SBA Feasibility Study Cost in 2026: Price Bands by Asset Class, and the Fee as Basis Points of the Loan

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  Calculator and printed cost estimate on a desk, the third-party report fees priced against SBA loan

Sponsors ask what a feasibility study costs. Lenders ask what it costs relative to the loan, and the second question has a more useful answer. Here are the published fee bands for SBA-loan studies in 2026, the rest of the third-party report stack they sit inside, what the SBA's rules say about paying for them, and the arithmetic that turns a $9,000 sticker price into 25 basis points of a $3.5 million loan.

The Small Business Administration guaranteed 84,400 7(a) and 504 loans for $44.8 billion in fiscal 2025, its largest year on record: 77,600 7(a) loans for $37 billion and 6,750 504 loans for $7.8 billion. Those totals give the two averages that anchor any conversation about diligence cost. The average 7(a) loan was about $477,000; the average 504 debenture about $1.16 million. Start-up loans, the ones most likely to need a feasibility study, ran larger: the 8,900 loans SBA reported to start-ups between January and September 2025 carried $5.6 billion, an average of roughly $630,000.

A feasibility study is priced in dollars, but it is judged in basis points. A $9,000 study on a $630,000 start-up loan is 143 basis points of the loan, a number that makes a lender wince. The same $9,000 study on a $3.5 million hotel loan is 26 basis points, less than the cost of one month's interest, and no one wincing at that would be taken seriously. This piece sets out the fee bands the market publishes, the reports the study sits alongside, the SBA's own rules on who pays and how, and the basis-point table that puts the fee where a credit committee will look at it. It is the companion to this site's earlier piece on USDA feasibility study costs, which covered the Business and Industry and Community Facilities side in the same terms.

What the market publishes

No lender, certified development company or SBA resource partner publishes a price list for feasibility studies, and the SBA itself does not set or cap the fee. What exists are the fee schedules and ranges that feasibility providers publish on their own sites, which Loan Analytics has surveyed for 2025 and 2026 and which are recorded here generically and labeled as directional. They cluster into three tiers.

Study type	Published range, 2025-2026	Published turnaround	Typical trigger
Single-site SBA study, standard special-purpose asset (car wash, gas station, self-storage, RV park, restaurant, franchise unit)	$5,000 to $12,500	3 to 5 weeks	Start-up or special-purpose property; lender policy; SBA request on saturation or unique concept
Complex SBA study (ground-up hotel, assisted living, multi-site, unusual concept, construction with phased delivery)	$10,000 to $25,000	4 to 8 weeks	Special-purpose plus new business; going-concern collateral; project size against community
USDA overlay (B&I or Community Facilities study to 7 CFR Part 5001, five components, 37 factors)	$7,500 to $18,750 and above	6 to 12 weeks	Mandatory for new-business B&I loans over $1 million; Agency request; Community Facilities new entity

Source: Loan Analytics survey of published provider fee schedules and ranges, 2025 and 2026, attributed generically; USDA tier from Loan Analytics, "USDA Feasibility Study Costs in 2026," May 2026.

Three things move a study inside those bands. Scope is the first: an acquisition of an operating business with three years of statements is a shorter study than a ground-up project with no history, because half the work is establishing the ramp. Asset class is the second: a hotel or an assisted living facility carries a going-concern valuation problem, a licensing gate and a competitive set that has to be verified property by property, and the fee reflects the fieldwork. Program is the third: a study written to the SBA's discretionary standard can be shorter than one written to USDA's enumerated 37 factors, and a study that must serve both programs is priced to the longer list.

The rest of the stack

The study is one report in a set, and the SBA's rules assign most of the set to the borrower. SOP 50 10 8, effective June 1, 2025, requires an appraisal by a state-licensed or certified appraiser for any loan over $500,000 secured by commercial real estate, dated within 12 months of the application; requires an industry-experienced appraiser and a going-concern allocation for special-purpose property; requires an independent business valuation on a change of ownership where the amount financed less the appraised real estate and equipment exceeds $250,000, or where buyer and seller are related; and runs its environmental ladder from a questionnaire at or below $250,000 to a questionnaire plus Records Search with Risk Assessment above it, escalating to a Phase I and, where a condition is found, a Phase II. On the business valuation the SOP is explicit about the money: "The cost of the business valuation may be passed on to the Applicant." Appraisals, environmental reports and feasibility studies are treated the same way in practice; the lender orders them for independence and the borrower pays.

