Jack Joers, Director, New Markets, TestFit

Feasibility Studies in Minutes with AI

 

 

 

 

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Guest: Jack Joers, Director, New Markets, TestFit

 

Where AI Actually Touches Real Estate: Feasibility

 

Key Takeaways

  • Feasibility is the earliest and most underestimated risk in ground-up real estate development

  • Traditional feasibility studies are slow, expensive, and iteration-constrained

  • TestFit applies AI directly to land underwriting, not downstream tasks

  • TestFit runs thousands of site, density, and layout iterations in real time

  • The platform is used before a site is under contract, often before a survey is ordered

  • Faster feasibility reduces pursuit costs, opportunity cost, and capital misallocation

 

Most conversations about AI in commercial real estate focus on marginal gains at the edges - faster emails, document summaries, or chat-based Q&A.

 

TestFit operates at a different point in the workflow - before construction costs, before capital markets, and before an investment committee ever sees a deal. This is where development risk concentrates: feasibility.

 

In this first episode of my new AI Demo Day series, Jack Joers, Director of New Markets at TestFit, walks through a live demonstration of a generative feasibility platform built specifically for early-stage land underwriting.

 

 

What TestFit Actually Does

 

TestFit is an AI-based generative feasibility platform for ground-up development on raw land.

 

It integrates:

  • zoning and entitlement rules

  • parcel boundaries and site geometry

  • parking, unit mix, and density logic

  • elevation, cut-and-fill, flood zones, wetlands, utilities, and soil data

The platform tests thousands of design and density scenarios per second, with layouts and early-stage economics updating simultaneously.

The objective is not final design, it's early decision clarity.

 

 

Why Feasibility Is the Real Bottleneck

 

Feasibility work expands as more stakeholders enter the process.

Mixed-use and institutional projects often require dozens or hundreds of iterations as leasing, capital markets, architects, engineers, and operators each introduce changes. Each iteration takes time. Each redraw compounds cost.

The result is not just higher consultant fees, it speaks to opportunity cost - while one site absorbs weeks of attention, others wait.

TestFit compresses this cycle so teams can test more sites, faster, and abandon weaker opportunities earlier.

 

 

Who Uses TestFit

 

TestFit is used by:

  • ground-up developers

  • acquisition and land teams

  • architects and civil engineers

  • brokers and general contractors

  • municipalities evaluating development capacity

It supports multiple project types, including multifamily, industrial, retail, data centers, and mixed-use development.

 

 

Why Speed Changes Behavior

 

When feasibility takes weeks, teams limit what they test but when feasibility takes minutes, teams test more. Users report discovering higher-value configurations simply because more options can be evaluated before a decision is made.

 

 

FAQ

 

What is TestFit?

 

TestFit is an AI feasibility platform that automates early-stage land underwriting for ground-up real estate development.

 

Who is TestFit designed for?

 

TestFit is primarily designed for developers and acquisition teams, but is also used by architects, engineers, brokers, contractors, and cities.

 

Where does TestFit fit in the deal lifecycle?

 

TestFit is used at the earliest stage of a deal, often before a site is under contract or a survey is ordered.

 

What problem does TestFit solve?

 

It reduces the time, cost, and uncertainty associated with feasibility studies by automating design and density analysis.

 

What types of projects does TestFit support?

 

TestFit supports multifamily, industrial, retail, data centers, mixed-use, and other ground-up development typologies.

 

Does TestFit replace architects or engineers?

 

No. TestFit accelerates early feasibility and reduces iteration burden. It informs downstream design rather than replacing it.

 

Why does feasibility matter more now?

 

As capital becomes more selective and entitlement risk remains high, early certainty has become a competitive advantage.

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