# Site Selection Consulting > National site selection consulting. Market screening, workforce analytics, site shortlisting, and incentive negotiation. 1,000+ projects, 40+ states. *Canonical page: https://www.vistasiteselection.com/services/site-selection-consulting/* --- Where you locate decides more than any other decision you'll make this decade. Vista guides companies through the full location decision, from "where should we even be looking?" to a negotiated, board-approved site. Data-backed market screening, occupation-level labor analysis, and incentive leverage, run by one integrated team from day one. ## You'll make this decision once. We make it every week. What a structured process buys you that going it alone can't. ### Competition is leverage Jurisdictions sharpen their offers when they know they're competing. A structured multi-state process consistently produces stronger economics than negotiating one location at a time. ### Data beats anecdote Every market pitches itself well. We test the pitch against 1,400+ variables and 2.9 million hex cells covering the entire U.S., labor, cost, logistics, risk, before you commit. ### Confidentiality protects you Premature disclosure moves land prices, wages, and politics. Code-named projects and controlled outreach keep your leverage, and your plans, intact until you're ready. ### Integration kills handoffs Site strategy, incentives, and analytics operate as one team. The labor analysis informs the negotiation; the negotiation informs the shortlist. No silos, no drift. ## How to choose a site selection consultant. Ask every firm the same questions, in writing, including us. ### How the firm gets paid Ask who pays the firm and whether it earns anything from the real estate transaction or any party other than you. Vista is independent of real estate brokerage commissions and is paid by the client for the work. ### Who actually does the work Senior people often win the pitch. Get the names of the people who will run the analysis, lead the community visits, and sit at the negotiating table. ### How deep the data goes Labor analysis should reach the occupations you need to hire, not county unemployment rates. Ask whether the firm builds its own analysis or repackages public dashboards. ### The negotiation record Ask how the firm runs competition between jurisdictions and how it values a package. Cash today is not the same as an abatement over 15 years. ### How it protects confidentiality Look for code names, staged outreach, and a clear plan for who learns what and when. ### What happens after the award Incentive agreements carry job, wage, investment, and reporting commitments for years. Ask who tracks compliance and who files the reports. See: [Read Matt Samler's full guide: 10 questions to ask](https://www.vistasiteselection.com/blog/how-to-choose-a-site-selection-consultant/) ## What We Deliver Site strategy, incentives, and analytics, integrated from day one. No handoffs, no silos. ### Market screening & location strategy A structured funnel from "anywhere" to a defensible shortlist, regions, states, and communities scored against what your operation actually needs. ### Workforce & labor analysis Occupation-level supply, wages, competition, and turnover risk for every candidate market. Can this location staff your operation? We answer it with data. ### Site & building evaluation Real estate, utilities, entitlement, and readiness screening, the difference between available land and a real project candidate. ### Total cost & risk modeling Operating cost, one-time cost, and downside scenarios modeled early, so the finalist comparison reflects reality, not brochures. ### Incentive negotiation Competitive negotiations across finalist jurisdictions, structured to survive audits, ramp changes, and the life of the agreement. ### Board-ready decision support Scoring matrices, executive summaries, and decision memos that let leadership see, defend, and approve the recommendation. ## How We Work 1. **Frame the decision**, Requirements, deal-breakers, occupations, timeline, and success criteria, locked before the map gets drawn. 2. **Model the markets**, Screen broadly, score consistently, kill weak options early. The shortlist earns its place with data. 3. **Shape the incentives**, Run finalists against each other. Model the downside. Lock economics that hold up after the announcement. 4. **Execute confidently**, Diligence, agreements, and announcement strategy, then compliance management for the life of the deal. ## Site Selection, Frequently Asked Questions ### What does a site selection consultant do? A site selection consultant runs the location decision as a structured process: defining requirements, screening markets with data, analyzing workforce and costs, shortlisting sites, negotiating incentives, and supporting execution. The value is discipline and leverage, decisions grounded in evidence rather than sales pitches, and incentive packages produced by real competition between jurisdictions. ### When should we engage a site selection consultant? Ideally 18 to 24 months before you need to be operational, and always before you've signaled a preferred location. Incentive leverage is highest while the outcome is genuinely undecided, and workforce, utility, and entitlement timelines run longer than most project plans assume. ### How is Vista different from a real estate brokerage? Brokerages are built around transactions; Vista is built around the decision. We're a strategy, analytics, and incentives firm with a proprietary data platform and an economist-led impact practice. We work upstream of the transaction, where the leverage and the risk actually live. ### Is Vista an independent site selection consultant? Vista is independent of real estate brokerage commissions and is paid by the client for the work, so our recommendation isn't tied to the size of a lease or a land deal. Ask every firm you interview the same question, and get the answer in the engagement letter. ### How long does a site selection project take? A disciplined process typically runs three to nine months from kickoff to a negotiated finalist, depending on project complexity. The long poles are usually external, utility confirmation, entitlement, and incentive approvals, which is why we start those threads during screening rather than after it. ### Do you work across the entire United States? Yes. Vista has supported more than 1,000 projects across 40+ states, and our data platform covers every market in the country at the hex-cell level. We're based in Columbus, Ohio, and work wherever the project needs to go. ### How do you keep our project confidential? Projects run under code names with controlled, staged outreach. Jurisdictions and utilities learn what they need to compete, not who you are, until disclosure serves your leverage. Confidentiality isn't a courtesy in this work; it's a negotiating position. ### What does site selection consulting cost? Cost scales with project scope: how many markets we screen, how deep the labor and cost modeling goes, and how many jurisdictions enter incentive negotiation. We price against your specific requirements rather than a flat package, and the incentive value we negotiate typically outweighs the fee many times over. ### Is Vista's data generic market research, or something else? Something else. The System is Vista's in-house AI platform, ten tools built on 1,400+ demographic variables and 2.9 million hex cells covering the entire U.S. Navigator tracks incentive compliance after the deal closes, and the Development Impact Model quantifies the economic case a jurisdiction needs to approve incentives. All three are built by our own team, not licensed from a third-party data vendor. ## Related Reading - [How to choose a site selection consultant: 10 questions to ask (Matt Samler)](https://www.vistasiteselection.com/blog/how-to-choose-a-site-selection-consultant/) - [What Sundance's move to Boulder teaches about site selection](https://www.vistasiteselection.com/blog/sundance-moved-to-boulder-site-selection-lessons/) - [The best Texas counties for your next project](https://www.vistasiteselection.com/blog/texas-best-counties-site-selection/) ## Talk to Vista Making a location decision? Tell us what you're building and when it needs to be running. We'll show you how a structured process changes the economics. Start a conversation: https://www.vistasiteselection.com/contact/ --- **Vista Site Selection, LLC**, data-driven site selection, incentives, and economic impact advisory. Majority-owned by Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP. 52 East Gay Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215 · Info@vistasiteselection.com · https://www.vistasiteselection.com