The role of the developer is to orchestrate the entire development process from start to finish. Developers can be one individual outsourcing all the work to third parties, or a large firm which handles everything in house. Either way, the developer must have knowledge of nearly every process, phase and service involved, including site selection, market analysis, finance, construction, leasing, and sales - and it doesn't hurt to have legal and transactional skills to handle the contracts and liability concerns present in development projects. Development is a dynamic business field with a steep learning curve. The developer is often required to be the first one in with equity and the last to get paid, but if the process is managed correctly, the payouts will be well worth the time and effort it took to get the development done. In the current environment where owners are more conscious of the bottom line, it is crucial that a developer has knowledge and ability to execute on nearly all of the development process.
