Answers to the questions we hear most often — about TEG, the DARI™ score, our products, and how to get started.
The Entitlement Group is a developer-side political intelligence firm. We tell real estate developers who they are dealing with before they file — and whether a market is worth pursuing before they buy land.
We bring the tradecraft of political intelligence — the same tools used in high-stakes campaigns, opposition research, and lobbying — and apply them to the world of real estate entitlements. Every engagement produces a DARI™ score and clear strategic guidance you can act on immediately.
A lobbyist advocates for your project after you've committed. We give you intelligence before you commit — so you know whether advocacy is even necessary, who needs to be persuaded, and what the real risk of opposition is.
We don't lobby. We research, score, and strategize. Our job is to make sure you walk into the entitlement process with a complete picture, not a surprise.
Most developers don't have access to the frameworks, databases, and methodologies we've built. DIY research tends to miss the non-obvious actors — the organized neighborhood associations, the planning commissioners with histories on similar deals, the influencers who don't hold public office but routinely kill projects.
We surface what you can't easily find on your own, score it with a consistent methodology, and deliver it in a format you can take straight to your partners, investors, or board.
Primarily real estate developers — ranging from regional builders to private equity-backed development groups. We also work with:
We work exclusively on the developer side — never for neighbors, opposition groups, or municipalities.
Everywhere in the United States. Our research methodology works in any U.S. jurisdiction. We're not limited to specific regions or states — we follow the project wherever it is. For the AI Workshop, our team will travel to your office anywhere in the world.
Track A — Entitlement Intelligence is for developers who have already identified a site and are preparing to move through the entitlement process. We tell you exactly who you're dealing with — before the first meeting. That means opposition leader profiling, planning commissioner analysis, DARI™ scoring, neighbor mapping, and strategic mitigation recommendations.
Track B — Feasibility Intelligence is for developers evaluating whether to enter a new market or pursue a specific jurisdiction before they buy land. We assess the political climate, map the council and planning board ideology, analyze entitlement success rates, and give you a clear Go / No-Go recommendation.
If you have a specific site and are preparing to file — or already in the entitlement process — you need Track A.
If you're deciding whether to enter a market or jurisdiction at all — before buying land or committing capital — you need Track B.
If you're not sure, contact us and we'll help you determine the right fit before you order anything.
Yes. Some developers use Track B first to evaluate whether a market is worth entering, then move to Track A once they've identified a specific site. We can scope both together or handle them sequentially — whatever fits your deal timeline. Reach out and we'll build the right engagement structure for your situation.
DARI stands for Development Approval Risk Index. It's our proprietary 1–10 scoring system that quantifies political and opposition risk for any development project or market.
The score synthesizes research across multiple dimensions: opposition actor profiles and tactics, planning commissioner and council member ideology and voting history, organized neighborhood group activity, comparable project outcomes in the same jurisdiction, and regulatory and zoning risk factors.
Every TEG engagement produces a DARI™ score with a color classification and a written rationale.
No. A Green DARI™ score means opposition risk is low based on our current intelligence — it does not guarantee approval or account for variables outside our research scope, such as zoning code compliance, engineering constraints, or financing conditions.
What it means is that the political and opposition environment is favorable. That's a significant advantage, but entitlements depend on more than opposition alone.
We stand behind our methodology, but we're not infallible. If you believe we've missed key actors, misread the political landscape, or if new information has emerged since delivery, contact us and we'll review the inputs together.
Our goal is accuracy you can act on — not a number you don't trust. We'd rather revisit the score than have you proceed (or not proceed) based on incomplete information.
The DARI™ Scorecard ($497) gives you a full DARI score with color classification, opposition actor identification, and a 3–5 page risk summary with preliminary mitigation guidance. It's the right starting point when you need to know whether a deal is worth pursuing deeper.
The Intelligence+ ($2,997) builds on everything in the Scorecard and adds:
The Deal Strategy Memo ($5,997) includes everything in Intelligence+ and adds three critical deliverables designed to make the intelligence board-ready and immediately actionable:
This is the product to choose when you need to present the intelligence to investors, partners, or a board — not just read it yourself.
The AI Workshop ($9,997) is a half-day live session held at your office — anywhere in the world. It includes everything in the Deal Strategy Memo, plus:
It's designed for development teams that want to build an in-house intelligence capability rather than outsourcing every deal to us.
We scope add-ons case by case. Common additions include:
Contact us to describe what your deal needs and we'll build the right scope.
After you order, we confirm your jurisdiction and project details within one business day. Research begins immediately. Here's what to expect by product:
If you have a pending hearing or hard deadline, tell us upfront and we'll do our best to expedite.
We adjust our methodology for lower-data jurisdictions. In smaller or rural markets where public records are thinner, we rely more heavily on relationship mapping, local press archives, and proprietary research frameworks developed for exactly these situations.
We'll tell you upfront if data availability will affect the scope or confidence level of your score — before you pay for a tier that may not deliver full value in that market.
Because all of our work is custom research initiated at the time of purchase, we do not offer refunds once research has begun.
If you have concerns about the right product tier before ordering, contact us first. We'll make sure you're ordering the right thing for your situation before you pay — that's a better outcome for both of us.
Yes. We use Claude, Anthropic's AI, as a core research and synthesis tool within our proprietary methodology. AI accelerates our ability to process large volumes of public data, identify patterns across voting records and opposition histories, and structure intelligence into actionable reports.
That said, every DARI™ score and deliverable is reviewed and validated by our team before it reaches you. AI is a tool in our process — not a replacement for judgment.
Yes. We treat every engagement with strict confidentiality. We never share client project details, disclose client identities, or use one client's information in another engagement.
We respond to every inquiry personally, and your project details stay within our team. If your deal is sensitive, you can describe the jurisdiction and general situation without identifying the specific site until you're ready to engage formally.
No. TEG uses the Claude API under commercial terms that explicitly prohibit Anthropic from using API inputs and outputs to train their models. Your project information — jurisdictions, opposition actors, deal details — is never used to train any AI model.
You can order directly from our Services page. Each product tier links directly to a Stripe checkout — payment is secure and processed immediately.
The Free Checklist and Custom Checklist ($97) are available on the Free Checklist page. All other tiers are on the Services page.
If you'd prefer to talk before ordering, use the Contact page and we'll respond within one business day.
Absolutely. Use the Contact page, describe your deal situation — the jurisdiction, your stage in the process, and what you're trying to figure out — and we'll recommend the right track and product tier before you pay anything. We'd rather you start with the right product than upgrade (or downgrade) after the fact.
Yes. If you refer a developer to TEG and they become a paying client, we offer a referral commission. Contact us for details on how the referral program works.
We respond to every inquiry personally. If you have an active deal or a pending hearing, tell us and we'll prioritize your response.