Get in touch – we will reply within one working day and look at your situation together with you.
Three axes
technical, schedule, economic
Approach
honest rather than optimistic
Result
Decision paper with alternatives
400+
turnarounds and projects as our base of experience
Why the early phase decides
At the start, everything is still affordable.
In the early phase, the influence on the outcome is greatest and the effort is smallest. Both reverse with every project phase.
As long as a project exists only on paper, a change costs almost nothing. Once contracts are signed, equipment is ordered and foundations are poured, the same change costs many times as much – in money and in time. Anyone who skips the early phase to get started faster ends up paying twice: with variations, replanning and schedule delays.
Influence on the outcome
Cost of a change
Swipe sideways to view →Where the lines cross, the time for low-cost changes of course is over.
Clean front-end loading (FEL) and a disciplined gate process exist for exactly this: they force clarification while clarifying is still affordable. The assessed preferred option then becomes a reliable budget – that is the job of Cost Estimating. Where reliable figures for the early phase are missing, DICTUM provides them by comparison with completed projects.
Scope of services
What we assess
We take your project in a structured way from the idea to an evaluated preferred option – five building blocks that together form the decision paper.
Concept & option evaluation
Real courses of action compared in a structured way – benefit, effort and risk side by side, rather than settling on one solution too early.
Technical feasibility
The critical technical assumptions and the tie-in to the existing plant, checked for plausibility together with your engineering team – including the question of what the existing plant can actually handle.
Outline schedule & estimate
An order of magnitude for duration and cost (AACE Class 5–4) with disclosed accuracy – explicitly marked as a rough framework.
Risk screening
The critical uncertainties named early, while they are still affordable to resolve – instead of discovering them later in the project at great cost.
Decision paper
The basis for the next gate: clear in its assumptions, clear on open points, traceable in its recommendation.
What you gain
What you gain
Sound decisionInvesting on the basis of facts, not hope.
Fewer late changesThe course is set correctly early on – where changing direction is still affordable.
Realistic expectationsOf schedule and cost, from the start and with disclosed accuracy.
Early risk transparencyThe critical issues are on the table before capital is committed.
Clear gate decisionProceed, adjust or stop – justified and documented.
Our approach
From the idea to the preferred option
Four steps following FEL logic – with clear assumptions and clearly identified open items.
01
Capture
Objective, constraints and existing assets. What should the project achieve, what can the site offer, which dates and permits are fixed? This basis is recorded in writing – later it is the yardstick for every evaluation.
02
Develop options
Several solutions instead of one. Including the uncomfortable ones: design differently, build later, upgrade the existing plant, do not build at all. A feasibility analysis with only one option is a confirmation, not an analysis.
03
Evaluate
Every option against the same criteria: technically feasible, achievable in schedule, economically viable, risk manageable. The evaluation follows traceable criteria, not preference.
04
Present
The preferred option with its justification – and with what is still open. The result is not a glossy study but a basis on which a schedule and a budget can be built. Or one that shows, with reasons, that the project does not hold up in this form.
Context
When an analysis pays off
Three situations – what they have in common is that a decision is due for which the basis is not yet reliable.
01At the start of a projectThe usual case: an idea is on the table and needs a reliable evaluation before the first budget commitment.02When several paths are openBuild new, upgrade the existing plant or convert – when the options need to be compared properly.03As an independent second opinionOn an existing preliminary design, before it goes to the committee.
What does a feasibility analysis from ep-cm deliver?
An honest assessment of whether a project is technically, schedule-wise and economically viable – with the risks made visible and a comparison of real alternatives instead of a yes/no answer. The result is a decision paper with a justified preferred option, the underlying assumptions and the points that are still open.
Why is the early phase so decisive?
Because that is where the course is set, at the point when the least is known and optimism is at its highest. As long as decisions are only made on paper, a change costs almost nothing. Once contracts are signed and plant components ordered, the same change costs many times as much. A reliable feasibility analysis is therefore the cheapest insurance a project can have.
Does ep-cm also evaluate new technologies?
Yes. With first-of-their-kind plants in particular, for example for hydrogen, electrification or chemical recycling, there is no in-house experience to go by. That is where a realistic assessment with alternative scenarios matters most – along with clearly marking what is an assumption and what is established.
What makes the analysis more than a mere confirmation?
We work with the healthy scepticism of the practitioner: assumptions are challenged, buffers are set realistically and risks are named rather than glossed over. From more than 400 turnarounds and projects, we know which assumptions regularly fail to hold in practice. A result that only confirms what was planned anyway helps no one make a decision.
What does a feasibility analysis cost?
We charge by the hour, by day rates or at a fixed price – we work out together which model fits. The effort depends on the number of options to be assessed and on the depth needed for the next gate. For a first indication, a short description of the project is enough for us. The initial call is free of charge.
Terms such as FEL (Front End Loading) are explained in our glossary – along with 58 other terms from the turnaround and project business.
Does your project hold up before you invest?
Get in touch – we will tell you what is still missing for a reliable decision and how we would evaluate it. The initial call is free of charge.