Why “Time” Is the Most Expensive Line Item in Development

ASK:

Construction costs keep going up, but lately it feels like time is what’s really costing us. Why is time the biggest expense in development, and how do I protect against it?

ANSWER:

In real estate, everyone tracks dollars, but not enough people track days. Yet time is the most expensive line item in development, because every week lost hits multiple parts of your project at once: financing, carrying costs, tenant schedules, and credibility.

At I&D Consulting, we’ve watched strong deals erode simply because timelines slipped, and no one quantified what that time really cost. The truth is, a one-month delay can change everything.

Why Time Costs More Than Materials

Carrying Costs Don’t Pause
Property taxes, insurance, and loan interest continue every day the project doesn’t move. For large sites, that’s tens of thousands per month.
Contractors and Consultants Charge for Downtime
When timelines stall, mobilization fees, idle crews, and re-bid costs creep in. Construction inflation also means that waiting six months often raises hard costs.
Financing and Capital Stack Exposure
Investors expect returns on a timeline. Lenders underwrite based on absorption and delivery dates. Miss those, and you risk extension fees or even losing financing.
Tenant Delays Compound Losses
For build-to-suits, a late handoff means rent isn’t coming in, and operational plans are disrupted. Many leases also have delivery date penalties.
Opportunity Cost
Time spent fixing one stalled project is time you can’t spend sourcing or starting the next one.

How to Protect Against Time Risk

At I&D, we build time modeling into every project, just like we do for cost. Our “time as capital” framework looks at three levels:

Base Duration: The realistic timeline for entitlements, design, and construction.
Delay Contingency: A buffer for known risks (like long plan checks or slow utility coordination).
Impact Costs: What every extra month actually costs in carry, interest, and lost revenue.

When developers see those numbers side by side, priorities shift. They realize that a $10,000 consultant to expedite coordination is cheaper than losing $100,000 per month in carrying costs.

How We Help Teams Move Faster

Front-load City Coordination: We meet with staff before submittals to prevent multiple rounds of revisions.
Parallel Track Workflows: Entitlements, utilities, and design advance simultaneously instead of waiting in line.
Weekly Milestone Tracking: We use real-time dashboards to flag slippage before it compounds.
Decision Discipline: Teams lose weeks debating small changes. We install decision deadlines tied to real dollar impacts.

The Mindset Shift

Smart developers treat time as capital. Every day is a line item. When you quantify it, you make better decisions faster.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Time carries financial cost in taxes, debt, and missed rent.
Build delay contingencies into your budget and schedule.
Managing time is managing money. Track it with the same rigor.