Utility capacity research as a paid product, or stay the general pre-development shop
A landowner client asked me last month what it would cost to find out whether her 60 acres could get 40 megawatts, and I didn't have a price because I've never sold that. I spent three days on it, called the utility's economic development contact, pulled the interconnection queue, read the substation load data I could find, and produced eleven pages. She paid without blinking and asked if I'd do the same for two neighbors.
So now I have a choice about what this business is.
Specialize: power and water capacity diligence for landowners and site selectors. Small number of clients, high fee per engagement, and the demand driver is the digital infrastructure buildout that's absorbing enormous capital right now. Nobody in my market sells this as a standalone product. The risk is obvious. It's one demand story, I'd be building expertise that's worth a lot in a boom and awkward outside it, and utility staff turnover means half my relationships are people who move.
Stay wide: entitlement tracking, zoning packages, survey and environmental coordination, feasibility binders for whoever is building. Lower fees, more clients, and the work exists whether it's a medical office shell, a manufacturing pad, or a self storage building. Healthcare and public sector work has been steadier than most, so a broad shop eats through soft patches.
One of these is a business with a moat and a single customer type. The other is a business with no moat and permanent demand.
If you were building this service business, which way would you go?
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