An owner or real estate developer would develop a program of their needs and select a site often with an architect. The Architect assembles a design team of consulting engineers and other experts to design the building and specify the building systems to meet those needs. Today contractors frequently participate in the design team effort by providing pre-design services where they will help in providing more accurate estimation of budget and scheduling during design to improve the over all economy of the project. Otherwise the general contractor is hired just to build the buildings at the close of the design phase. The owner, architect and general contractor work closely together to meet deadlines and budget. The general contractor then works with subcontractors to ensure quality standards in addition to timeline and budget.

Buildings serve several needs of society. Along with access to food and drinking water, the need for places that are protected from the outdoors and where one can comfortably live, work, eat, sleep, procreate or engage in leisurely activities has always been a top priority for humans. A building as a shelter represents a physical division of the human habitat into the inside a place of comfort and safety and the outside a place that at times may be harsh and harmful. Humans have a remarkable drive to reflect on their lives and express themselves through art. Ever since the first cave paintings, buildings have become objects of artistic expression. In recent years, interest in sustainable planning and building practices has increased in the U.S.


Builders for Sale acquire raw land, improved land, and/or redevelopable property in order to construct building projects. The buildings are then sold entirely or in part to others, or retained as assets to produce cash flow via rents and other means. Some builders have their own internal departments for designing and constructing buildings more common among larger developers, while others subcontract these parts of thee work to third parties typical of small developers.

Successful real estate developers can become enormously wealthy due to the large sums of money being transacted and the value of the assets they control. However, because of the illiquidity of their assets, they are also very often cash-poor. Inability to remain cash solvent is the primary cause of business failure for real estate developers.