The $499 Site Feasibility Study.
The free address check reads the public record for your parcel in about a minute and tells you where it stands. This is what closes what the record left open. A site-specific analysis for one Ulster County parcel: zoning, parcel geometry, buildable envelope, utilities, access, septic records, risk, cost, and schedule, pulled into one report with a clear outcome and the next steps that follow from it. The study is built on a 3D capture of your property. If you have not already had a free Scoping Visit, the call is where we schedule the capture. It starts with a conversation rather than a checkout button, because the first thing worth knowing is whether a study is the right spend for your property.
What the study covers
One parcel, one report, built on the 3D capture from your Scoping Visit plus public records. Everything in scope below is grounded in records you can verify and observations a non-licensed feasibility consultant can defensibly make. Anything that requires a stamp (boundary survey, stamped structural drawings, jurisdictional wetland delineation) will be referred to the right licensed professional rather than performed in-house.
- Parcel geometry. Property record card review, dimensions, lot area, frontage, and how the parcel sits against neighboring lots and the road. Boundary determination requires a licensed surveyor; the study works from existing records.
- Zoning summary. Current zoning district, ADU provisions in the municipal code, applicable setbacks, lot-coverage and impervious caps, owner-occupancy rules, short-term-rental rules, and the approval path (by right, special permit, variance) for your specific parcel and district.
- Buildable envelope. Where on the parcel an ADU can sit, given setbacks, easements, slope, and other site constraints, translated into a buildable-area sketch you can hand to an architect. The sketch is drawn from tax-map lines and site observation, not from a survey, so it shows the picture rather than the property line.
- Topography and foundation context. Slope, drainage direction, soils references from publicly available data. Specific geotechnical work is referred to a licensed engineer when warranted.
- Utility verification. Existing electrical service capacity, water source, and sewer or septic, confirmed against records and observed conditions. Service upgrades, if needed, are scoped but not designed in-house.
- Septic records check. Records-based comparison of permitted design flow against the projected bedroom-based load for the proposed ADU, per NYS DOH Appendix 75-A. Binary outcome: clear records-based surplus, or a referral to a licensed septic professional for percolation testing and design. Rootd does not perform septic system design, perc testing, or soil suitability evaluation.
- Access and crane feasibility. Whether a flatbed and crane can reach the build location. Driveway width, overhead clearance, turning radii, surface conditions, and crane setup space. These are the practical questions that decide whether modular delivery is even possible on your site.
- Risk analysis. Named site-specific risks (variance exposure, septic uncertainty, utility extension cost, access constraints) with what each one would take to resolve.
- Cost model. Order-of-magnitude all-in budget framing for your specific scope and site, tied to current local pricing rather than national averages. Not a builder quote and not a substitute for one.
- Schedule. A realistic timeline that accounts for your permitting path, build method, and any constraint resolution surfaced in the analysis.
- What to ask, and who to ask. What kind of architect, builder, surveyor, septic professional, or attorney the next step calls for, and the questions to put to them. Rootd is vendor-independent: it ranks no firm, and who you hire is always your decision. Where Rootd introduces or recommends a firm and you go on to hire them, Rootd may be paid a flat fee by that firm, the same fee any firm of that kind would pay, which does not vary with the size or cost of your project. Full detail is on the About page.
What you receive
One PDF report, planned for delivery within two to three weeks of the site visit, with all underlying records linked or referenced so you can re-pull anything yourself. The report is yours to share with your architect, builder, lender, or attorney. There is no Rootd-branded watermark that limits how you use it.
- Site Feasibility Report (PDF, ~15–25 pages depending on parcel complexity)
- Annotated parcel sketch showing buildable envelope, setbacks, and site constraints
- Source documents bundle: code excerpts, parcel records, utility verifications
- Handoff summary, one page, for your architect, builder, or lender
- One 30-minute follow-up conversation to walk through the report and answer questions
The three outcomes
Every study lands in one of three buckets. Knowing what you're signing up for means knowing the bucket you might end up in.
The study is built to reach a conclusion. It stands on the site as well as the record, so it can say whether this project is worth pursuing rather than leaving you to weigh five findings yourself. The free address check deliberately does not do that: a desk read of public records cannot support an overall verdict, so it reports the five findings and stops. Paying for the study is how you get the answer.
A real project on this parcel.
Zoning works, the site can support the build, utilities and access are workable, and the budget and timeline match the path. The report names the next steps and the right professionals to take them.
A real path exists, but one or more questions need answers before you commit.
Common drivers: a septic question that needs perc testing, a variance that may or may not be granted, a utility extension whose cost won't be known until you ask the utility. The report names the open questions and what each one would take to resolve.
The project, as currently framed, does not work on this parcel.
Hard zoning prohibitions, unworkable access, infeasible utility extension, or a constraint stack that no reasonable variance path resolves. The report explains why and, where possible, names the alternatives (different unit type, attached configuration, different parcel) that would change the answer.
Start with a conversation
Book a thirty minute call and we will walk through your parcel, what the free address check already surfaced, and whether a study is the right next spend. If it is, we schedule the Scoping Visit and go from there. If it is not, I will tell you that on the call.
Service area: Ulster County, New York, all 24 municipalities. Inquiries from outside that area are welcome, and I will tell you honestly whether I can reach you.