Due Diligence and Feasibility
The most expensive construction decision most owners make is the one they make before they own the property. Once the purchase price is set, the infrastructure cost is whatever the ground says it is.
We tell you what the ground says while the price is still negotiable.
Know the infrastructure cost before the price is fixed
Land is priced on assumptions about what it will cost to make it developable. Those assumptions are frequently wrong, and they are wrong in a consistent direction. Grading is harder than the concept plan suggests. The utility that appears adjacent requires half a mile of upsizing. The drainage solution the site needs was not contemplated. The agency's conditions of approval add infrastructure that nobody priced.
Construction due diligence prices those realities during the inspection period, when the finding can still change the deal.
What we evaluate
Deal shaping, not just deal killing
The most useful due diligence does not simply say the number is bigger than you thought. It identifies what could change the number: a different grading strategy, an alternative utility route, a phasing approach that defers infrastructure, or a condition worth negotiating with the agency. We deliver those alternatives priced, so the finding becomes leverage rather than a surprise.
Disposition support
The same analysis works from the sell side. A seller who can hand a buyer a defensible infrastructure budget, supported by real quantities and a documented basis, removes the buyer's justification for a broad contingency discount. We prepare that package.
Development strategy
Beyond a single transaction, we support development strategy: what product type the site can carry, what the infrastructure cost per unit or per acre implies about pricing, how phasing affects capital exposure, and what has to be true for the project to work.
Due diligence scope
- Site walk and existing conditions documentation
- Geotechnical and civil report review
- Earthwork quantity and balance analysis
- Wet and dry utility availability assessment
- Drainage and water quality requirement analysis
- Offsite improvement obligation identification
- Environmental constraint cost assessment
- Agency condition of approval review
- Fee and permit exposure estimate
- Order of magnitude infrastructure budget
- Phasing and sequencing alternatives
- Development schedule and carry cost projection
What you receive
Every engagement is scoped in writing before it begins, so you know exactly what is being produced and when.
Infrastructure budget
An order of magnitude construction budget for site development, with quantities, unit costs, and a full statement of assumptions and exclusions.
Constraints and risk memorandum
What limits the site, what each limit would cost to overcome, and which items carry the greatest uncertainty.
Alternatives analysis
Priced alternatives for grading strategy, utility routing, drainage approach, and phasing, so the finding becomes a negotiating position.
Fee and permit exposure
Identified impact fees, plan check and permit costs, and agency exactions with their timing in the development sequence.
Development schedule
A realistic timeline from acquisition through improvement completion, including agency review windows, with carry cost implications.
Go or no go summary
A one page summary suitable for an investment committee, with the number, the confidence level, and the three factors that would change it.
Questions owners ask about this service
Can you complete due diligence within a 30 day inspection period?
Usually yes for the core infrastructure analysis, provided the geotechnical work and available civil information exist. If the site has no geotechnical data, we will tell you what the exposure is without it and what additional investigation is worth ordering.
Do you perform the geotechnical investigation yourselves?
No. We are not a geotechnical engineering firm. We read geotechnical reports as cost documents, coordinate with your geotechnical consultant, and translate their findings into construction cost and schedule consequence.
What if the site has no entitlements yet?
That is common and it is manageable. We model likely conditions of approval based on the jurisdiction, comparable projects, and the applicable general plan and specific plan requirements, and we present the budget as a range with the drivers identified.
Can you help us negotiate the price down based on your findings?
We provide the analysis and the documentation. A defensible, quantified infrastructure budget with backup is far more persuasive in a negotiation than an assertion that the site is expensive. Many clients use our report directly in that conversation.
Talk to us about Due Diligence and Feasibility
Send us the project details and we will tell you what a defensible scope of work looks like and what it would cost. Initial consultations carry no fee.
Send us the project
Tell us the site, the scope, and the deadline. Initial consultations carry no fee and no obligation.