Progress draws, quantity surveyor reports, interest reserves and a takeout plan. Nobody learns this from a course. You learn it beside an underwriter.
Written by A.I.M.I. Collective Mortgage Group, Brokerage editorial team
Published September 2026 · Last reviewed 11 September 2026
Construction is the niche with the highest barrier and the least competition. Most brokers never place one because the first file has a dozen moving parts they have never seen. A construction specialist with a builder or two in their network funds the same client three times: the land, the build and the takeout. Here is what supports that here.
One builder client is a project every year or two for a decade. If you know one, the niche is already open.
Reading a budget, understanding cost to complete and draws, presale requirements, and lining up land, construction and takeout lenders as one sequence.
Patience with sixty to ninety day timelines and comfort being the person the lender calls when a draw is late.
Brokers who need monthly income from every file. Construction pays in big, infrequent closings.
A client with land building a house. Construction facility with draws, takeout to a conventional mortgage on completion.
Two to six units by a small builder. Land, construction and presale requirements in one facility.
Larger budget, quantity surveyor draws, presale thresholds, a rental takeout for held units. Read construction on the Deal Desk.
Raw land with a plan. Private or alternative money sized against the takeout, not the dirt.
Small and mid sized builders, renovators who are starting to build, and the trades who know them. One useful conversation about financing earns the next project.
They see a project months before a lender does. A referral from one is a project with the paperwork already started.
Lot sales and assemblies are construction files in waiting.
The construction project checklist is the conversation to have with a builder before anything is signed.
Cost to complete, draw schedules, builder experience and the lenders at each stage. Read construction.
Construction and land lenders present at the weekly sessions and the matchmaking forum.
A specialist beside you on the first build, terms in writing, the builder stays yours. Read co brokering.
Profiles of the construction specialists here are being added. Ask on a discovery call.
Bring it to the Deal Desk for structuring and lender placement, and learn on the deal without losing it.
Submit the project, the underwriter structures the draw schedule, the interest reserve and the takeout plan with you, and places it. You stay broker of record.
Construction at the smaller end is mostly private and alternative capital. Those lenders sit at the table at our private lending and commercial forums. Next dates on the events page.
A team chat question about a builder's contingency or a quantity surveyor's first report gets an answer from someone who has been through it.
Private and alternative construction lenders for spec builds, small multi family and land to build. Credit unions for owner builders and experienced local builders. Banks for established developers with presales. CMHC insured routes for multi family construction where the project qualifies. Names on the call.
The construction and land entries in the deal types guide, the DSCR check for the takeout, and the commercial file checklist for the borrower pack.
Builders and developers first, then land realtors, architects, and the lawyers who act for them. One builder who trusts you is a niche on its own. The playbook covers the approach.
Construction lending appetite moves with rates and presale markets faster than any other niche; weekly lender training and the lending updates track it. The niche expands into commercial and investor multi family, since the takeout on a build is often the next commercial file.
We do not hand out niche leads, and broker profile pages on this site are not built yet. What is true today: the guides on this site are the organic engine, a broker who writes for it gets the byline, the Deal Desk works your hard files with you, and the forums put you in the room with the lenders. Ask on the call and we will tell you exactly which of those applies to your niche this quarter.
Every niche here has a lender panel, an underwriter who has placed those files and brokers who already own the market. We publish lender types rather than lender names, because panels change and we would rather be right in a year than specific today. Pick the niche where you already have three funded files and a referral source, then build the knowledge around it.
For brokers building a commercial niche: the Deal Desk underwriter, lender types we place with, the Commercial Matchmaking Forum and tools.
For brokers building a B and private lending niche: the private lending forum, the Deal Desk, lender types we place with, disclosure and tools.
For brokers building an investor niche: rental offsets, portfolio schedules, the fifth unit that turns commercial, lender types we place with and tools.
For brokers building a self employed niche: reading NOAs, add backs, bank statement programs, lender types we place with and accountant referrals.
Book a discovery call and bring the project. We will map the land, build and takeout with you.