I like the idea of introducing Mirt early - he's Waterdeep's most famous money-lender, after all. In theory you could get the cost down to 100gp, which could then be partially covered by the quests for the factions themselves, allowing fair rolls on the business table. The Lords' Alliance might waive the taxes for your help, driving it down to 500gp, and so on and so forth. For example, the Harpers might be able to provide your players leverage to drive the cost of lumber and labor down by half, reducing the cost to 800.

Reduce the one-time costs by calling in 'faction favors'. This is a good way to tie advancement to the factions you encounter in Ch.Increase the monetary rewards from faction quests. Also straightforward, but assumes your party has shown interest in renovating the venue.This spreads out the cost over serveral weeks, allowing them to do sidequests and earn up the money necessary. Let business expenses count towards one-time costs. this one is pretty straight forward - anytime the party rolls something requiring them to pay out of pocket, those proceeds go towards the renovation and guild contract costs.you will always get a result of 1 - ' You must pay one and a half times the business' maintenance cost for each of the days'

So subtract 1000 from the percentile roll. So if you tried to run a business out of that without any work done to if, of course you'd turn away customers. 1000g is not an objectively unreasonable price for all of that work. Cleaning yes, but also ordering new chairs, new flatware, plateware, lighting, vermin extermination and so on. This place cannot support a business without some serious renovation. The tavern’s other rooms are all empty, except for cobwebs, dust, and harmless rats. The tavern’s taproom is filled with broken furniture, tarnished silverware, casks of wine that have turned to vinegar, and worthless detritus. Consider the state Trollskull Manor is initially described to the players: I say net percentile because there is the matter of the one-time expenses to consider. That means that the only way regular expenses can affect the roll is if either the players specifically say they are choosing to not pay those costs, or if they roll below a 40 on the net percentile. We also know that, looking at this table from the DMG that there are scenarios where the maintenance cost (or on-going costs) can be covered within the roll. How do we know what expeses they might owe? There is a convenient list just above this statement, broken down into 'one-time expenses' and 'recurring expenses'. The sidebar states 'If the characters have unpaid expenses, subtract one from the roll fore each 1GP they owe'. You don’t have to renovate in order to be open for business. What would be some good ways to put some extra gold in their pockets and encourage them to renovate? What are some good contingency plans if that's just not what the players are interested in doing? Am I missing something? Running a tavern in the city is a cool idea but it doesn't seem feasible given this set up. What if the characters would rather sell the property or not remain there for whatever reason, how would chapter 3 work? What if none of the characters are interested in joining these factions and they don't want (or don't have the money) to run a business? There's nothing else presented for them to do. In general, chapter 2 feels very weak amidst an otherwise well written adventure. The characters could potentially secure a loan or ask for favors from recently acquired friends, but the adventure doesn't mention any of this. The Zhentarim quest is the only one that rewards any money, and it's only 50 gp per character. Even if the treasure is found, would the players really want to sink *all* of their funds into a business rather then buying adventuring gear or services from the other nearby businesses? The level 2 faction quests don't help with this. A hidden room is easy to miss and without it low level characters won't have enough money. Where does a party of level 2 characters get this much gold? There is one hidden room in the Zhentarim Hideout with almost enough treasure to cover this cost. In the Waterdeep Dragon Heist adventure, chapter 2 seems to strongly encourage the players to renovate the tavern and run it as a business. Monstrous Compendium Vol 3: Minecraft Creatures

Tavern tycoon cant buy property