Report	SBA trigger	Published 2025-2026 cost	Turnaround
Commercial real estate appraisal	Loan over $500,000 secured by CRE; special-purpose property requires industry experience	$2,500 to $7,500 standard; $5,000 to $15,000 for going-concern special-purpose work	2 to 6 weeks
Independent business valuation	Change of ownership with goodwill over $250,000 or related parties	$1,800 to $7,000	1 to 3 weeks
Environmental questionnaire and Records Search with Risk Assessment	All CRE collateral; RSRA required above $250,000	$300 to $1,500	3 to 10 business days
Phase I Environmental Site Assessment	Escalation from RSRA; required regardless of amount for environmentally sensitive industries including gas stations	$2,000 to $5,000 standard; $3,500 to $6,000 for gas stations and other high-risk uses	2 to 4 weeks
Quality of earnings report	Not an SBA requirement under SOP 50 10 8; lender practice, and required by SOP 50 10 8.1 for business purchase prices of $3 million or more from October 1, 2026	$10,000 to $30,000	3 to 6 weeks
Title, survey and recording	Real estate collateral	$2,000 to $5,000	With closing
Feasibility study	Discretionary under SBA; mandatory for USDA new-business loans over $1 million	$5,000 to $25,000 per the bands above	3 to 12 weeks

Sources: SBA SOP 50 10 8; lender closing-cost guides published July 2026 and December 2025; environmental consultants' 2025 and 2026 fee guides; valuation providers' published pricing. Cost figures are published market ranges, not SBA figures.

A lender's closing guide published in July 2026 puts the typical third-party report and closing bill on an SBA acquisition at $12,000 to $25,000 before the SBA guaranty fee, which on a loan of ordinary size runs from about $20,000 to $120,000. The feasibility study, where one is required, is therefore usually the second-largest third-party line after the guaranty fee, and on a ground-up project often the largest.

What the SOP says about paying for it

Three rules in SOP 50 10 8 govern the money, and none of them caps the study fee.

The first is disclosure. A lender may charge an applicant "a flat fee of up to $2,500 per loan without documenting the service performed." Above that, the lender must complete SBA Form 159, the Fee Disclosure and Compensation Agreement, and any agent, packager or referral source whose aggregate compensation on the loan exceeds $2,500 must be itemized on it with supporting documentation. A feasibility study ordered by the lender from an independent third party is a pass-through report cost rather than agent compensation; the SOP does not list it among Form 159 items, and lenders treat it as they treat the appraisal. A consultant who is also packaging the application or being paid by the applicant to place the loan is in a different category, and Form 159 applies to that compensation.

The second is financing. In the 504 program, eligible soft costs are part of total project cost and are financed inside the debenture alongside land, building and equipment. In the 7(a) program, closing costs and third-party report fees are eligible uses of proceeds, so a sponsor rarely writes a separate check for the study; it is in the sources and uses. The practical effect is that the fee is amortized over 25 years with the real estate, which is the second reason basis points are the right unit.

The third is discretion. SBA "has the regulatory authority to request a feasibility study when it is needed to further understand the small business type and market conditions at the project location," and lists the circumstances: "market saturation by industry type and location; unique market concept; highly specialized Project property; project size disproportionate to size of community it will serve; or significant rapid growth of the Applicant and/or affiliate group with a corresponding increase in undisbursed and/or unseasoned debt." Because the request is discretionary, the fee is not a fixed cost of the program; it is a cost of the fact pattern, which is why it varies by asset class rather than by loan amount.

The fee in basis points

The table below runs the published bands against loan sizes that bracket the SBA's own averages. The unit is basis points of the loan amount: a $10,000 fee on a $2 million loan is 50 basis points.

