Model the capital before you approve the drawing

Boards often see a campus plan as an architecture decision. The binding constraint is usually cash: entrance-fee refunds, a SNF that cannot carry the new wing, or a covenant that looks fine on last year's audit and breaks in year three of construction.

A useful capital memo answers four questions on one page. What does the project cost in cash, not only in project budget? What operations have to hold for the debt to work? Which entities are obligated? What happens if census or rates miss by 10 percent?

We build that memo from the trial balance, the current debt documents, and a three-year operating view. The architect can keep the drawings. Finance needs a sources-and-uses that survives a lender and a MAC.

If the project is already in flight, the same file is how you see whether a delay, a value-engineer, or a smaller first phase is the cheaper mistake.