What a development
feasibility study answers
A development feasibility study tests whether a specific site can support a specific project, physically, legally and financially. It covers what the planning framework allows, what the site and its services can take, what the whole project will cost and whether the result earns its return.
Terrahills carries out this work for landowners, developers and institutional owners across Ontario. Because we also build, the study is priced and sequenced by the people who would have to deliver it, and the expensive surprises in servicing, approvals and development charges are looked for first.
- Official plan designation and zoning by-law permissions
- Height, coverage, setback and parking standards
- Approvals path: minor variance, rezoning, official plan amendment, site plan
- Water, sanitary and storm capacity and connection points
- Access, grading and stormwater
- Conservation authority limits and other site restrictions
- Concept tested against the zone standards
- Achievable floor area, units or rentable area
- Early building code questions that affect the layout
- Competing uses and product types compared
- Each option tested on the same basis
- A recommendation on what the site should be
- Class D construction cost estimate
- Site work and servicing included, not assumed
- Contingency stated openly
- Development charge category and rate confirmed
- Permits, consultants and approvals costs
- The carrying cost of the approvals period
- Land, hard and soft costs brought together
- Revenue or completed value against total cost
- Assumptions set out so they can be challenged
- Realistic approvals and construction sequence
- The risks that could change the decision
- Conditions worth writing into a land offer
From a site and an idea
to a clear decision
The order matters. The questions most likely to end a project are answered first, so an owner does not pay to design something the site cannot support.
What you want to build, what you need it to earn, and where the land stands: owned, under conditional offer or still being compared.
Planning documents, municipal staff, servicing and site limits are checked, and the approvals path is laid out.
A concept layout shows what the site yields. A Class D estimate and a pro forma show what that yield is worth.
A clear recommendation to proceed, change the project or walk away. If it proceeds, approvals, design and construction can continue with the same team.
What a study covers
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Project types | Industrial and warehouse, cold storage, self storage, data centres, healthcare and long-term care, multi-residential, subdivisions, commercial and institutional |
| Where | Anywhere in Ontario; every municipality's own planning documents and development charge by-law are read for the site in question |
| What we need | Site address or legal description, the intended use, any survey or existing reports, and the return or budget the project has to meet |
| Specialist reports | Geotechnical, environmental, traffic and similar reports are identified where the decision depends on them and obtained from qualified consultants |
| Findings | Planning position, servicing constraints, concept yield, Class D cost, development charges, pro forma, schedule, risks and a recommendation |
| After the study | Rezoning, site plan and permit applications, design management and construction under one contract, if the owner chooses to proceed |
The scope of each study is set by the site and the decision it has to support. A straightforward site on a permitted use needs less work than a rezoning on unserviced land.
Questions owners ask us
Plain answers about development feasibility from an Ontario general contractor and developer.
Start Your Project Today
Tell us about the land and what you want to build. The initial consultation is free, and we will tell you what needs to be tested before the offer goes firm.
Discuss a Feasibility Study →