Five questions to ask before commissioning a feasibility study
A feasibility study is only as good as the question behind it. Five questions that make the result useful.
A feasibility study can cost real money and months of time. Before you commission one, spend an afternoon answering these five questions. They often save the study, or the project.
1. What decision will this study support?
"Is the project feasible?" is not a decision. "Do we buy this site by March?" is. Write the decision down and name who makes it.
2. What would make us say no?
List the conditions that would stop the project: a minimum return, a permitting risk, a utility connection that is not available. A good study tests those first.
3. What do we already know?
Collect the surveys, quotes and market data you have. Studies get expensive when consultants rediscover what is already in your drawer.
4. Who needs to believe the answer?
Lenders, partners and boards trust different evidence. Decide early which audience the report must convince.
5. How will we use a "maybe"?
Most studies end in a conditional yes. Agree in advance what the conditions are, who owns them and when you will check back.
Answer these honestly and the study becomes shorter, cheaper and far more useful.