Have you tried to estimate what the return to your time invested into the project is by the hour?
Like Rich I have thought about development too as an amateur, and I already own the developable property, a medium size single family in OB in lot zoned for 4500sf of multifamily. So CCC issues.
I met someone last year who went this route after retiring. A contractor ripped him off and broke him just as it was nearing completion. It slow walked the work with excuses and demands for more payments then simply stopped and disappeared. The house itself was occupable and very nice, an open concept on a hilltop canyon lot in fact. But the final task was grading and paving the long route from street to driveway to garage and the areas on each side. They left it a mess of deep holes rocks and dirt piles. Without this done, the city would not issue a cert for occupancy, which also prevented him from getting a conventional loan. I told him I saw no options other than a hard money loan at awful rates and paying another contactor. Between the stolen money, delay, and high cost loan it was a financial disaster. Hopefully the rising market made up for it.
