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Feasibility Study Services for US Lenders, SBA and USDA Applications

Last updated: 22 August 2026. Written and signed by Muhammad Tayyab Shabbir, Business Plan Firm (an Avvale company).

We write independent feasibility studies for US lenders, SBA 504 projects, USDA guaranteed loans and grant programs, and boards making a go/no-go call. Fixed price $3,900 to $9,800, complex multi-site work from $14,000. Turnaround 10 to 20 business days. Every study is signed by a named author and structured to USDA's own federal template.

• Price: Essential $3,900 · Standard $6,500 · Premium $9,800 · complex from $14,000. Fixed, never hourly.
• Turnaround: 10 business days (Essential), 15 (Standard), 20 (Premium).
• Structure: the eight elements of Appendix A to Subpart D of 7 CFR Part 5001.
• Named author: Muhammad Tayyab Shabbir — UCL, published textbook author — with a written independence policy and two-reviewer QC.
• Deliverable: PDF study, editable financial workbook, source register, lender call.
• Book: free 30-minute call.

What is a feasibility study, and how is it different from a business plan?

A business plan argues your project should be funded. A feasibility study tests whether it can work, and is allowed to conclude that it cannot — which is why it must be written by someone with no stake in the answer. US federal regulation gives the cleanest definition: under 7 CFR 5001.3, a feasibility study is "a report including an opinion or finding conducted by an independent qualified consultant(s) evaluating the economic, market, technical, financial, and management feasibility of the proposed project or operation in terms of its expectation for success as outlined in appendix A to subpart D of this part." Five dimensions, one independent author, an explicit opinion — and a cross-reference to the appendix that sets out the contents in full, which is where the eight elements below come from. We use that as the spine of every study, USDA money or not, because reviewers already recognize it.

How much does a feasibility study cost?

How that compares to the market

Indicative market pricing only, gathered from published rate cards and quotes seen by us in August 2026. These are not verified figures, competitors change their prices, and nothing here is a quote from another firm.

We sit deliberately below the specialist incumbents and clearly above a business plan. A study is several times the work of a plan: primary research, an independent opinion, a named signature. If someone offers one at business-plan prices, ask who signs it.

Does the SBA require a feasibility study?

SBA's own rulebook imposes no blanket requirement. In SOP 50 10 8 — the Standard Operating Procedure governing the 7(a) and 504 loan programs, effective 1 June 2025 — the word "feasibility" appears five times, all of them on a single page (p.357), inside Section C, Chapter 1, which covers 504 loans only. The phrase "market study" does not appear anywhere in the document.

The language on that page is permissive, not mandatory. The SOP lists feasibility studies among examples of "independent studies/reports" that "may be beneficial in mitigating any weaknesses identified in the credit analysis". It states that "SBA has the regulatory authority to request a feasibility study when it is needed to further understand the small business type and market conditions at the project location", and that the SLPC Director "will request a feasibility when appropriate" [SBA's wording]. It lists five circumstances that "may cause SBA to request a feasibility study": market saturation by industry type and location; a unique market concept; a highly specialized project property; project size disproportionate to the community served; or rapid growth of the applicant or affiliate group with rising undisbursed or unseasoned debt.

Two honest caveats. SBA keeps the regulatory authority to ask for a study even where the SOP does not mandate one, and lenders and CDCs may require one under their own credit policies — many do for hotels, gas stations and other special-purpose properties. And the separate limited/special purpose property list at pp.355–356 governs the borrower's equity contribution, not feasibility studies, whatever you have been told.

SBA publishes the SOP as a Word file, not a PDF, so cite the section rather than the page alone. Version watch: SOP 50 10 8.1 takes effect 1 October 2026; we checked it and the passage is word-for-word identical and still 504-only, but pagination shifts, so we re-verify in October.

Does the USDA require a feasibility study?

Often yes, and USDA is far more prescriptive than SBA. Under 7 CFR 5001.306(a)(3)(i) a feasibility study by an independent qualified consultant is required for a Business & Industry guaranteed loan greater than $1,000,000.00 made to a "new business". At $1,000,000.00 or less it is discretionary under 5001.306(a)(3)(ii).

"New business" is broader than "startup". 7 CFR 5001.3 includes a business operating over a year that "has not achieved full operational capacity or stable operations", and a new enterprise or affiliate "moving or expanding into a new location involving new market or labor areas" — so established operators entering a new labor market are often caught by it.

