Enter land and construction costs

Open the Costs tab. The sidebar lists each cost group with its total, line count and share of Project costs. A new project has Land Acquisition, Consultant Fees, Construction Costs, Authority Fees, Land Holding Costs, Legal Fees, Marketing Costs and Other Costs. Sales Costs sit on the Sales tab and Operational Outgoings on the Leasing tab.

Click a group to open it. Add your own with + Add cost group; custom groups can be removed with Delete group.

In Land Acquisition, click + Add property under Property purchases. Enter the address or title, the Purchase price and the Deposit % (10% by default); the editor shows the deposit at exchange and the balance at settlement. Turn on Add GST only if the vendor charges GST.

Under Land transfer duty, the app calculates Stamp duty from the state’s duty table. Set Land use to Residential or Non-residential, which picks the table in states that have both. A Duty override replaces the calculated amount; leave it blank to keep the calculation.

Under Timing, the Project phase is Acquisition; enter a Custom start month (exchange) and Custom finish month (settlement) for a longer contract. The deposit is paid at exchange, the balance and duty at settlement. If the project already owns the site, turn on Already owned to record its land value only, outside TDC.

Below the purchases, click + Add cost under Acquisition costs for conveyancing, due diligence and other buying costs, entered as cost lines (step 5).

Land tax is a line in Land Holding Costs, already there in a new project. Its Land tax amount is Calculated from Setup or Custom, an annual amount you enter.

For the calculated amount, go to Setup and, under Tax tables, set the Land tax owner, the Land tax timing (Pro-rated monthly or Annual assessment) and the Site Value for calculating development phase Land Tax. The tile shows the tax a year. An operating site value and owner, if the completed asset is revalued or changes hands, apply to land tax in Operational Outgoings.

Land Holding Costs run to the end of Construction. Outgoings on the Leasing tab take over from the start of Operation; with none entered, holding costs run on to the last sales settlement.

Open a group, click + Add line and give the line a description. Choose its Basis: Quantity × rate, % of group, Per month, Recurring (paid monthly, quarterly or annually) or Dev Summary (a quantity taken from Setup’s development summary). The Unit is a label only.

For the Brunswick townhouses, a Construction Costs line of 12 × $385,000 gives $4,620,000. GST applies is on by default. GST paid on costs runs through the cashflow and is refunded the month after each BAS period ends, as set on Setup’s GST card. Totals are ex GST.

Under Timing, pick the Phase the line runs over: a program task or a derived phase such as Major Consultant. Custom start month and Custom end month override it.

The Cost curve sets how the total spreads over those months: Linear, S-Curve (typical for main works), Major Consultant (70% by the midpoint), Front/End split (half up front, half at the end), Logarithmic (front-loaded) or Exponential (back-loaded). Setup’s Cashflow Cost Distribution Curves card shows each shape.

Under Escalation, enter a Rate % p.a. and when it starts, then choose To cashflow start (escalate up to the line’s first month, then hold) or Continuous (keep escalating through the spend).

Add contingency as a line in Construction Costs with the % of group basis, for example “Construction contingency” at 5%. It’s a percentage of the group’s other lines before escalation, so on $4.62m of works it adds $231,000. Of group can base it on another group. Pro and Team organisations can also set a default contingency in their calculation method for new feasibilities.

For Consultant Fees, Authority Fees, Legal Fees, Marketing Costs, Other Costs and custom groups, turn on Quick feaso to replace the group’s lines with a percentage of construction costs, spread evenly over the Development Phase. The lines stay, greyed out, for when you switch back.