The True Cost of Per-Project Due Diligence (And Why Subscriptions Win)

Every developer knows the feeling. You find a site that looks promising. You commission a Site Feasibility Report. Two weeks later, you get the results — the site has significant planning constraints, and the deal falls apart. You have spent £1,500-£3,000 on a report for a site you will never buy. Now multiply that by the 10, 20, or 50 sites you screen per year.

The per-project model for site due diligence is broken. It punishes volume. The more sites you screen, the more you spend on intelligence that tells you not to proceed. But the sites you do not screen are the ones that catch you out — the flood zone you missed, the contamination history you did not check, the heritage constraint that kills the planning application six months later.

Here is what the numbers actually look like. A typical SME developer screening 15 sites per year and proceeding on 5 needs a minimum due diligence pack per site: Site Feasibility Report, Geotechnical Desk Study, Flood Risk Assessment. At market rates, that is £2,500-£4,500 per site. For 15 sites: £37,500-£67,500 per year. For the 10 sites you do not proceed on, that is £25,000-£45,000 spent on intelligence that told you to walk away.

Now consider Site Intelligence. A Site Screening report starts at £199 (1-9 dwellings; £299 for 10-50 and £399 for 51-200) and is delivered within 48 hours — giving you a fast go/no-go decision. For sites that pass screening, Feasibility Intelligence starts at £995 (1-9 dwellings), with £2,495 and £3,495 bands for larger schemes. Screen 15 small sites at £199 each (£2,985) and proceed to full feasibility on the 5 that pass (5 x £995 = £4,975 at the smallest band). Total: £7,960 — compared to £37,500-£67,500 under the traditional model.

The speed advantage compounds the savings. Traditional consultant timelines run 2-4 weeks per report. In a competitive land market, that delay costs you deals. A site that takes 4 weeks to assess is a site that gets bought by someone who moved faster. Our 48-hour turnaround means you can screen a site on Monday and make an informed offer by Wednesday.

For land buyers and deal packagers, the economics are even more compelling. Site Screening from £199 per site gives you a same-day constraint check — the report specifically designed for acquisition decisions. At traditional consultant rates of £1,500-£3,000 per site, the saving is immediate and significant.

The question is not whether you can afford Site Intelligence. The question is whether you can afford to keep paying traditional consultant rates. Every site you do not screen is a risk you are carrying blind. Every week you wait for a consultant is a deal you might lose. Every surprise invoice at project end is margin you did not plan for.

Transparent pricing. 48-hour turnaround. Screen every site. That is what Site Intelligence delivers.