Community Facilities. 7 CFR 5001.304 sets out two types of financial feasibility report, not three. A financial feasibility analysis — which the lender may prepare itself — covers guaranteed loans of $25 million or less to existing community facilities, loans secured by a general obligation bond or other tax-supported income sufficient to service the debt, or borrowers whose last three years of audited financials show ability to pay all debt service. Everything else needs a financial feasibility study with examination opinion, under AICPA attestation standards, by a preparer carrying professional liability insurance. Separately, 5001.304(a)(4)(i) requires a study for guaranteed loans greater than $1,000,000.00 to "a new entity or an entity conducting a new activity".

Value-Added Producer Grants. 7 CFR 4284.931(h) requires a Feasibility Study by a Qualified Consultant for Working Capital Grant applicants, but 4284.932 waives it for requests under $50,000, for Market Expansion requests of $50,000 or more, and for Food Safety projects where over half of project costs are post-harvest food safety. So a request of exactly $50,000 falls outside the under-$50,000 waiver, "over $50,000" is the wrong test, and a large request can still be exempt.

REAP. Under 7 CFR 4280.116 a study is discretionary, renewable-energy projects only, no dollar threshold. The $80,000 and $200,000 figures quoted all over the web tier technical reports and decide between an energy assessment and an energy audit — nothing to do with feasibility studies.

What does a lender-acceptable feasibility study contain?

USDA publishes the most detailed federal template we have found, and it has eight elements, not five. Every study we write carries all eight, whichever program you are applying to.

How long does it take?

The schedule below is the Premium track, 20 business days. Standard runs the same phases compressed into 15 business days. Essential compresses to days 0–10 and omits the primary-research phase, because that tier is desk research plus your own data.

• Day 0 — scoping call. Program, trigger and decision-maker identified; fixed price given on the call.
• Days 1–3 — data and site definition. Trade area drawn, competitor census built, datasets pulled and date-stamped.
• Days 4–8 — primary research. Operator, supplier, regulator and referral-source interviews (Standard, Premium).
• Days 9–13 — modeling and drafting. Demand model built, financials tied to it, draft written to the eight elements.
• Days 14–20 — QC, delivery, lender liaison. Two-reviewer tie-out, sign-off by the named author, delivery call, then a call with your loan officer.

Rush work is possible on Essential and Standard. We will say on the call whether the research can honestly be compressed — often it cannot.

Who is qualified to write a feasibility study?

USDA requires an "independent qualified consultant acceptable to the Agency". No USDA rule imposes a professional designation on a feasibility study author — there is no CPA, PE or MAI requirement, and "independent qualified consultant" is not even a defined term in 7 CFR Part 5001. The one credential-adjacent exception is the Community Facilities examination opinion (see below). VAPG comes closest to a definition, describing a Qualified Consultant at 7 CFR 4284.903 as "a third-party, without a conflict of interest, possessing the knowledge, expertise, and experience to perform the specific task required in an efficient, effective, and authoritative manner". Qualification is judged on evidence, not bought with a credential — so the burden is on the firm to prove independence. Ours is written down.

Our independence policy

• No equity. We take no ownership stake, warrant or option in any business we write a study for.
• No referral fees. We neither pay nor accept fees from lenders, brokers, franchisors, equipment vendors or CDCs.
• No contingent fees. The fee is fixed in advance and unlinked to the conclusion, the loan closing or the grant award. We are paid the same for a "do not proceed".
• No operator advisory within 24 months. If we have advised the operator on the same project in the preceding 24 months, we decline the feasibility engagement and say why.
• Disclosure. Any prior relationship with the applicant, lender or site is disclosed on the qualifications page of the study itself.

Named author and QC chain

Every study is signed by Muhammad Tayyab Shabbir — UCL, published textbook author, founder of Avvale Consulting and its US brand Business Plan Firm. The firm is behind $1B+ in funding documents for 300+ businesses across 30 countries, including Shark Tank and Dragons' Den clients.

The QC chain has two reviewers, neither of them the drafter. A consultant drafts; a second consultant ties every figure in the narrative back to the source register and re-runs the model; Muhammad Tayyab Shabbir reviews the opinion and signs. The qualifications page ships inside the study, because USDA requires it and because a lender should know whose judgment they are relying on.

