---
id: "action-target-waterfront"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["00:05:45", "00:08:25"]
tags: ["site-selection", "risk-management"]
related: ["concept-margin-of-safety-waterfront"]
speakers: ["Jay Roberts"]
action: "Prioritize waterfront sites to maximize the spread between fixed construction costs and premium sale prices."
outcome: "Creates a financial 'margin of safety' against cost overruns or market softening."
sources: ["jayroberts"]
sourceVaultSlug: "jay-roberts-florida-condo-development-2026Jun25"
originDay: 4
---
# Target Waterfront for Margin of Safety

## Action: Target Waterfront for Margin of Safety

**Source:** [[entity-jay-roberts]]

### The Action

When developing luxury real estate, **prioritize waterfront or otherwise highly premium locations**.

### Why

Because hard construction costs are relatively fixed regardless of location (see [[concept-hard-vs-soft-costs]]), building on premium land maximizes the spread between cost and final sale price, creating a financial buffer against market downturns. The underlying concept is [[concept-margin-of-safety-waterfront]]; the canonical articulation is in [[quote-margin-of-safety]].

### Expected Outcome

Creates a financial **"margin of safety"** against cost overruns or market softening.

### Caveats

- Waterfront land has higher land basis (raising soft costs)
- Stricter permitting and longer entitlement timelines
- Environmental and storm/insurance risk exposure (acute in Florida)
- Luxury demand is more cyclical than mid-market — see counter-perspective in [[contrarian-luxury-margin-of-safety]]