The 20-second buildability check that replaced $3,500 feasibility studies

[Landon Reid]

A lot of investors quietly accept that every "serious" deal needs a $2k-$3.5k feasibility or zoning study and a few weeks of back-and-forth... just to find out it won't pencil or isn't even allowed.

That made sense when the only options were:

- Spend weeks digging through PDFs and calling planning departments, or

- Pay consultants a few grand to tell you "no" 30 days later.

I got sick of burning time and money there, so I changed my process. Now I run a 20-second buildability pass on every address BEFORE I ever think about ordering a formal feasibility study. Most deals die right there, and that's the point.

Here's the exact pass that has replaced most of those $3,500 studies for me:

1. What's actually legal on this dirt?

- Pull base zoning and answer: Is my plan (ADU, extra unit, small multi, infill) permitted by right?

- How many units, how tall, how much lot coverage can I realistically get?

- If the strategy depends on variances, rezoning, or "maybe they'll approve it"... I treat that as a separate, higher-risk bet.

2. The "deal killers" hiding in the map layers

- Flood zones, slope, wildfire, environmental overlays, shorelines, etc.

- Recorded easements and weird lot shapes that quietly erase half your footprint.

- These don't show up in a pro forma, but they absolutely show up when you try to pull permits.

3. Setbacks, parking, and access vs. real-world geometry

- Lay required setbacks on top of the actual parcel dimensions.

- Check parking requirements vs. driveway/yard space you truly have.

- Look at access (flag lots, alleys, corner lots) and think about fire access and turning radii, not just where you'd "like" to put the building.

4. Three laser-focused questions for planning

Instead of open-ended "Can I do this?" emails, I send 2-3 specific questions:

- "In [zone], is [use/type] permitted by right on a lot of this size?"

- "Are there any special overlays or design standards on [parcel ID] I should know about?"

- "On lots like this, what usually trips people up when they try to do [project type]?"

5. Decide if this dirt deserves a deep dive

- If it clears those checks, THEN I spend time on full underwriting, surveys, consultants, etc.

- If it fails, I kill it in 20 seconds instead of 30 days and $3,500 later.

The result: I look at way more deals, move faster on the good ones, and only bring in expensive professionals when the site has already "earned" it.

I built internal software to automate most of this against 20+ government data sources so the whole pass takes about 20 seconds per address now. Happy to talk process with anyone who wants to nerd out on buildability.

If you're doing ADUs, small multifamily, land, or infill and want to see how this would apply to your market, drop a city + what you're trying to build and I'll walk through how I'd approach it.