Project margin is rarely lost in one decision. It leaks in fifty small ones — a corner unit sold at the standard rate, a two percent discount to close before month end, parking thrown in, a registration cost absorbed. Each is defensible on its own. Together they routinely take three to five percent off a project's revenue, which on a 120-unit development is a larger number than most cost-saving initiatives will ever recover.
Build the price as a rule, not a number
A unit price should be computed, not stored:
| Component | Basis | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Base rate | Per sq ft, by project and unit type | BDT 9,000 |
| Floor rise | Per floor above base floor | +BDT 60 per floor |
| Corner premium | Percentage or fixed | +2% |
| View or facing premium | By orientation | +BDT 150 per sq ft south-facing |
| Parking | Per slot, priced separately | BDT 8,00,000 |
| Utility and connection | At actual, estimated at booking | BDT 4,50,000 |
When the price is computed, three good things follow: a rate revision reprices the whole project in one action, every unit's price is explainable to a buyer, and any deviation from the computed price is visible by definition — because it is a discount.
The approval ladder
The point of a ladder is not control for its own sake. It is that discounts become data:
- Executive: up to 1% of unit value, logged, no approval needed.
- Sales manager: up to 3%, approved in the system with a reason.
- Director: above 3%, or any change to parking and utility charges.
- Never delegated: changes to the payment plan structure, because those affect registration, cash flow and commission.
Once the ladder exists, the discount report becomes the most useful sales document you have: total discount given this month, by executive, by unit type, and the conversion rate that came with it. Frequently it shows that the highest-discount executive does not have the highest conversion.
Discounts and broker commission
If commission is computed on list price while the buyer paid a discounted price, you pay twice for the same concession. Commission should always compute on net realised value, and a broker-negotiated discount should pass through the same ladder as an internal one. Broker commission structures sets out how the two interact.
Slow-moving stock needs a policy, not an exception
Every project has units that do not move: ground floor, north-facing, above the substation. The wrong response is ad-hoc discounting when someone finally enquires. The right response is a published position — a lower base rate for that category from launch, or a defined incentive released at a defined sales percentage. Handled as policy, it protects the rate for everything else. Handled as exceptions, it teaches brokers and buyers that your list price is a starting point.
What has to be recorded
For every booking: the computed list price, the discount, the approver, the reason, and the resulting net value that flows to the payment schedule and to the commission calculation. That chain is what makes the margin question answerable at project level — see project-wise profitability.
What to do next
Take last quarter's bookings and calculate the total gap between computed list price and net realised value. Divide by the number of units. If that number surprises you, the price list is not the problem — the approval ladder is.