Data sources

Every figure carries a source line and a retrieval date. We work from US Census Bureau County Business Patterns and American Community Survey data, BLS QCEW and OES series, BEA regional accounts, USDA NASS for agricultural projects, CMS and state health department data for healthcare, state and county licensing registries, local planning and permit records, and primary interviews run for your project. Estimates are labeled as estimates, with the method shown.

What we do not do

• No MAI appraisals. Valuation is a licensed discipline. If your lender needs an appraisal we refer you out to a state-certified general appraiser and coordinate so both documents share the same trade-area assumptions.
• No CPA examination opinions. This matters for the USDA Community Facilities top tier: the "financial feasibility study with examination opinion" at 7 CFR 5001.304(b) must be prepared under AICPA attestation standards by a preparer carrying professional liability insurance. We are not a CPA firm. On those engagements we build the market, technical and demand analysis alongside the CPA firm issuing the opinion — or send you straight to a CPA.
• No energy audits or engineering certifications. A REAP energy-efficiency project of $200,000 or more requires an energy audit, not a feasibility study.
• No Phase I environmental site assessments and no PE-stamped engineering work.
• No guaranteed outcome. Nobody can promise SBA, USDA or a credit committee will approve, and any firm that does is selling something else.

When you probably do not need one

You likely do not need one for a straightforward SBA 7(a) loan with no unusual concentration or property type — "feasibility" does not appear once in the SOP's 7(a) chapters. Likewise if your USDA B&I guaranteed loan is $1,000,000.00 or less or the borrower is not a "new business"; if your VAPG working capital request is under $50,000, qualifies as Market Expansion at $50,000 or more, or is a Food Safety project; or if your REAP application is an energy-efficiency project needing a technical report. In those cases a well-built business plan with a credible financial model and honest market research is the cheaper, correct document. Ask your lender, in writing, what they require before commissioning anything.

Frequently asked questions

Is a feasibility study the same as a market study?

No. A market study answers "is there demand?". A feasibility study covers economic, market, technical, financial and management dimensions and closes with an opinion on whether to proceed. The phrase "market study" appears zero times in SOP 50 10 8.

Will my lender accept a study from you?

We cannot promise that, and no consultant honestly can. No federal rule we have found sets a credential a feasibility study author must hold, and USDA's own standard is a consultant "acceptable to the Agency" — but the absence of a rule is not the same as acceptance, and whether your particular lender, CDC or loan officer accepts our study is their decision, not ours. What we control is what we build to: independence, the federal eight-element structure, a source line on every figure and a named author's signature. Send your loan officer this page before you commit and ask them, in writing, what they require — if they need something we cannot provide, better to know on day zero.

Can you write the study if you already wrote my business plan?

Not within 24 months, under our own independence policy. We refer you to another firm and hand over the underlying data so you are not paying twice for the same research.

What if the answer is no?

We deliver the study and the fee stands. A firm that never writes "do not proceed" is not writing feasibility studies. The point of commissioning one before you commit capital is that a negative finding is a usable answer, not a failed deliverable.

How much of my own data do you need?

Existing operators: three years of financials, current pricing and volumes, site details. Startups: the site or shortlist, capex quotes, any letters of intent. We do the rest.

Do I get the financial model as well?

Yes — the editable workbook behind the projections, not just a locked PDF, plus the source register with retrieval dates.

How do I start?

Book a free 30-minute call. We identify the program, whether a study is genuinely required, which tier fits and what it costs.

Book a call

Book a free 30-minute feasibility scoping call. Fixed price on the call, no obligation, straight answers — including "you do not need this".

Sources. SBA, SOP 50 10 8, effective 1 June 2025, Section C, Chapter 1, part E, paragraph 1.g, at p.357 — SBA distributes the SOP as a Word file, so pagination is the standard rendering and the section reference governs; SOP 50 10 8.1, effective 1 October 2026, checked 20 August 2026. eCFR, current as of 20 August 2026: 7 CFR 5001.3, 5001.304, 5001.306; 7 CFR 4280.116 and Appendix D to Subpart B of Part 4280; 7 CFR 4284.903, 4284.931, 4284.932. Appendix A to Subpart D of Part 5001 is published on eCFR only as images with no machine-readable text, so its wording was read from the govinfo CFR annual edition revised as of 1 January 2025; the identical qualifications and recommendation wording quoted above was verified against live eCFR text in Appendix D to Subpart B of Part 4280. Verified against primary sources. Last updated 22 August 2026; next review October 2026.