How Much Does a Gas Station Feasibility Study Cost?

Short answer: a traditional gas station feasibility study runs $2,000–$5,000 and takes one to three weeks. But the number on the invoice matters less than what you're actually paying for — and whether it's the kind of study a lender will accept.

The traditional price — and why it's that high

Independent feasibility consultants price a gas station study in the low thousands because most of the cost is time: someone manually pulls DOT traffic counts, Census demographics and competitor data, builds a fuel-volume and inside-sales model for the site, and writes it all into a lender-ready report. Special-use properties like fuel sites take extra care, and turnaround stretches to weeks. You're paying for consultant hours as much as for the analysis itself.

What you're actually paying for

Whatever the price, a real feasibility study should deliver the same core components:

Why Site Scouts costs a fraction

The reason a traditional study is expensive is the manual work — and that's exactly the part software removes. Site Scouts automates the data collection and the fuel and inside-sales modeling, so you pay for the analysis, not the hours. The result is a lender-ready study from any US address, far faster than a traditional engagement and at a fraction of the fee:

Screener or full study — which do you need?

Use the $399 screener when you're comparing sites or deciding whether a corner is even worth pursuing — it tells you fast whether the demand is there. Move up to the $999 full RSA when you're serious about a site and need the complete, lender-ready document to put in a loan file. Many operators screen several corners, then run the full study only on the one they commit to. (More on the difference in screener vs. full RSA.)

Don't shop on price alone

The cheapest number isn't the one from a low-cost study — it's the free one from your fuel supplier or the seller's broker. And that's exactly the number a lender won't trust, because those parties have a stake in the deal closing. What makes a study credible is independence and a transparent, sourced methodology — not the size of the fee. A study that shows its work and has no stake in the outcome is worth more to your loan file than a pricey one that hides its assumptions. (See will a lender accept it.)