Loan amount	$6,000 study	$9,000 study	$12,500 study	$20,000 study
$500,000 (near the fiscal 2025 7(a) average)	120 bps	180 bps	250 bps	400 bps
$750,000 (near the start-up average)	80 bps	120 bps	167 bps	267 bps
$1,200,000 (near the 504 debenture average)	50 bps	75 bps	104 bps	167 bps
$2,000,000 (single-site car wash, gas station, RV park)	30 bps	45 bps	62 bps	100 bps
$3,500,000 (select-service hotel, assisted living, 504 project with first lien)	17 bps	26 bps	36 bps	57 bps
$5,000,000 (7(a) ceiling; 504 debenture ceiling)	12 bps	18 bps	25 bps	40 bps
$8,000,000 (504 total project with bank first lien)	8 bps	11 bps	16 bps	25 bps

Source: Loan Analytics computation on published fee bands and SBA fiscal 2025 program averages.

Two readings follow. Below roughly $1 million, a feasibility study is expensive relative to the loan, above 100 basis points, and that is where the SBA's discretion does most of its work: a lender will order a study on a $700,000 start-up only when the fact pattern demands it, and the SOP's list is built to describe those facts. Above roughly $2 million, the study costs less than the appraisal on a going-concern property and less than a single month's interest on the loan, and the question stops being whether to order one and becomes what it has to contain. Special-purpose assets sit almost entirely in that second range: this site's analysis of the SBA loan files puts the average loan to a hotel, an assisted living facility, a car wash or a gas station well above the program average, and the state-level detail is the subject of the table below.

For comparison, the SBA guaranty fee on a $2 million 7(a) loan is measured in whole percentage points, and the annual mortgage insurance premium on a HUD-insured apartment loan is 25 basis points every year for the life of the loan. A one-time study fee of 30 to 60 basis points on a special-purpose loan is, in that company, the cheapest piece of paper in the file.

What lengthens a study, and what it costs

The SOP names the risk factors that make SBA ask for a study. The same factors lengthen it. A sponsor who wants to hold the fee to the low end of the band can read the list as a checklist of what adds weeks.

Multiple sites add a market section per site and rarely less than a third to the fee. New construction adds a construction budget review, a ramp analysis measured from completion, and, where the lender's own regulator requires it, a demonstration that the units can be absorbed inside the projection window. Franchise concepts add a review of the brand's system performance against the site's projection, and under the reinstated SBA Franchise Directory the brand must be listed before the loan proceeds at all. A USDA overlay adds the 37 enumerated factors, a signed consultant's opinion and the author's qualifications, and moves the turnaround from weeks to months. A thin rural market adds fieldwork, because comparable properties have to be verified in person rather than pulled from a database. And an acquisition filed after October 1, 2026 under SOP 50 10 8.1 adds, for purchase prices of $3 million or more, a quality of earnings report that lender summaries put at $10,000 to $30,000, which is a separate document from the feasibility study and should not be confused with it.

None of these is padding. Each is a section a reviewer will look for, and each is cheaper to include than to add after the file is returned.

How to read a quote

A sponsor comparing quotes should ask four questions, in this order. Which program's standard is the study written to, SBA's discretionary list or USDA's enumerated components, because a study written to the shorter standard cannot be upgraded by adding pages. Whether the author is independent of the project and will sign an opinion, because a study without a signed conclusion is a market report, and the reviewer will treat it as one. Whether the competitive set will be verified directly, property by property, or assembled from listings, because the verification is where the fee goes and where the study earns its acceptance. And what the turnaround is against the loan's timeline, because a study that arrives after the appraisal has expired has cost more than its fee.

A quote that answers those four questions at $9,000 is a better purchase than one that does not at $5,000, and on a $3 million loan the difference between them is 13 basis points.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a feasibility study cost for an SBA loan?

