Prepared for lenders, CDCs, and federal agencies to SBA SOP 50 10 8, USDA 7 CFR Part 5001, and conventional underwriting standards. Fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the agency, never the borrower. 4,000+ engagements since 1998 covering $41.2 billion in evaluated project value. So far in 2026: 41 engagements and $1.54 billion evaluated — 17 SBA, 11 USDA.
Life-science and laboratory buildings — clinical labs, research facilities, biotech space, and lab-office conversions — are specialized real estate underwritten on tenancy depth and infrastructure cost: the mechanical intensity of lab space, the cluster economics that concentrate credible demand in a limited set of markets, and the conversion-cost reality that separates genuine lab product from office with aspirations. The study tests the market's actual lab tenancy — funded demand, not square footage of ambition — validates the building specification against the intended lab classification, and prices the buildout at the mechanical and safety infrastructure costs the use genuinely requires.
Demand analysis from the market's research-funding base, institutional anchors, and documented lab absorption, specification review against intended biosafety and lab classification, conversion and buildout costing at lab-grade mechanical standards, and tenant-credit analysis recognizing the venture-funded profile much of the tenancy carries.
Every Wert-Berater financial model is fully linked with no hardcoded values, so any reviewer can stress any input. Deliverables comprise a complete narrative report and the linked Excel model, with ten-year pro forma, sensitivity analysis at ±5, 10, and 15 percent, interest-rate stress from +0.5 to +3.0 percent, and ratio analysis benchmarked against RMA and IBISWorld data.
SBA engagements are prepared to SOP 50 10 8, including its debt-service-coverage minimums of 1.15x operating and 1.00x global. USDA engagements follow RD Staff Instruction 5001 across the Business & Industry, Community Facilities, REAP, and Value-Added Producer Grant programs. Conventional engagements are built to the lender's stated coverage standard, typically 1.20x. Clinical and diagnostic laboratory operators fit SBA owner-occupied structures; speculative and multi-tenant lab buildings are conventional credits underwritten on market depth and sponsor capacity.
The firm's industrial and clinical practices converge here — specialized-envelope costing from one, healthcare tenancy analysis from the other. Independence is non-negotiable: determinations follow the evidence and are not revised under pressure, and studies are built to pass lender, agency, and third-party review without exception items.
A feasibility study for this asset class is not a repurposed office or industrial template. The scope is built around the physical, regulatory, and tenancy characteristics that make laboratory and research buildings categorically different from general commercial real estate. The study opens with a classification audit: wet lab, dry lab, biosafety level designation, cleanroom classification, or some combination, because the intended use governs every cost and compliance conclusion that follows.
Deliverables prepared for every life science, laboratory & medical research building feasibility study engagement include:
Demand for laboratory space is not read from population trends or employment indices. It is traced to the institutions, funding streams, and operating entities that actually occupy and pay for lab space. The analysis begins with the research-funding base: federal grant awards visible through public agency databases, National Institutes of Health reporter data, and Department of Defense and Department of Energy research-contract registries identify the organizations with funded programs that require physical lab space.
Institutional anchors — universities, academic medical centers, hospital research programs, and government laboratories — are mapped for proximity, expansion plans disclosed in bond documents or capital campaign filings, and documented lease activity. Biotech and life science company formation is tracked through state business-entity registries, biosafety committee registration records, and select-agent program filings where applicable. These sources distinguish operating companies with funded programs from entities at the concept stage.
Competitive-supply work counts existing lab inventory by classification: a building permitted and mechanically equipped for BSL-2 wet lab use is not interchangeable with dry lab or lab-office hybrid product. Pipeline supply is identified through building-permit records, utility interconnection applications, and publicly filed environmental or zoning approvals. Absorption is measured from documented lease transactions, not from broker surveys that conflate lab and office occupancy. The result is a demand picture grounded in evidence a credit officer can verify independently.
Four categories of input drive coverage ratios for life science and laboratory buildings more than any other. Each is tested explicitly rather than accepted from the sponsor's proforma.
Every assumption is documented so the lender can substitute its own judgment and observe the effect on coverage without requesting a revision.
SBA lenders ordering a study under SOP 50 10 8 are primarily concerned with whether the project will generate sufficient cash flow to meet the 1.15x operating and 1.00x global coverage minimums. For laboratory buildings, that question turns on whether the market can support the rent required to service a project whose construction cost reflects lab-grade mechanical infrastructure. A clinical or diagnostic laboratory operated by its owner fits the SBA owner-occupied structure; the study documents that the operator's existing or projected revenue supports debt service at the required coverage levels, and that the building specification matches the operator's licensed scope of testing.
