The Benefits of Working with Professional Site Selection Firms
As many of you know, the Site Selection industry is deeply rooted in the Carolinas. Decades ago, Greenville’s Fluor Daniel provided site location services as a loss leader to their clients. The logic was simple and effective: allow their clients to focus on designing their facilities and managing their business interests without wasting labor hours and resources searching for a site. Flour Daniel offered this option as a value-added service in the hopes of boosting sales while delivering buildings on budget and in a timely manner for their clients. The rest is history, as they say.
It’s not surprising that today’s site selection world is populated with second and third-generation practitioners descended from the Fluor Daniel lineage. While the industry had an organic and humble beginning, it has grown into an international, multi-million dollar, highly diversified game-changing industry. Like any other business, site selection has evolved given the ever-increasing complexities of finding that perfect location for a company. Even CPA, law firms and others now offer services that compete with traditional site selection firms, although they also sometimes partner with site selectors to deliver the perfect site for a client.
How Site Selection Experts Can Help Contractors, Owners, Communities and Developers
Financial incentives, grants, tax credits, workforce and talent pipeline development, and complex land transactions are standard components of today’s site selection world. A universal truth is that few communities and economic development organizations are prepared to withstand the scrutiny they must undergo to be selected for a project. Often, they struggle to provide a suitable site and answer basic questions necessary to provide the solutions needed for decision makers to choose a site. Conversely, non-professionals “masquerading as site selection experts” do not ask the right questions. The result is costly delays for the client and missed opportunities for the community.
This is an unfortunate but correctable circumstance. Sites are the lifeblood of economic development. A consultant’s focus is squarely on sites. Communities need to present marketable sites. This dynamic has landed site consultants squarely on both sides of the economic development fence as consultants bring projects to communities, as well as advise them on how to organize their site data to avoid early elimination and provide clients with the ability to choose from the best available options. Professionally vetted sites are recognized by several names, including certified, site ready, pad ready and authenticated. The ability to efficiently process and select a viable site in a community to present to a client is a shared ideology among all consultants as it allows them to move swiftly through the search and selection process by knowing where the best sites are located. To serve this need and remain competitive, a community must understand how to market and position its sites on their website and what information is of interest to site selectors.
If you are a business owner considering a new facility, a community or developer interested in improving your site’s marketability, or a contractor immersed in costly delays searching for a site for a client, our industry will help you select a site and/or improve your site’s marketability. Keep in mind, however, that one size does not fit all. Consultants have different strengths and core competencies. Be sure to ask questions and be selective.
About the Author
Jerry Howard is President of Greenville (S.C.)-based InSite Consulting, a multifaceted firm that provides site evaluation/site selection services, incentive negotiations, economic development consulting, and training to companies and government organizations worldwide. InSite was founded in 2004 by Tonya Crist and Rob Cornwell, who together have 50-plus years of combined experience in this field. Please contact Jerry at jhoward@insiteconsultinggroup.com and visit www.insitelocation.com for more information about the company and its services.
