How Long Does a Feasibility Study Take?

Standard delivery10–15 business days

Clock startsWhen the data room is complete

Fee quoteWithin one business day

Typical delay causeWaiting on sponsor documents

Complex filesMulti-site, processing, hospital

Rush schedulesCase by case, quoted honestly

The honest answer

For most projects, ten to fifteen business days from the point the data room is complete. That is a working standard, not a marketing number, and the phrase that matters in it is from the point the data room is complete. The analysis is a known quantity; the schedule risk lives almost entirely in how quickly the sponsor can produce documents.

We send the information request the day the engagement is signed for exactly that reason. Files that deliver on time are the ones where the sponsor returns the request within a few days. Files that slip are almost never waiting on the analyst.

What happens in each phase

Phase	Typical span	What is actually happening
Scoping and quote	1 business day	Understanding the project, the program and the lender's condition; a fixed written fee and a delivery date.
Data request	Sponsor-driven	Financials, site information, cost basis, contracts, permits, sponsor background. This is the schedule.
Market and technical work	4–7 business days	Trade area definition, demand build, competitive inspection, primary interviews, technical review of the plan and cost basis.
Financial modelling	2–4 business days	Revenue build tied to the market findings, operating costs, capital structure, coverage and sensitivity.
Review and sign-off	1–2 business days	Internal review against the program's requirements, principal review, and the stated determination.

These overlap in practice — modelling begins while primary market work is still in the field — which is how the total lands inside a fortnight rather than the sum of the parts.

What makes a study take longer

The usual extenders

Multiple sites or phases — each site needs its own trade area, competitive set and capture analysis.
Thin published data — rural trade areas and novel asset classes push the work into primary research: operator interviews, site visits, competitor inspection.
Processing and industrial plants — throughput, yield and supply-chain analysis add a technical layer that consumer-facing assets do not have.
Healthcare — service-line volumes, payer mix and reimbursement analysis are slower than a room-night or occupancy build.
Incomplete cost basis — if the contractor's number is still moving, the financial section cannot be finalised.
Late scope changes — a change in unit count, program or capital structure reopens the model and the market case.

Can it be compressed?

Sometimes, and we will tell you before you engage rather than after. Rush schedules work by reallocating senior analyst time, not by cutting the analysis, so they carry a premium and they are not available for every asset class. What cannot be compressed is primary research in a market where the published data does not exist; interviews and inspections take the time they take.

What genuinely accelerates a file is preparation. A complete data room on day one, a single decision-maker on the sponsor side, a settled scope, and direct access to the lender's underwriter for scope questions will do more for your date than any amount of pressure applied at the end.

How the timeline fits your loan

Work backwards from the credit committee date, not forwards from today. Lenders generally want the third-party reports in hand before the file goes to committee, and an appraisal is often running on a parallel track with its own schedule. Commissioning the study when the loan application goes in — rather than when the condition list arrives — is the single cheapest way to protect a closing date.