Readiness check
First gate: should the shop be expanding at all?
Three honest questions decide whether expansion math is the right math right now. Some shops should stabilize first. Some are ready. The check tells you which.
Market context · what the local economy looks like
Add your zip to anchor NextMove’s recommendations to your local market.
High-wage metros change the ROI math on automation; low-cost rural regions change the math on outsourcing. Without a zip, recommendations use national averages.
The call
Headline verdict appears here.
Once the 5-step check runs, this section is the one-line answer with the reasoning. Buy, rent, outsource, hire, equip, or stabilize first — with the “why” underneath.
Moves ranked for your market
How your local wages re-rank the recommendation.
A move that’s “stay” at $32/hr national labor can flip to “outsource” at $60/hr Bay Area labor, and vice versa. Once the check runs with a zip set, this section shows which moves your geography is actually driving — and how much more (or less) you save at your real local wage rates.
Building decision · buy / rent / sale-leaseback
Side-by-side: rent vs. buy vs. sale-leaseback.
If you flagged space as a pressure point, we’ll show 10-year cost projections, equity built, and the opportunity cost of locking up your down payment. Sale-leaseback shows up as a third path if you already own.
Outsourcing matrix · 8 functions
Quadrant map of what to keep, what to hand off.
Each of 8 functions plotted by cost-to-outsource vs. strategic importance. Outsource the easy wins, keep the differentiators, hybrid the rest.
Equipment & labor moves
For equipment moves
MachineROI
If a specific machine would solve a bottleneck, MachineROI does the payback math — annual ROI, what must be true, financing scenarios.
Open MachineROI
For labor moves
LaborLogic
If the answer is people, LaborLogic shows real fabrication cost per SF and tells you whether to add OT, hire, or add a shift.
Open LaborLogic
Sequencer · 30 / 90 / 365 days
The order matters more than the move.
Even the right expansion goes sideways if it happens in the wrong order. The sequencer breaks the next year into three windows — what to commit, what to start, what to stage.
Next Uplevel opportunity · Subscription
Today's verdict is one decision. Compass keeps the log.
Every NextMove decision sits in Compass with its projected impact, status, and actual outcome at 30/90/365 days. The lessons get written back to you when the next similar decision lands — and the patterns across your decisions become visible. Most operators only learn these after the fact; Compass keeps them in front of you.