This section is designed to support SME developers who are new to development finance. It outlines the key steps from initial enquiry through to drawdown and brings together practical resources to help you prepare, including a downloadable guide to development finance, access to HBFI’s cashflow template, and answers to common questions on completing the cashflow. Throughout the process, HBFI’s locally based team is available to provide guidance and support at each stage.
What to Expect once you Submit an Enquiry?
- A call from your local HBFI team member
- A meeting on site or at a location that suits you
- Assistance as you complete our cashflow and application documentation
- Ongoing support throughout the application assessment process
Our Guide for First Time Borrowers
To support your application, we recommend that you download our guide for first‑time borrowers and review the HBFI cashflow document to help you begin preparing for the application process.
Cashflow - Frequently Asked Questions
Our dedicated regional focused Business Development Team are available to help with your application paperwork.
Start on Overview tab and work your way across the tabs.
Please complete the sections highlighted in yellow, the remainder will auto populate once this data is entered.
Please ensure the start and end dates for each phase of the development included on the Overview tab are accurate and realistic (starting at Cells B12 and C12). These dates should reflect your actual construction programme and align with the overall delivery timeline.
The original site cost should reflect the price you paid for the site. The site value should reflect the estimated value a valuer would reasonably assign for lending purposes (for example, a Red Book valuation). Please review both figures carefully before submission.
HBFI applies its own underwriting assumptions in relation to contingencies. Please exclude contingencies from the figures entered on the Monthly Cashflow tab. For assessment purposes, HBFI will assume:
- A contingency of 5% on both hard and soft costs (please enter into cells B48 and B49 on the Overview tab), and
- Construction cost inflation of 3%, applied within the model.
Please carefully review:
- Unit pricing and expected timing of sales
- Unit layouts and sizing (sq. ft / sq. m)
- Planned handover and completion dates (Note that handover dates will generally be stressed to closing at least three months post-closing (cell N6)
Sales are typically stress‑tested to complete no earlier than approximately three months post‑practical completion.
The timing of unit completion has a significant impact on when sales income is received. Completion dates should align with your construction programme and represent a realistic estimate of when units will be ready to close.
Please note that this tab contains linked formulas and does not support copy and paste.
Please ensure all anticipated project outgoings are fully reflected in line with your build programme. The revenue section on this tab will automatically populate based on inputs from the Unit Sales tab.
If the site is already owned, it is assumed to be contributed to the transaction unencumbered.
If the site is being acquired:
- Your equity contribution to the site purchase should be entered on line 93 of the Monthly Cashflow tab.
- Your contribution to construction costs should also be clearly identified on line 94 the Monthly Cashflow tab.
The Cashflow Summary tab automatically consolidates data from across the model and provides a summary of project returns (Rows 106-110), including profit margin CellH106). In addition to overall profitability, HBFI also considers profitability relative to the current site valuation, as low profitability on a valuation basis may impact assessment.