How we compare sites
Customers, competitors, property, rent.
Drive-time market areas
Drawn on real roads, not circles. Five and ten minutes for everyday purchases; longer for destinations.
Groundwork Gravity Model
Each site’s share of every neighborhood’s customers, against every competitor, checked two ways.
Groundwork Site Score
Traffic, access, visibility, parking, neighbors and rent burden, weighted and scored, with a lease checklist.
Site B had more traffic and more parking. Site A won 41% of the area’s coffee spending to Site B’s 31%, for $700 a month less rent. As budgeted, 96% of Site B’s simulated futures ran out of cash first.
Then the money, for each site
The best site is the one that pays.
Each site gets its own projection and its own odds: the chance of covering monthly costs, the chance of running out of cash first, and the customers a day it takes to break even at that rent.
Traffic that passes a competitor first isn’t your traffic. The model counts that.
Choose your study
Fixed fees. Request your quote.
Market Feasibility Study
$695
12 to 15 pages · Fixed fee · Delivered in 1–3 business days
Should this business exist in this market? Three independent demand estimates, your competition, your money and your odds.
- Three demand methods, side by side
- Competition and the gap
- 36-month projection and break-even
- Probability from 10,000 simulated futures
- The Groundwork Verdict
Site Selection Analysis
$695
12 to 15 pages · Fixed fee · Delivered in 1–3 business days
Which of two or three locations gives you the strongest chance? Drive times, competitors, the property and the rent.
- Drive-time market areas
- Groundwork Gravity Model by site
- Groundwork Site Score and lease checklist
- Probability for each site
- The Groundwork Verdict
Complete Feasibility and Site Study
$1,495
15 to 20 pages · Fixed fee · Delivered in 1–3 business days
Both studies, one answer: whether the market can carry your business, where to put it, and what it takes to get there.
- Everything in both studies
- One verdict across market, site and money
- Conditions to meet, in order
- First-90-days plan
- Walk-through call
Common questions about choosing a location
How do I choose a location for a small business?
Start with where your customers come from and how far they will drive for what you sell. Then compare each site against the competitors around it, look at the property itself, and check whether the rent leaves you room to break even. A Groundwork Site Selection Analysis does each step with your numbers.
What is a gravity model?
A long-standing method in retail location research: a store pulls customers in proportion to how attractive it is and loses them with every extra minute of driving. We use it to estimate each site's share of the customers in every surrounding neighborhood, against every competitor.
How many sites can you compare?
Two or three in the standard study. If you bring one, we add a realistic alternative so you have a comparison.
Do you look at the lease?
Yes. Every site gets a Groundwork Site Score and a checklist of lease terms worth negotiating, with what each one is worth to your break-even.
How much does it cost?
A fixed $695. Add the Market Feasibility Study for the Complete study at $1,495.
How long does it take?
1 to 3 business days after we receive your information.
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