The feasibility study. Turn a school's space program into a board-ready answer to four questions: how much space to build, what it will cost, how to finance it, and whether the school can afford it. Fill in your client's numbers — or import the Phase 1 program — and every metric recalculates. A starting point for the board conversation, not a lender commitment.
The Import from Phase 1 button reads the JSON exported by the Programming Questionnaire & Design Program tool and pre-fills enrollment and square footage below.
A feasibility study de-risks the facility decision before the school is committed. It runs four workstreams in parallel, each answering one question.
The building's size drives everything downstream. New construction and renovated space carry cost; existing space you reuse as-is counts toward size but not budget. Grossing (halls, walls, mechanical) is already baked into these figures — enter gross SF.
Add each building or area you'll renovate — each can carry its own gross SF and its own cost per SF. Two buildings at different renovation costs? List them as separate rows.
| Renovation area | Gross SF | $/SF | Cost |
|---|
Norms run 75–100 gross SF/student for K–8, highly dependent on climate and local real-estate dynamics. Below the band is efficient (or cramped); well above is generous (or a budget problem).
Unit construction costs live with each built area in Section 1. Here you assemble the rest of the budget — site work, soft costs, contingency, transaction costs, and capitalized interest — so it captures all development costs, not just construction and design.
| Project uses | Basis | Amount |
|---|
| Comparable project | $/SF |
|---|
Enter your own regional comps. Conservatively account for ~10% annual inflation between the comp date and your delivery. New construction typically lands $250–$400/SF depending on market; conversions run lower. Leave the list empty to omit this section from client reports.
The vehicles charter schools actually use to fund facilities. Most projects blend two or more — a senior loan plus subordinate debt and fundraised equity. Terms below are typical ranges, not quotes.
| CDFI / non-profit lender | Commercial bank | Tax-exempt bond | New Market Tax Credits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Term | 5–7 yrs | 2–15+ yrs | 30–40 yrs | 7 yrs |
| Interest rate | Fixed; 5–7% | Fixed/variable; 4–6% | Fixed; 4–6% | Fixed; blended 4–6% |
| Amortization | <20–30 yrs | <25–30 yrs | 30–40 yrs | Interest only |
| Interest-only | Up to 24 mo (incl. construction) | Construction period | Up to 3 yrs | Construction period |
| Loan-to-value | 90%+ LTV | 70–85% LTV | 100% LTV | 90–95% LTV |
| Summary | ＋ Mission-aligned; small equity (5–10%); capitalized-interest options. － Shorter term = refinance risk; some capped on loan size. |
＋ Quick to close; lower rates than CDFIs. － Highest LTV requirement; tighter covenants (DCOH, DSCR); refinance risk. |
＋ No refinancing; no loan limit; long amortization lowers early-year cost. － Highest fees; slow to close; may bar pre-payment. |
＋ Interest-only; ~18% "forgiveness" after initial term. － Hard to secure allocations; slow & costly to close; can't refinance early. |
Examples of lenders by type: CDFIs (Civic/FIF, Building Hope, LISC, LIIF, Self-Help); commercial banks (national & regional); bond issuers/underwriters (EFF, RBC, Piper, Baird, Ziegler, PNC, Stifel).
Eligibility usually flows from network membership (e.g., growth-fund or facilities-network affiliation). Confirm current terms and availability with each provider — these change frequently.
Total uses come from Section 2. Build the capital stack on the right until sources equal uses. The senior loan is what the school actually carries as debt; fundraising and reserves are equity that shrinks it.
The senior loan is the balancing figure — it fills whatever fundraising, reserves, and subordinate debt don't cover, so sources always equal uses. Raising more equity shrinks the loan the school must service. If the senior loan climbs above ~90% of uses, most lenders won't cover it and the school has an equity gap to close.
The whole study comes down to this: can the school carry the annual facility cost out of recurring revenue, and does it clear lender targets? Facility spend should land in the 12–15% target zone.
| Scenario | Rate | Amort (yrs) | Annual debt service | Facility % of revenue |
|---|
| Equity contributed | Senior loan | Annual debt service | Facility % of revenue | Readiness |
|---|
Lenders and investors monitor these metrics through the 10-year forecast to judge long-term sustainability. Use them to grade each projected year red / yellow / green.
| Metric | Poor | Neutral | Good |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net margin | < 2% | 2–4% | > 4% |
| Student : staff ratio | — | 7–10× | — |
| Salaries & benefits (% revenue) | > 75% | 65–75% | < 65% |
| Facility expense (% revenue) | > 20% | 12–20% | < 12% |
| DSCR | < 1.0× | 1.1× | > 1.2× |
| Days cash on hand | < 30 | 30–45 | > 60 |
Feasibility ends with a fundable plan: what to spend before closing, a realistic schedule, the assumptions everyone signed off on, and the next decisions.
| Pre-development item | Estimate |
|---|
Estimates are seeded from typical ratios (architect & engineering ≈7% of the construction/site budget; contingency ≈5%) — adjust every line for your project and municipality. Fund pre-development from reserves or a pre-development loan; it is spent before financing closes. An empty list omits this table from client reports.
A permanent school development typically runs 18–36 months; a renovation 8–12+ months. Fundraising commitments should be in hand ~60–90 days before closing. New construction generally targets a summer occupancy. An empty schedule omits this block from client reports.
The assumptions the plan depends on — get explicit board sign-off on each.
How the math works. Total SF = new + renovated + existing; SF/student divides by enrollment. Hard costs = new SF×$/SF + reno SF×$/SF + site work + outdoor. Soft costs and contingency are a % of hard costs; acquisition is added into project costs without those markups; transaction costs a % of project costs (including acquisition); capitalized interest is entered directly. Total uses = project costs + transaction + capitalized interest. The senior loan is the balancing figure (uses − fundraising − reserves − subordinate debt), so raising equity shrinks the debt the school services. Annual debt service uses standard monthly amortization. Facility % = annual debt service ÷ recurring revenue (enrollment × per-pupil).
Not a lender commitment. A feasibility model to frame the board decision — every figure is preliminary and must be validated with your design/construction partners and lenders. · Leading the Build™ · 3BRE LLC