Site Selection Process

While our international investment professionals at the North Carolina Department of Commerce are ready to assist you through every step of your project, you and your company can eliminate many of the pitfalls before site selection begins.

This section will help you understand the steps necessary to undertake successful site selection within our state. 

The site selection process is unique for every business.  A business representative or site consultant may see an advertisement, hear about us from a customer or supplier who is already located in North Carolina, or attend a tradeshow.

No matter how the project originates, the site selection process usually involves the following steps:

• Project assignment – Selecting your core project startup team members from personnel, finance, operations, and sales and administration, developing a timeline and defining the type of location to consider.
• Develop a business plan – This crucial step many times goes overlooked.  A good business plan serves not only as a road map for success, but turns your vision into a working model.
• Initial contact with a NC Department of Commerce consultant –Representatives from our Business and Industry Services Division provide confidential site selection assistance.  We’ll listen to your needs, do a comparative analysis, and provide information on various factors including:
  • Building and site characteristics
  • Locations/communities
  • Workforce skills and availability
  • Financial incentives
  • Infrastructure.
• Follow-up response – Your Business and Industry Services representative prepares a customized package with specific proposals for your locations with the qualities you are seeking plus a package  of state resources available.
• Site visits – Your Business and Industry Services representative will have local community developers, allies and partners on hand to answer your questions and minimize your time as you visit selected locations.
• Making the cut – We help you by providing information on the benefits, costs and iNCentives of each location, scheduling repeat visits if necessary and bring the appropriate representatives to the negotiating table.
• Final negotiations – We help address a broad array of issues from permits to financing to research partnerships by coordinating all the appropriate resources within the selected community to reach a mutually beneficial result.
• Decision – Our job continues even after the deal is closed. Our ongoing support can help with labor force issues, including recruiting, screening and training services, infrastructure issues and other needs in your location as you grow and expand.

For more information about available sites and buildings please refer to the Buildings and Sites section.