Short answer: Our Riverbench Grove cottage village on the Boise Bench took 7 months and 25 days from signed purchase agreement to project approval. We usually plan on about 6 months for a cottage village. The extra time came from a 100-year-old parcel problem we had to clean up before the city would take our record of survey.
And approval isn't the finish line. You're not fully entitled until your civil plans are stamped, which we expect in February or March 2027. Below I'll walk you through every meeting, every delay, and the real numbers so far. Then I'll show you how we'd apply the same process to this week's Deal of the Week: 9 new cottages around a turnkey house, with a projected $263,000 profit in about two years.
Quick facts
Project: Riverbench Grove, 23 cottages on Latah Street, Boise Bench
Contract to approval: 7 months, 25 days (typical: about 6 months)
Entitlement budget: a little over $125,000 estimated, about $80,000 spent, about $44,000 left, tracking under budget
Surprise costs: a $5,000 traffic study and a streetlight condition.
Fully entitled (stamped civils): expected February to March 2027
Where the clock actually starts
This deal came to us off market from a wholesaler who'd been working the sellers for at least a year. We got connected through a mutual friend.
December 29, 2025: First letter of intent
January 28, 2026: Updated LOI after meeting the sellers
March 10, 2026: Purchase and sale agreement signed
That's when the clock starts. We don't go deep on due diligence or spend real money until there's a signed purchase agreement. On our Deals of the Week we do high-level analysis. The deep stuff starts when somebody is actually buying it.
The Riverbench Grove timeline
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| March 10, 2026 | Purchase and sale agreement signed |
| March 24, 2026 | Concept review meeting with the City of Boise (booked 2 weeks out) |
| Spring 2026 | Interdepartmental review meeting, written agency feedback |
| April 20, 2026 | Due diligence complete (really done around April 13) |
| August 10, 2026 | Design review and record of survey applications submitted |
| After August 10 | Record of survey returned, extra title research needed |
| October 10, 2026 | Record of survey resubmitted |
| About 3 weeks later | Project approved |
| November–December 2026 | Civil engineering finished and submitted |
| January 2027 | Red lines back, corrections made (usually one round) |
| February–March 2027 | Civil plans approved: fully entitled |
Why we walk into the city meeting already knowing the answers
The concept review meeting is your first official sit-down with the city. They assign you a planner, you send over your preliminary plan, and they tell you where the yellow and red flags are.
But here's the thing. Before we ever have that meeting, we've already run our due diligence checklist and called every agency and department. So by the time we walk in, we know pretty much everything they're going to tell us. For us that meeting is a confirmation. Did we miss anything?
Same with the interdepartmental review. The agencies have already talked to us by email or phone, but they don't have anything official from the city yet. Once the city sends them the project, they put their feedback in writing. That written feedback is what you actually want, because now it's official planning documentation.
What added 2 months: a 10-foot sliver from 100 years ago
This site was four separate parcels, and we had to combine them into one. When we started digging in, we found some really weird stuff. These parcels were originally surveyed over 100 years ago. There were property line adjustments that weren't actually property line adjustments. And there was a 10-foot sliver missing from the property description.
We knew about it during due diligence. Working through it took about 2 extra months. We literally went and knocked on the neighbors' doors to figure out our options if it turned into a real problem.
We got it solved through a paperwork process. Then the record of survey came back because we'd misread what one item was asking for. Getting the right info meant the engineers and then a title company doing a couple weeks of research on these old parcels. We resubmitted October 10 and had approval about 3 weeks later.
Nothing is ever cookie-cutter. If everything goes perfect, we can get entitlements done in 6 months. We don't project that, because it almost never happens.
Approved vs. fully entitled: the difference that costs people money
I've said this a lot, but entitlements happen in phases:
Concept: due diligence and your first meetings with the city
Project approval: the green light to move forward
Civil plans approved: this is fully entitled
Riverbench Grove is at the end of phase 2. It's approved, but we can't break ground tomorrow. We still need civil plans and a grading permit approved.
If you're a realtor listing a development deal, or an investor buying one, this matters. A lot of listings call a property "entitled" when it's only approved. It's not fully entitled until you have stamped civil plans and could break ground the next day. Between those two points there's real engineering, real cost, and real time.
Every city is a little different. Garden City, for example, wants all the civil engineering done before you even submit your application. So you spend more up front, but you still have to get civils approved after the project is approved.
The real entitlement numbers so far
We've started sending monthly progress reports on all our projects. It's stuff we track anyway, and AI updates the report in about 5 minutes.
Original entitlement estimate: a little over $125,000
Spent so far: about $80,000 (including this month)
Left to go: about $45,000
Survey: about $400 over, all from the extra legal-parcel research
Traffic study: $5,000 added expense but it was known about during our due diligence discovery
HOA documents: way under budget, thanks to a local attorney with really good systems
Project management and house plan drafting: tracking under
The traffic study came up as a yellow flag in that final city meeting. And it wasn't the city or ACHD asking. The site is across the street from a school. ACHD wanted the driveway in one spot, the school district wanted it somewhere else, and the school said they'd sign off if we did a traffic impact study. So that's $5,000.
The biggest chunk still to come is civil engineering. That's the detailed sewer design (slope and compaction matter, or you get backups down the road), water, gas, curb, gutter, sidewalks, and site drainage. In Boise, all your stormwater from roofs and hard surfaces has to stay on site, so it gets engineered into seepage beds or other underground systems.
The staff report was about 12 pages, and honestly it was simpler than any subdivision I've done. Standard conditions of approval. The only real add was a streetlight, which we'd hoped to avoid. Not a huge deal.
One more thing that helps: we arranged this deal so our buyer doesn't close until it's fully approved, including stamped civils. So they don’t have extra holding costs while it gets approved.
How we'll build it faster
The site plan has 4 cottages facing the street, 12 in back, and 7 more, for 23 total. Two sewer mains, 3 vaults, and 23 service lines.
The cool thing with cottage villages is we can run infrastructure and vertical at the same time. Underground first, about a month to 6 weeks. Then we pour foundations while we're doing sidewalks and streets. Once foundations are in, we start the cottage plat (a condo plat), which takes about 6 months to get signed. That lines up with construction finishing, so the cottages are ready to sell individually right when the plat records.
The neighborhood is right in the heart of the Bench. Elementary school, a coffee shop and an ice cream spot down the block, and close to downtown.
Join the next call
We go live every Friday at 2 PM MT on the Find Your Next Six-Figure Infill Deal call. We walk through the process and break down a new Deal of the Week. Bring your questions, or watch the full replay on YouTube. If you've got a property you're thinking about developing, reach out through our contact page and let's run the numbers.
How long does it take to get a cottage village approved in Boise? Plan on about 6 months from signed purchase agreement to project approval. Our Riverbench Grove project took 7 months and 25 days because of a 100-year-old parcel issue. Add about 3 to 4 more months to get civil plans approved and be fully entitled.
What's the difference between an approved project and a fully entitled project? An approved project has the city's green light, but you can't break ground yet. A fully entitled project has stamped civil plans and a grading permit, so you could break ground the next day. Many listings call a property "entitled" when it's only approved.
How much do entitlements cost for a cottage village? Our 23-cottage Riverbench Grove project was estimated at a little over $125,000 in entitlement costs. About $80,000 has been spent so far, and it's tracking under budget.
What can slow down approval for an infill project in Boise? Old parcels with unclear legal descriptions, record of survey corrections, and late agency requests. On Riverbench Grove, a school district request added a $5,000 traffic study, and a 10-foot gap in a century-old property description added about 2 months.
Watch the full call replay:
