Putting roads, sewer, stormwater and power in before a single home is sold ties up capital for eighteen months longer than the alternative. Most developers stage it the other way round, and the arithmetic on a spreadsheet says they are right.
The spreadsheet leaves out what happens when phase three infrastructure is contingent on phase two sales, and phase two sales are contingent on a market nobody can forecast. Communities stall halfway. The families who bought first live on a building site for years.
What it costs, and what it buys
Front-loading servicing adds roughly four per cent to the delivered cost of a home. In exchange, every buyer knows the road outside their door is finished, adopted and permanent on the day they move in.