Site planning and feasibility answers one question before you spend money: what will this property actually yield? We analyze zoning, buildable area, utilities, septic or sewer, topography, buffers, floodplain, and access, then produce a concept plan and a preliminary site-work budget. It is for landowners and buyers underwriting a parcel.
What it is
Feasibility is the difference between what a parcel looks like and what a parcel is. Acreage is not buildable area. Once you subtract setbacks, stream buffers, floodplain, wetlands, easements, steep slope, and the septic field plus its required reserve area, a two-acre lot with an acre and a half of floodplain is functionally a half-acre lot. We map the real developable envelope and show you where it is.
Then we test it. Does the zoning permit the use and density you are underwriting? Is sewer available, and if not will the soils support a primary and a reserve absorption field? Where does water come from and what does the extension cost? Can a driveway or road meet the county’s grade and sight-distance requirements on a winding rural road? On Milton and Cherokee County roads, sight distance alone kills otherwise feasible layouts.
The output is a concept site plan, a defensible yield number, and a preliminary site-work budget you can put in a pro forma — not an optimistic lot count, but a number our own construction team is willing to stand behind, because they are the ones who will build it.
We do this work for people who have not chosen a builder yet, and we do it as standalone engagements. Plenty of clients hire us for feasibility and take the report elsewhere. That is fine. We would rather be the firm that told you the truth about a parcel than the firm that sold you a build on top of a bad one.
What you receive
Feasibility report · concept site plan · yield study and lot count · zoning and overlay analysis · buildable-area / constraints map (setbacks, buffers, floodplain, easements, slope) · utility availability assessment (sewer, water, gas, power) · septic feasibility and soils screening · access, driveway grade, and sight-distance review · preliminary site-work cost estimate · entitlement path and schedule outline · identified risks and recommended next steps
When you need it
While a parcel is under contract, inside your due diligence period — this is what the due diligence period is for. Before you make an offer on land you are serious about, if the price depends on a specific lot count or house footprint. Before you commission house plans, because designing a home and then trying to fit it on a lot that will not take it is the most common and most expensive sequence error in custom building. Before you underwrite or present to a lender or investor, since yield and site-work cost are the two assumptions most likely to be wrong. And when a parcel has been on the market a long time — there is usually a reason, and it is usually findable in a week.
How it fits into a Mack Development build
Feasibility is step one of Build On Your Lot and step one of every land acquisition we work on. If you are buying a lot to build with us, we evaluate it before you close — and we will tell you to walk away from a bad parcel.
If the parcel works, nothing gets repeated. The constraints map becomes the site plan. The site plan becomes the grading and land disturbance permit set. The preliminary site-work estimate becomes a line in your contract instead of a surprise during construction. The buildable envelope becomes the footprint your house is designed inside of, in Revit, at the correct finished floor elevation. Feasibility is also available on its own, with no obligation to build with us.
Frequently asked questions
What is a feasibility study for land?
A feasibility study determines what a property can legally and physically support before you commit capital. It covers zoning and permitted density, buildable area after setbacks and buffers, floodplain and wetlands, utility availability, septic viability, access and sight distance, and the cost of the site work required. The deliverable is a concept plan, a yield number, and a preliminary budget.
How do I know how many lots a property will actually yield?
By subtracting, not dividing. Total acreage divided by minimum lot size is almost always wrong. Real yield comes from laying out lots and roads against the actual constraints — minimum lot area and width, road frontage, setbacks, stream buffers, floodplain, septic and reserve field area, and access geometry. Some jurisdictions add further limits; Milton has recently restricted new small-lot AG-1 subdivisions, so current local status has to be confirmed parcel by parcel.
Should I do feasibility before or after I put land under contract?
Put it under contract with a due diligence period, then run feasibility inside that window. That gives you the right to walk away with your earnest money if the parcel does not perform. Running feasibility before you have the property tied up risks doing the work and losing the deal; running it after closing means you have already bought the problem.
What most often kills a land deal?
Septic and access. Septic permits are denied where soils, bedrock, or seasonal groundwater will not support a primary and reserve absorption field, and no amount of design fixes that. Access is second: driveway grade and sight distance on winding rural roads frequently make an otherwise feasible parcel unbuildable. Both are findable in days, not months.