have (something)(adjective) by (a day or time)

This expression is used to talk about something that you want to be a certain way by a certain deadline. You can't use just any adjective in this phrase; there are only a few adjectives that will fit. These include:

We need to have this finished by Monday.

You'd better have it done by the end of the day.

I don't know if it's possible to have it built by then, but we can at least have it planned out and designed.

This phrase appears in these lessons: