Which Feasibility Are You Trusting? Control the Versions Before You Decide

A development meeting can contain several different feasibilities without anyone noticing. The broker has one cost figure, the designer has a later yield, the JV partner remembers the original sale price and the spreadsheet on screen contains a programme copied from last month.

The arithmetic may be correct inside every file. The decision can still be wrong because nobody knows which version represents the current evidence.

Version control is a decision control

A controlled feasibility identifies its owner, date, status, purpose, key changes and evidence baseline. It also states whether it is exploratory, under review or approved for a named decision. “Latest” is not a status unless everyone can identify the same file.

Australian Government cash-flow guidance recommends forecasting money in and out to identify shortages. Risk guidance recommends reviewing risks and controls. A development model can support those tasks only when its timing, cost and revenue assumptions are traceable and current.

Use the TRACE header

1. Timestamp: record the issue date, time and version number.
2. Responsible owner: name the person controlling changes and circulation.
3. Assumption baseline: link price, cost, programme, finance, tax and design inputs to dated evidence.
4. Change summary: explain what moved since the prior version and why.
5. End use: state the exact decision this version may support.

A clearly labelled hypothetical

A six-dwelling concept loses one dwelling after preliminary design review. The new feasibility updates construction cost and revenue, but finance duration remains tied to the earlier programme. A TRACE review catches the mismatch, replaces the stale timing input and shows lower cash headroom. The team now decides whether to redesign, renegotiate or stop using one reconciled model.

Run a decision-room check

• Display the version identifier before discussing outputs.
• Reconcile dwelling count, areas and programme against the current concept.
• Mark estimates, quotations and specialist-confirmed inputs differently.
• Archive superseded versions so they cannot be mistaken for current approval.
• Record who accepted the baseline and what conditions remain outstanding.

Do not overwrite history. A prior model can explain how a decision was reached. The Think Property Club System connects feasibility versions with the evidence register and decision log. Specialists own the advice behind relevant inputs; Support creates challenge when an attractive old number keeps reappearing.

Your next action

Open the feasibility you would use today. Add a TRACE header, then ask every decision-maker to identify their current yield, programme, cost and revenue baseline. Reconcile every difference before approving further exposure.

Key Takeaway

A feasibility is reliable only for the evidence, design and decision named on that version—not because the spreadsheet still opens.

Your Turn

Could every person in your next project meeting point to the same controlled feasibility and explain what changed?

Continue learning

• Set assumption expiry dates
• Build a development decision log

Sources and boundaries

1. Australian Government, Set up a cash flow statement (Undated current guidance; accessed 12 September 2026)
2. Australian Government, Make a risk management plan (Undated current guidance; accessed 12 September 2026)

This article is general education, not personalised planning, legal, financial, tax, privacy, safety or building advice. Requirements and outcomes vary by jurisdiction, site, contract, structure and circumstances. Check current information with the relevant authority and appropriately qualified advisers.

Keep learning: Explore Before a Property JV Changes Course: Agree a Change-Control Protocol, Before You Count the Sales: Map Settlement Cash Flow in Your Feasibility and Before You Form a Property Joint Venture: Decide Who Can Say Yes.