The Real Cost of Site Screening
We cite three statistics on our homepage. We take these numbers seriously — they frame the problem Contor exists to solve — so we want to show our work.
Here's where each number comes from, what it measures, and why it matters for real estate development teams.
2 weeks: analyst time to screen 20 candidate sites
Where it comes from: This is a derived calculation based on per-parcel research time estimates.
The per-site breakdown:
| Task | Time per site | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Zoning analysis (ordinances, overlays, setbacks) | 4–8 hours | Build.inc |
| County assessor records (ownership, values, lot data) | 15–30 min | Manual — reCAPTCHA, PDF downloads |
| FEMA flood map check | 10–15 min | Manual — FEMA Map Service Center |
| State environmental databases (GeoTracker, EnviroStor) | 15–30 min | Manual — per-site searches |
| Species habitat / wetlands check (USFWS IPaC, NWI) | 10–20 min | Manual — per-site lookups |
| Compilation into a memo or feasibility summary | 1–2 hours | Manual — synthesizing all findings |
| Total per site | ~6–11 hours |
At the midpoint of ~8 hours per site across 20 candidate parcels, that's 160 hours of analyst time — roughly 4 weeks of a single analyst's capacity, or 2 weeks if two analysts split the work.
Why it matters: Developers evaluate far more sites than they acquire. The industry rule of thumb is that you may evaluate 100 sites for every one you close. Even at a more conservative 20-to-1 ratio, the desk research required to screen a quarter's pipeline is measured in weeks.
Primary sources:
- Build.inc — Zoning Automation in Commercial Real Estate (4-8 hours per parcel for zoning analysis)
- Burke Law — Due Diligence for Developments (6-9 month recommended due diligence period for land/redevelopment)
$100K+ per year: annual desk research cost for the screening funnel
Where it comes from: Derived from per-site costs scaled to a typical developer's annual deal flow.
The math:
Environmental consultants bill at $150–$200/hour (PayScale). Land use analysts and junior associates at development firms bill internally at $75–$125/hour.
At the conservative end (in-house analyst at $75/hr):
- 20 sites × 8 hours = 160 hours × $75/hr = $12,000 per screening round
- 4 screening rounds per year = $48,000/year
At the consultant end ($150/hr):
- 160 hours × $150/hr = $24,000 per round
- 4 rounds = $96,000/year
Add Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment costs for the sites that advance to due diligence — typically 5-10 per year at $1,900–$6,500 each (GEO Forward, Moran Environmental):
- 7 Phase 1 ESAs × $3,500 average = $24,500/year
Conservative total: $72,500–$120,500/year. We round to "$100K+" for clarity.
What this doesn't include: Title searches, geotechnical reports, surveys, legal review, entitlement applications. The $100K+ is purely the desk research and environmental screening portion.
For context on soft costs overall: Pre-development soft costs typically run 15–30% of total project budget. On a $50M multifamily development, feasibility studies alone cost $500K–$1M (1-2% of total).
Primary sources:
- GEO Forward — Phase 1 Environmental Cost ($1,900–$3,500 typical)
- Moran Environmental — ESA Pricing Guide ($1,800–$7,500 by property size)
- ASTM E1527-21 — Phase 1 ESA standard (four components: records review, site reconnaissance, interviews, report)
- HelloData — Predevelopment Costs (feasibility studies = 1-2% of total)
- Peony — Due Diligence Cost Breakdown ($50K-$200K total DD for mid-sized deals)
9.3 hours/week: time knowledge workers spend searching for information
Source: McKinsey Global Institute, The Social Economy, 2012
What it measures: The amount of time employees spend searching for and gathering information as part of their daily work. The research found that knowledge workers spend 19.8% of their work week — nearly one full day — on information search and gathering tasks.
At a 47-hour average knowledge worker week, that's 9.3 hours per week spent finding information rather than using it.
Corroborating data:
- IDC White Paper: Knowledge workers spend 2.5 hours per day (~30% of workday) searching for information
- Outsell/IHS: Engineers' time spent searching increased 13% since 2002
- SearchYourCloud: Workers take up to 8 searches to find the right document
Why this applies to real estate: The McKinsey number covers all knowledge workers, but the pattern is amplified in real estate development where "searching for information" means navigating county GIS portals, downloading PDFs from assessor websites, and cross-referencing zoning ordinances across jurisdictions. The per-site breakdown in our first stat is what this looks like in practice.
Primary source:
- McKinsey Global Institute — The Social Economy (19.8% of work time on search and gathering)
The Phase 1 ESA deep-dive
Since our homepage mentions "$3,500 per Phase 1" in the segments section, here's the fuller picture:
A Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment follows ASTM E1527-21, the standard practice for environmental site assessments. It has four components:
-
Records review (desk research) — Federal, state, and local environmental database searches. Historical aerial photographs. Fire insurance maps. City directories. Tax records. Chain of title. Building department permits. Previous environmental reports.
-
Site reconnaissance (field work) — Visual inspection of the property and adjoining properties for evidence of contamination, storage tanks, staining, distressed vegetation, etc.
-
Interviews — Conversations with current and past owners, operators, occupants, and local government officials.
-
Report preparation — Documenting findings, evaluating recognized environmental conditions (RECs), and providing conclusions.
The cost breakdown by property type (GEO Forward, Aegis Environmental):
| Property type | Cost range |
|---|---|
| Small vacant lot (< 1 acre) | $1,800–$2,500 |
| Standard commercial (1–5 acres) | $2,500–$3,500 |
| Large or complex (5+ acres) | $3,500–$6,000 |
| Industrial / high-risk history | $5,000–$7,500 |
The key insight for automation: The records review is the single most time-consuming component. It involves searching multiple government databases, each with their own interface, and compiling the results into a coherent risk assessment. This is pure desk research — exactly the kind of work that AI agents can run in parallel across every relevant database in minutes.
The site reconnaissance still requires a human on the ground. But the desk research that frames what to look for? That's where the automation opportunity lives.
Timeline: A typical Phase 1 ESA takes 2-4 weeks from engagement to final report (Alpha Environmental). Much of that calendar time is waiting for government database responses and scheduling the site visit.
What this means for Contor
We built Contor's agentic workflows to automate the desk research portion of site feasibility and environmental screening. When a developer enters an address, Contor agents query zoning codes, flood maps, assessor records, seismic databases, contamination registries, wetland inventories, and species habitat data — in parallel, in minutes.
The output is a cited feasibility report where every finding traces back to its source. The developer's team reviews the work rather than redoing it.
We're not replacing Phase 1 ESAs, land use attorneys, or environmental consultants. We're eliminating the hours of manual database navigation that precedes every one of those engagements — so experts can spend their time on judgment, not retrieval.
If your team spends more time pulling records than analyzing them, we should talk.