USDA Business & Industry and Community Facilities engagements under 7 CFR Part 5001 require the same coverage discipline and add community-benefit and rural-market considerations. Research facilities serving rural academic medical centers or regional hospital systems can qualify, but the demand analysis must demonstrate that the tenancy base exists in the relevant geography rather than in a major metropolitan cluster.
Conventional lenders underwriting speculative or multi-tenant lab buildings typically require 1.20x coverage and focus on sponsor experience, pre-leasing depth, and the convertibility of the asset if the lab market softens. The study addresses each concern directly: market depth is quantified from funded demand, sponsor capacity is evaluated against the project's complexity, and the building program is reviewed for the flexibility — or lack of it — that affects exit value and refinance risk.
The fee for a life science, laboratory & medical research building feasibility study is fixed and quoted in writing within one business day of the initial inquiry. No portion of the fee is contingent on the study's finding, and the finding is not revised because a sponsor or lender prefers a different conclusion. Wert-Berater's fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the reviewing agency.
Standard delivery is ten to fifteen business days from receipt of a complete data room. The data room for a laboratory or research building engagement typically includes the building program and specification, any existing mechanical or engineering reports, the proposed lease structure or tenant letters of intent, the operator's or sponsor's financial statements, and any applicable licensing or regulatory approvals. Rush delivery is available and is discussed at engagement. Incomplete data rooms extend the timeline; the engagement clock starts when the file is complete, not when the deposit clears.
Every engagement is published to a secure client portal. The financial model is a fully linked Excel workbook with no hardcoded values; it remains live in the portal and recalculates when any input changes. A credit officer reviewing the study can open the model, change the rent assumption or the lease-up period, and see the effect on coverage ratios immediately, without requesting a revision. The bound narrative report, the ten-year pro forma, the sensitivity tables, the interest-rate stress, and the explicit statement of conditions are all delivered as a single integrated package. Wert-Berater has completed 4,000+ engagements representing $41.2 billion in evaluated project value since 1998.
The fee is fixed, quoted in writing within one business day, and does not change based on the study's conclusion. Because laboratory and research buildings involve specification review, lab-grade cost analysis, and tenant-credit evaluation that general commercial studies do not, the scope — and therefore the fee — reflects that complexity. Contact the firm with the project description to receive a written quote.
Standard delivery is ten to fifteen business days from a complete data room. For laboratory projects, a complete data room includes the building program, mechanical or engineering reports, proposed lease structure or letters of intent, and any applicable biosafety or licensing documentation. Rush delivery is available. The clock starts when the file is complete, not at deposit.
Three factors make laboratory buildings genuinely difficult: mechanical buildout costs are high and largely non-recoverable if the tenancy fails; demand is concentrated in a limited set of markets and tied to funding cycles rather than population or employment trends; and the tenant base often includes venture-funded or grant-dependent entities whose credit profiles differ from conventional commercial tenants. A credible study addresses all three directly, with evidence rather than assumption.
Yes. Owner-occupied clinical and diagnostic laboratory facilities fit the SBA owner-occupied structure and are underwritten to SOP 50 10 8 coverage minimums of 1.15x operating and 1.00x global. Speculative or multi-tenant lab buildings are generally conventional credits. The feasibility study identifies which structure applies and is prepared to the corresponding standard.
Demand analysis draws on federal grant-award databases, NIH reporter records, state business-entity and biosafety-committee registries, bond documents and capital campaign filings from institutional anchors, building-permit records, utility interconnection applications, and documented lease transactions. The goal is to count funded, operating demand — not projected market growth — from sources a credit officer can verify independently.
No. A feasibility study is an independent analytical opinion prepared for the lender and reviewing agency. It states whether the evidence supports the project's financial viability under the applicable coverage standard. Loan approval is the lender's and, where applicable, the agency's decision. No study — from any firm — can guarantee or imply that outcome.
Qualify a project. Tell us about the project and the program. We will tell you the truth about it — scope, timeline, and fee confirmed before work begins.
Schedule a Zoom Call →Legal disclosure. Wert-Berater, Inc. offices are mailing addresses only. Following the COVID-19 pandemic the firm has elected to work remotely; its office locations receive mail and are not staffed for visitors or in-person meetings. Headquarters mailing address: 1968 South Coast Hwy, Ste 2382, Laguna Beach, CA 92651.
Wert-Berater, Inc. is an independent provider of feasibility studies and other related services. The firm does not provide financing or equity investment advice, and does not arrange, broker, or place debt or equity capital of any kind.
All appraisal assignments are performed by Bruce E. Jones, MAI, ASA-GC, BCA, CMEA, a member of the Appraisal Institute since 2006, a staff member of Wert-Berater, Inc. and owner of Special Purpose Realty Valuation.