Published provider ranges for 2025 and 2026 run $5,000 to $12,500 for a single-site study on a standard special-purpose asset and $10,000 to $25,000 for complex projects such as ground-up hotels, assisted living facilities and multi-site concepts. Studies written to USDA's Part 5001 standard run $7,500 to $18,750 and above. The SBA does not set or cap the fee.

Is a feasibility study required for an SBA loan?

Not automatically. SOP 50 10 8 gives SBA the authority to request one when needed to understand the business type and market conditions, and lists the triggers: market saturation, a unique concept, highly specialized property, project size disproportionate to the community, and rapid growth with unseasoned debt. Lenders also order studies under their own credit policies for start-ups and special-purpose property.

Can the study fee be financed in the loan?

Yes. In the 504 program eligible soft costs are financed inside the debenture as part of total project cost; in the 7(a) program closing costs and third-party report fees are eligible uses of proceeds. The fee is normally included in the sources and uses rather than paid separately.

Does the feasibility study fee go on SBA Form 159?

Form 159 covers lender fees above $2,500 and compensation to agents, packagers and referral sources. A study ordered by the lender from an independent third party is a pass-through report cost, like an appraisal, and is not agent compensation. A consultant who also packages the application or is paid to place the loan is an agent for that compensation.

What is the fee as a share of the loan?

A $9,000 study is 180 basis points of a $500,000 loan, 45 basis points of a $2 million loan, 26 basis points of a $3.5 million loan, and 18 basis points of a $5 million loan. Special-purpose loans, where studies are most often required, cluster in the range where the fee is under 60 basis points.

What other third-party reports will I pay for?

An appraisal ($2,500 to $7,500 standard, up to $15,000 for going-concern special-purpose work), a business valuation on an acquisition ($1,800 to $7,000), an environmental records search and, where required, a Phase I ($2,000 to $6,000), title and survey ($2,000 to $5,000), and, for larger acquisitions after October 1, 2026, a quality of earnings report ($10,000 to $30,000). Lender guides put the typical third-party bill on an SBA acquisition at $12,000 to $25,000 before the guaranty fee.

Sources:

1. U.S. Small Business Administration, news release 25-83, "SBA Delivers Record Capital to Small Businesses in FY25," September 30, 2025, and 2025 Annual Report, January 20, 2026.

2. U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 Activity Reports, fiscal 2025 year end.

3. U.S. Small Business Administration, SOP 50 10 8, Lender and Development Company Loan Programs, effective June 1, 2025: Section A, Chapter 4 (Ethics, Fees and Agents; SBA Form 159); Section B, Chapter 1 (Credit Standards, Collateral, Appraisals, Business Valuations, Environmental Policies); Section C, Chapters 1 and 3 (Feasibility Studies; Debenture Pricing and eligible soft costs).

4. U.S. Small Business Administration, Information Notice 5000-880695, Issuance of SOP 50 10 8.1, August 14, 2026, effective October 1, 2026, and lender summaries of the change-of-ownership appendix, August 2026.

5. Pioneer Capital Advisory, "SBA Loan Closing Costs & Fees Guide," July 16, 2026 (business valuation, quality of earnings, title and recording, typical third-party totals, guaranty fee range).

6. Starfield & Smith, "Understanding SBA 7(a) Loan Fees and Costs," December 16, 2025 (borrower responsibility for third-party reports; sources and uses).

7. Value Buddy, "SBA Business Valuation Requirements: Explained," 2025 (valuation pricing).

8. A3 Environmental Consultants, "Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment Cost (2026 Guide)," June 2026; Aegis Environmental, "Phase I ESA Costs & Best Practices for 2025," June 2025; CIP Texas, "Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Cost in Texas," April 2026.

9. Loan Analytics, "USDA Feasibility Study Costs in 2026: Pricing, Timelines, and What Lenders Actually Require," May 30, 2026.

10. Loan Analytics survey of published feasibility provider fee schedules and ranges, 2025 and 2026, attributed generically.

11. Federal Register, Department of Housing and Urban Development, "Changes in Mortgage Insurance Premiums Applicable to FHA Multifamily Insurance Programs," September 23, 2025 (25 basis point premium, for comparison).