly that missing level. A development is a container above the projects: you link the projects that belong to it, state which phase each one is in and what role it plays — site work, housing or amenity — and the system builds the consolidated view. You don’t duplicate data: the development’s cost is derived from the budget, the spent and the committed of each linked project, the very same numbers you already track project by project.
That’s the difference between managing loose projects and managing a development. You can still open each project to see its detail, but now you also have the view from above: how much the whole subdivision has spent, by phase, without reconciling spreadsheets at month-end.
- The development groups several projects, it doesn’t replace them
- Each project is linked with its phase and its role in the whole
- The consolidated cost is derived from the projects, not re-entered
- You still see each project inside and the total on top
Land + construction: the real cost of the subdivision
In a real-estate development the land cost is one of the biggest line items, and yet it almost never lives next to the construction cost. The land is paid up front, in a separate move, and from there control focuses on the projects. When the time comes to know whether the subdivision makes money, someone has to hand-add the land cost to the sum of all the projects.
Matterial puts the land inside the consolidated view. When you create the development you capture the land cost, and that amount is automatically added to the linked projects’ budgets to give you the development’s projected cost: land plus spent plus committed. It’s the number everything else is measured against — how much you’ll sell, how much margin is left — and it’s not a separate file to rebuild every quarter.
That consolidated view also lets you see where the money goes by phase. Phase 1’s site work, phase 2’s houses, the closing amenities: each adds to the total with its own progress, so you know what the development’s capital is committed to at any moment, without waiting for the accounting close.
- The land cost enters the consolidated view, it doesn’t live apart
- Projected cost = land + spent + committed of the projects
- Spend is seen by phase (site work, housing, amenity)
- The total recomputes itself as each project advances
From available to deeded: selling the units, lot by lot
The other side of the development is sales, and there the developer thinks in repeating prototypes: the Model A house fifty times, the B thirty, a few commercial lots. But sales are tracked lot by lot, because each unit has its buyer, its agreed price and its moment. A “sold” counter isn’t enough; you need to know which lot is reserved, which one is already signed and which is deeded.
In Matterial you add the prototype with its quantity and individual units are created, each with its identifier. From there each unit moves through its status: available while it’s for sale, reserved when the client holds it, sold when the sale contract is signed, and deeded when the revenue is closed money. The development’s absorption — how many units have been placed out of the total — comes straight from those statuses, without keeping the count in another sheet.
Saving each unit’s list price and sale price closes the loop. The development’s sales value is the sum of what you’ll collect for all the units; the deeded revenue is what you’ve already closed. And since the consolidated cost is already on the other side, the development’s margin — sales value minus cost — appears on its own, not at the end of the project but as you place units.
- Prototype × quantity → individual units to sell lot by lot
- Status per unit: available → reserved → sold → deeded
- Absorption = units placed out of the total inventory
- List and sale price per unit, for the real margin
Absorption and margin: the two questions a developer decides on
A developer bets the business on two questions: how fast the inventory is being placed (absorption) and how much the development is leaving (margin). Both depend on crossing cost with sales, which is why they live badly when cost is in the construction ERP and sales in the commercial CRM: nobody has them together and on time.
By keeping the consolidated cost (land + projects) and the unit sales in one place, Matterial computes those two questions itself. Absorption comes from the units’ statuses; margin comes from subtracting the consolidated cost from the sales value. You see them on the development’s dashboard, next to the absorption bar by status, without exporting anything or waiting for the quarterly report.
That’s the point of managing the development, not just the projects: having the right number while it’s still useful for deciding. Seeing that a prototype is placing slowly before you kick off the next phase, or that the margin is tightening while you can still adjust prices or scope, is what separates a development that’s controlled from one that’s only explained at close.
- Development absorption derived from the sales statuses
- Margin = sales value − consolidated cost (land + projects)
- Absorption bar by status, on the development’s dashboard
- The numbers are on time to decide the next phase
Spreadsheet + CRM vs. Matterial
The same development, managed two different ways.
| Today (separate Excel and CRM) | With Matterial | |
|---|---|---|
| Group the development’s projects | Each project in its own file | Linked to the development by phase and role |
| Land cost | A loose move nobody adds | Inside the consolidated cost |
| Cost of the whole subdivision | Hand-assembled at close | Consolidated live from the projects |
| Unit inventory | A separate sheet of lots | Units by prototype, lot by lot |
| Sales status | Colors in the sales spreadsheet | Available → reserved → sold → deeded |
| Absorption | Counted by hand each week | Derived from the statuses, on the dashboard |
| Development margin | At the end, when it can’t be fixed | Sales value − consolidated cost, live |
Illustrative example: a 60-unit subdivision
A hypothetical development in its phase 1. The figures are only to show how the consolidated view looks in Matterial; they don’t represent a real case or a guaranteed result.
Illustrative example with hypothetical figures. Not a market figure or a guaranteed result; it only explains how the consolidated cost (land + projects) and unit sales cross to give absorption and margin.
One scenario per role
Opens the development and sees, on one dashboard, the consolidated cost with land, the sales value, the absorption and the margin. Decides whether to kick off the next phase with the development’s real number, not with a month-old spreadsheet.
Links the site work and the prototypes to the development by phase; each project keeps its normal budget and progress, but now they add to the consolidated view without re-entering anything. Knows how much the whole development has committed by phase.
Tracks sales lot by lot: reserves, signs and deeds each unit with its price, and the development’s absorption updates itself. Keeps no parallel color sheet; each lot’s status lives next to the cost.
Who it's for
Works with the rest of Matterial
Coming from another tool?
Frequently asked questions
What is a development in Matterial?
It’s a layer above the projects: it groups several projects (site work, housing prototypes, amenities) by phase and role, and consolidates their cost together with the land. It’s for managing a whole subdivision, not a single project.
Where does the development’s consolidated cost come from?
It’s derived from the linked projects: it sums their budget (spent and committed) and adds the land cost you capture in the development. You don’t type it separately; it recomputes itself from the projects.
How are the units or lots for sale tracked?
You add the repeating prototypes (for example, Model A house ×50) and individual units are created with their identifier. Each moves through its status — available, reserved, sold, deeded — so sales can be tracked lot by lot.
What is a development’s absorption?
It’s the share of units placed (reserved, sold or deeded) out of the total inventory. Matterial computes it from the units’ statuses and shows it on the development’s dashboard with a bar by status.
How is the development’s margin computed?
It’s the units’ sales value minus the development’s consolidated cost (land + projects). Since both sides live in Matterial, the margin appears live as you advance, not at project close.
Does it work if I build subdivisions in phases?
Yes. Each project is linked to the development with its phase, so the consolidated view and the units can be read by phase. That’s exactly the case it’s built for: subdivisions built and sold in stages.
And if I only do the site work for a developer?
You can run that project like any other in Matterial, and if the developer uses the platform, link it to their development with the site-work role. The module doesn’t force you to handle sales if your role is only to build.
Does it replace my real-estate sales CRM?
It covers the unit inventory and its sales status linked to the development’s cost, which is what’s missing to compute absorption and margin. It doesn’t aim to be a prospecting CRM; its strength is crossing sales with the subdivision’s real cost.
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