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A real estate developer in West Bengal chooses between two master plans for a 260 acre new township considering design, financing, and phasing. Two detailed master plans are considered, one with a radial design and an internal town square and one with a grid design and internal focus on parks and water features. The designs have different revenue potential, different cost implications, and different phasing decisions. The analysis includes soft issues and aesthetic issues including what contributes to the feel of a place and what contributes to various land uses supporting each other (retail, residential, office). The analysis also includes a detailed proforma for each plan. This case builds on "Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board."

A real estate developer decides whether to enter into a public private partnership with the government of West Bengal to develop a township on farmland. The decisions include whether to expand operations from the company's base in Kolkata to Bardhaman, 100 km away; whether to subdivide and sell raw land lots or follow the developer's vision and build a planned township; whether to enter into a public private partnership with the government of West Bengal, led by the Left Front and the Communist Party of India as equity partners; or whether to also accept a private equity firm into the project, what to build, and in what sequence.

Maharashtra state is accepting bids to redevelop Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia. A real estate developer assesses the risks and tenders a bid. The bid conditions include providing new free housing to tens of thousands of slum dwellers. The cost of constructing the housing is anticipated to be paid for from the revenues from developing and selling market-rate housing. While the primary concerns are cost of construction, cost of capital, and revenues from sale of units, the analysis must consider many aspects of risk, including political risk, foreign exchange risk, market risk, and execution risk. Further, the discussion covers social aspects, including whether the slum should be redeveloped at all, whether it should be redeveloped by government or by the private sector, and whether to accomplish it in large chunks or in smaller increments. Additional topics that can be covered include consideration of what happens to commercial activities formerly run from slum dwellings, whether the market-rate units will indeed sell for high prices if there are tens of thousands of former slum dwellers housed nearby, and whether the slum dwellers will be allowed to resell their units or whether they must remain in them. Other issues include timing of the project, guarantees to and from the government and the private parties to mitigate risk, and whether this model, if successful, can be extended to other slums in Asia.

A leading low income housing builder in Mexico decides which prospective new local partner best extends its advantages in managing twin production lines of homes and clients. URBI has built substantial competitive advantage in the technology and culture that matches the outputs of these two production systems. The company has also built extensive expertise in accessing the many mortgage and funding sources in Mexico. To grow, the company is interested in entering other Mexican geographies but faces a choice of doing this with its own staff and buying land for cash, or partnering with local entrepreneurs and local land owners. In evaluating the choices, students must think more deeply about what makes the two production lines work and how to balance the two lines. The discussion can end with comparisons of the Mexican political and government circumstances that encourage this method of producing workforce housing as compared with the U.S., China, India, and other markets.

Bill Smith is informed by his general contractor that a key component of the Aria Resort is going to be delayed. Aria is the centerpiece of CityCenter: a $9 billion complex and a bet-the-firm decision for MGM Mirage. Smith must make a decision as to whether to force the general contractor to complete construction or to have the MGM Design Group take over this piece of the construction. The case also looks at the economics of the CityCenter project and discusses the organizational underpinnings needed to make a massive construction process a success.

CityCenter is a $9 billion project for MGM MIRAGE. The project's star architects have a major disagreement about a critical design issue. Bill Smith, head of the MGM MIRAGE Design Group, must resolve this issue to the satisfaction of all the project's stakeholders. This case explores many issues in the construction of large scale buildings: how to envision such a project, how to manage the architects, how different designs adds value, and what criteria matter in resolving a dispute between designers. The case also explores the construction costs and revenue benefits of having two buildings built with significant leaning away from vertical.

A construction company experiences a crane accident with multiple fatalities. The CEO, a client, and an employee must make choices to meet the company's obligations. Set in 2006, the case looks at the choices faced by board members of a museum which is an important client and which is faced with a completion deadline, and of a key employee who has other offers of employment and is negotiating a stay put bonus. The rights and interests of the surety company that provided the construction bond are also interwoven. The protagonist is the CEO of a multi-generational family business who must now negotiate with these parties and then decide whether to attempt to raise new capital, declare bankruptcy, or try to lead a controlled wind-down. The case explores crisis management, decisions by principals operating in the zone of insolvency, construction contract types, the limits of recourse available from construction bonds, roles of board members, calculation of an employee stay-put bonus pool, subcontractor and vendor communication, and reputational issues around bankruptcy or closure of a closely held family business. Analytical tools include contract status report, contractor balance sheet, stay-put bonus pool.

The case is intended for use with the HBS Educational Technology Group "Construction Bidding Simulation." Material that can be taught includes quantity survey methodology (from the case); analyzing preliminary estimated costs per building trade (from the discussion questions); playing the multiparty real time competitive bid simulation to receive and process market costs; and debriefing on which bids should be accepted and why. Discussion points include what criteria to use in making the decision, how to process subcontractor bids, and how to award contracts. Many of the issues can be extended from construction into any bidding situation and any industry with multiple subconsultants or vendors.

Although construction is one of the riskiest things any company will do, upper management often ignores the risk or treats it as if it's uncontrollable. Construction risk, however, can be analyzed and managed by using seven steps. Analyzing risk is largely a matter of assessing the complexity of the building, the site, the financing, the schedule, and the special uses and problems of the project. This analysis then drives the choice of contract and contractor.