Development and construction finance.

We arrange and structure finance for site acquisition and construction — senior, stretch-senior and mezzanine, placed with the lenders whose policy fits your project.

Development & construction finance

From site acquisition to completion.

We arrange and structure finance for developers across the life of a project — acquiring the site, funding the build, and structuring the capital stack in between. That covers senior construction debt, stretch-senior structures, and, where the numbers need it, a mezzanine tranche behind the senior facility.

This page sets out how a development facility is sized, what presales and a QS-managed drawdown process actually involve, and the evidence that moves a credit decision fastest. If you have not yet tested whether the site stacks up, start with development feasibility on the Develop side before bringing it to market as debt.

What we arrange

Facilities across the site and the build.

Most projects need more than one type of facility across their life, and the structure is designed around your project rather than fitted to a single product.

01

Site acquisition

Funding to settle a site, sized against the asset as it stands, ahead of a construction facility being drawn. Where timing is tighter than a construction facility can move, see bridging finance.
02

Senior construction debt

First-mortgage secured, drawn progressively against quantity surveyor certification as the build proceeds. The foundation of most development capital stacks.
03

Stretch-senior structures

Higher-leverage senior structures where the project's presales, margin and delivery risk support it, tested and priced by the lender against the same fundamentals as standard senior debt.
04

Mezzanine behind the senior

Where senior debt and your equity still leave a gap, a mezzanine tranche can bridge it. See second mortgages & mezzanine for how that structure is priced and consented.
Sizing

Your facility is the lower of two tests.

Lenders generally size a construction facility against two ceilings and lend the smaller of the two. Which one binds tells you something a single headline number cannot — if value binds, the project may not be selling for enough relative to cost; if cost binds, which is common, the deal works but you cannot borrow your way to the whole of it.

We do not publish leverage figures here, because the ratio that applies is set by the lender against your project, not by us. Model the shape of your own numbers in the development finance calculator and see the arithmetic worked through in LVR vs loan-to-cost and, for a highest-and-best-use site, how that finding changes what you can borrow.

LVR

Loan-to-value

A share of the project's finished value.
LTC

Loan-to-cost

A share of what the project costs to build.

Presales are weighed separately again

A lender testing cover generally discounts presale contracts rather than counting them at face value, because not every contract settles. Model your funding stack, including any mezzanine layer, in the development funding stack tool.
Mid-build

The QS and progress-claim process.

Construction debt is not released against an invoice — it is released against evidence that value has physically been added to the site. A quantity surveyor inspects, certifies works in place against the original cost plan, and reports cost to complete: the figure that decides whether the facility is still in balance.

The builder's claim, the QS inspection, the QS report and the lender's drawdown authority form a chain, and when one link stalls, interest keeps running while nothing else moves. The full cycle is set out in progress claims and QS drawdowns. Related reading: what a QS report actually tells a construction lender.

The credit file

The evidence that moves a decision, not just merit.

Most development applications are declined or delayed on missing evidence rather than a weak project. Seven categories of material do most of the work. Put together as one package rather than assembled piecemeal under request, it is the difference between a file that gets read and one that gets parked.

The full breakdown is in seven documents that change a development finance credit decision, and how to build a feasibility that survives that scrutiny is covered in preparing a development feasibility for lender scrutiny.

01
A feasibility with its assumptions shown, not just an output page
02
The planning approval and its full condition set
03
A quantity surveyor cost plan or a priced builder's estimate
04
The building contract and its variations
05
Presale contracts with deposits and settlement dates
06
Borrower and guarantor financials
07
The valuation instruction and basis
Build the pack before you approach a lender. The development finance application pack works through what to assemble, in the order a credit team actually reads it.
Open the application pack
When the numbers move

If the valuation comes in short.

A gross realisation valuation below feasibility is one of the most common reasons a facility is re-sized or restructured mid-process, and it can happen after a site is already under contract. What moved, whether it is challengeable, and the responses that realistically exist — more borrower equity, a different security mix, or a smaller facility — are set out in valuation shortfalls in development finance.
What it costs

Scoped and confirmed before anything starts.

There are no published fees. A site acquisition alone is a different scope of work to a full capital stack across senior, stretch-senior and mezzanine, so every mandate is scoped on its own facts and the fee confirmed in writing before we start — alongside any lender-paid fees, disclosed to you in the same way.
How it works

From feasibility to financial close.

From mandate to financial close typically runs four to ten weeks, depending on complexity.

01

Send the feasibility and site details

Margin on cost, gross realisation support, presale coverage and GST treatment are tested the way a lender will test them, and we come back with a structuring view — typically within 48 hours.
02

Build the credit-ready package

Feasibility, planning position, QS cost plan, contract status, presale evidence and borrower financials assembled as one file, packaged the way credit teams assess them.
03

Run lender competition

The file goes to the lenders whose policy and appetite actually fit the deal, senior and any mezzanine tranche run as one coordinated process.
04

Coordinate valuation and QS review

Terms are negotiated while the valuation and quantity surveyor review run in parallel, so the file keeps moving rather than waiting in sequence.
05

Financial close and drawdown

Documentation, conditions precedent and first drawdown.
Track record

Two files where the build was the problem.

Individual past transactions, included to show how the work was done. Not offers, benchmarks, or an indication of what any other transaction may achieve.

More completed files sit on our track record.

Trapped funds

Newport, VIC

$301,364 of cost-to-complete allowance released mid-build after an evidence-based escalation, where the lender's default answer had been no.
Read the case study →
Early completion

Duplex, Altona North

Hands-on progress-claim management brought a duplex development in five months ahead of program, with the exit for both dwellings planned before completion.
Read the case study →
Questions

What developers usually ask.

Who do you act for?

Developers and sponsors across residential, commercial, industrial and mixed-use projects. A well-evidenced feasibility, a capable builder and a credible exit matter more than length of track record — first-project sponsors with the right team are welcome.

What is the difference between senior and stretch-senior debt?

Both are first-mortgage secured. Stretch-senior is a higher-leverage structure a lender will consider where presales, margin and delivery risk support it, generally with more due diligence attached than standard senior debt.

What if presale cover is thin?

It does not automatically rule a project out — lenders discount contracts when testing cover, so it changes the structure, sometimes with a mezzanine tranche or more borrower equity.

Do you cover residential, commercial and industrial projects?

Yes. Townhouses and apartments, office, retail and mixed-use, and industrial and logistics assets are all facilities we arrange, tested against the fundamentals relevant to that asset class.

How long does a development facility take to arrange?

A structuring view typically comes back within 48 hours of receiving the feasibility. From mandate to financial close, four to ten weeks is typical, driven by valuation, QS and legal workstreams rather than by us.

Something else?

Send us the question with the feasibility and we will answer it in the structuring view.
Ask the team →
Talk it through

Send the feasibility, get a structuring view.

Siare arranges and structures development and construction finance for business and investment-purpose borrowers, testing your numbers the way a lender will before it goes to market. Haven't tested the site yet? Start with development feasibility, then bring the numbers back here.

Send your feasibilityDevelopment feasibility

General information for business and investment purposes only. Not financial, credit, tax, legal or accounting advice, and it does not consider your objectives, situation or needs. Nothing on this page is an offer of finance or an indication that finance is available. All finance is subject to lender assessment, credit approval, satisfactory valuation, quantity surveyor review and formal documentation. Case studies describe individual past transactions and are not a guarantee, benchmark or prediction of any future outcome. Planning and approval outcomes rest with the responsible authority, not with Siare. Obtain your own independent legal, tax and accounting advice before entering into any transaction.