Zoning & Underwriting Intelligence for Real Estate Developers
Underwrite your deals with real zoning intelligence. Density limits, setback constraints, overlay burdens, and approval odds — not assumptions. Know what the lot actually yields before you tie up capital.
Your Pro Forma Is Only as Good as Your Zoning Assumptions.
You underwrite a deal assuming 18 units per acre. The site’s actually in an overlay that caps density at 12. You assumed a 25-foot front setback — a corner-lot exception triggers a 40-foot setback on the second frontage. You assumed the parcel was clear of watershed restrictions; it isn’t, and your impervious-surface allowance just got cut by 30%.
Any one of these kills your yield. Discover them during permitting and you’re re-underwriting mid-project, with earnest money and option payments already spent. One report covers what a land use attorney charges hours to produce — and tells you at the LOI stage, not at plan review.
BuildClearance is built for developers who need real zoning intelligence on every site before the contract is signed.
Every Constraint That Moves the Pro Forma — Documented.
Density Limits
Maximum units per acre under base zoning and every applicable overlay. Floor area ratio. Coverage caps. Exactly what the site supports.
Setback Constraints
Front, side, rear, corner-lot exceptions, and overlay-specific setback overlays. The buildable envelope, not the parcel outline.
Overlay Burdens
Historic, watershed, airport, conservation, conditional, and transit overlays. Each one quantified for impact on timeline, budget, and design.
Dimensional Compliance
Every minimum and maximum — lot size, lot width at building line, height, impervious coverage, parking, landscape buffers — checked against your actual site.
Approval Odds
Our proprietary BuildClearance Screening Score on a 0–10 scale. GREEN LIGHT / YELLOW LIGHT / HIGH RISK verdict, with the factors driving it.
Rezoning & Variance Path
If the plan doesn’t fit current zoning, we analyze what classification would support it, the process, the typical timeline, and realistic odds of success.
From Site Identification Through Capital Stack
- LOI-stage underwriting. Screen every site before you commit earnest money. Kill non-starters in 48 hours, not three weeks.
- Due-diligence validation. Confirm your feasibility assumptions with documented analysis during the option period. Renegotiate or walk based on real data.
- Entitlement strategy. Use the rezoning and variance analysis to choose the path with highest odds of approval for your target density.
- Capital-stack packages. Include the GC-validated report in materials sent to debt and equity partners. Documented diligence, not optimistic assumptions.
- Portfolio assembly. Bulk-order reports across a land-assembly target area. Compare approval odds and yields side by side.
Cheaper Than an Attorney. Faster Than Enterprise Reports. Sharper Than DIY.
- 48-hour delivery — vs. 2–3 weeks for enterprise zoning reports (PZR, LightBox). Built for deal deadlines.
- $147 per report — less than an hour with a land use attorney. Affordable enough to run on every site you consider, not just the ones under contract.
- Licensed NC General Contractor validation — Narayanan Bakthisaran, founder of Triad Core Builders (NC GC License #L.99646), reviews and signs every report.
- Rezoning & variance pathway analysis — the feature no other report at any price point offers.
- Bulk pricing that scales with site-selection volume: 5 reports / $597, 10 / $997, 20 / $1,697 (as low as $85 per report).
Underwrite Smarter. Close Faster. Kill Bad Sites in 48 Hours.
Density, setbacks, overlays, approval odds — documented, GC-validated, delivered in 48 hours for $147.