What is the Purpose of a Feasibility Study?

Feasibility studies have a wide-ranging impact due to their versatility. Depending on the site, project goals, and audience, a feasibility study can yield a wealth of different information. A tailored feasibility study can provide you with concise information to help you: determine whether you can develop your land, understand the limitations of the property prior to finalizing the purchase, comprehend how easements or zoning regulations may affect the project size, height, or location on the site, and save time and money by revealing whether the concept is viable. Most importantly, a feasibility study can instill confidence that your project is achievable.

Here are when residential architectural feasibility studies are most useful:

• when you want help to figure out WHAT is possible on a given site, like real estate development, a feasibility study could show different development options based on local zoning codes, test fit ideas, and show massing studies to help you make decisions
• when you want to build a custom home but aren’t sure IF it’s possible and want assurance that you will be able to build what you intend to prior to closing the land deal
• when you know its possible but aren’t sure about how to go about doing it and what to be aware of. For example, you know you want to build a house but maybe your lot has challenging zoning restrictions or easement issues. Maybe the lot is on a steep slope or needs infrastructure improvements that require different approvals.

Ultimately, a feasibility study is the first step in a successful project, providing you with the necessary information to develop a strategy for the best use of the land.

Architectural Feasibility Studies for Custom Homes

At YR Architecture + Design, we specialize in working with clients who want to build one-of-a-kind custom homes. As such, we tailor our feasibility studies to focus on the nuances specific to building custom homes on unique pieces of property. Our clients are visionaries, excited with big ideas for their home, and want to push the limits of traditional construction. They see challenges as opportunities to do something interesting and different.

Some of the challenges our clients face include:

• Challenging lots with steep slopes, water features, floodplains, and strict zoning restrictions.
• Remote undeveloped land that lacks driveway access and utilities and may be densely forested.
• Iconic, unconventional modern designs with large cantilevers and architectural features that challenge  traditional structural engineering methods.
• Out of the box thinking that result in atypical funding arrangements, logistics, and timelines.

We provide different levels of architectural feasibility studies for custom homes that cater to the unique needs of our clients and their specific properties, making the most critical information as accessible as possible. After discussing each project, we help guide our clients into selecting the most appropriate scope of services and deliverables for the study.

We offer three levels of service for feasibility studies:

1. Key Info Only – This level of service is ideal for understanding the most critical information for what is possible and where on a given site. It includes a zoning review and a basic site review.
2. Site Analysis & Massing studies – This level of service is ideal for exploring options of a given site. It includes massing studies, site plans, and test-fit diagrams that show potential building locations and house sizes.
3. Complete Feasibility Review – This level of service is ideal for uncovering challenges and opportunities of complicated sites where site features or zoning regulations significantly affect what is feasible. It includes a comprehensive review of zoning, site, topography, utilities, infrastructure, access, and massing options.

Below is a study we conducted for our Lincoln Bluff project. The site is located on a cliff overlooking the Columbia River. Our client requested that the house be self-reliant, using municipal resources when available but capable of functioning fully autonomously, which can happen during wildfire season when power outages can last up to a week.

For this analysis, we worked with the client to determine the optimal placement for various infrastructure components and the future house on the bluff. Navigating around rock formations, vegetation, and steep topography changes, we identified a viable option for developing the lot ensuring all the programmatic elements fit.

What Is Involved in an Architectural Feasibility Study?

Each project is unique, and every client has different needs for the feasibility study. In most cases, we provide basic zoning and site reviews. However, since most of our clients have atypical properties, a deeper level of review is typically necessary. This review often involves conversations with city officials, a review of historical records, project budgets, and space planning.

In general, here are some of the things we review and make recommendations for:

Zoning Codes – Zoning codes govern the buildable area, density, lot coverage, building sizes, and parking, among other things. These codes differ for every city and are usually not easy to understand.

Site Analysis – The property itself influences what to build and where. Topography, views, driveway access, utility locations, trees and vegetation, and rock formations play a role in determining how best to utilize the site. In addition, the local weather, sun path, and wind directions are also influencers.

Massing Studies – We explore options for house orientation, size, shape, and massing to determine which strategies are best for passive solar, maximizing views, reducing the impact on the land, and cost-effectiveness.

Existing Conditions Review – When the intent is to renovate, add onto an existing structure, or even dismantle and use salvaged materials from existing building stock, we conduct an existing conditions survey to evaluate options.

Site Selection – When trying to choose between various properties or even sites on the same property, we help analyze sites and make suggestions about the pros and cons of each in relation to our client’s anticipated goals for the project.

Master Planning & Phasing – With legacy projects where clients want to create a multi-generational experience, we develop master plans and make recommendations for phasing components of the project that will maximize enjoyment now while planning ahead for long-term improvements.

Deep Dives – Depending on the project, there may be other more intensive reviews of geotechnical data, floodplain delineation, endangered species, wetlands designations, tree surveys & removal, utilities & infrastructure, budgetary review, site history, legal issues, and other planning department agency oversight. In Seattle, where there are strict regulatory restrictions, Build LLC does a great job of showing complex issues in their feasibility studies.

Here is part of a study we did for a client who purchased lakefront property in North Carolina with a 100-year flood plain. We studied access, topography, tree locations, and house massing to determine the best placement of the house on the land.

Later, in the design phase, we developed one of those massing schemes into a custom modern lake home.

What’s Included in the Final Feasibility Study Report?

Our feasibility studies are always tailored to meet individual clients’ needs. There is no set format. They can range from a relatively simple assessment to a complex review of different sites and potential uses. In all cases, we appraise the project, identify options, and review pros and cons of each idea.

We aim to present the information in an easy-to-understand format, beginning with an executive summary followed by supporting information, site plans, diagrams, and contact information for key players. Complex studies may focus on specific aspects in more detail, such as statutory constraints like planning approvals, site investigation, and construction cost review.

Our goal is to collate and present this information in a clear format that can be readily shared and used. We acknowledge that the study is a means to an end. Our aim is to produce a document that is a useful tool to our clients, guiding them through the next stages of their project.