How to Find Space for Your Business

How to Find a Warehouse for Rent

By  David Haug

Do You Need to Find a Warehouse For Rent?

If you want to find a warehouse for rent for your business, you may need to roll up your sleeves. The right warehouse space for you will need to meet many of your requirements for it to be a successful space for your growing business.

What types of warehouse spaces are there?

Not all warehouse space is equal. Some spaces are garages for rent near you. Many warehouse spaces also include fully built-out office suites. And, some warehouse spaces for rent are a hybrid of the two. A mixture of warehouse space for rent and office space for rent is called flex space.

Class A Warehouse For Rent

The quality of your warehouse for rent is important as well. This is usually measured by a subjective rating system called a class. You will likely see class A, class B, and class C types of warehouse space. If the building is newer, built with steel and concrete, has high eve heights (20ft+), dock doors, drive-in doors, quality offices, nice landscaping, and is well located, the warehouse space will likely be considered class A.

Class C Warehouse For Rent

On the other end of the spectrum is class C. Class C warehouse for rent is usually older, has difficult access, lower eve heights, minimal office space, older HVAC and lighting, and inadequate power supplies. Sometimes, with class C, you know it when you see it. Class C space usually needs lots of work to make it right. However, the benefit of a class C space is that it is usually the cheapest commercial space to rent in any marketplace.

Class B Warehouse  For Rent

Class B warehouse for rent falls in between class A and class C space. This type of space may have some of the features that a class A warehouse for rent has, but not enough of them to be considered class A. Class B is a better quality space than class C and the rent usually reflects this.

As you can imagine, class A is the most expensive type of warehouse for rent. Class A is usually marketed on a NNN lease rate. The cheapest, Class C, is often marketed with a Modified Gross Lease. Class B warehouse space will be marketed as either NNN or Modified Gross and the overall cost will likely be less than A and more than C.

What Features Do You Need In Your Warehouse For Rent?

In addition, besides the quality of the warehouse for rent that you need, you should consider many more factors.

Eve Heights

For instance, how high do you need your ceiling to be? This is usually called the eve height. If the warehouse for rent has a sloped roof it may have an eve height and also a building height, which measures the highest point of the roof.

Power

What kind of power supply will you need? If you have heavy-duty power needs, you will want to make sure your warehouse for rent has 3 phase power. This provides many more amps than traditional power supplies.

Doors

What types of doors do you need for your warehouse for rent? Do you need dock doors that can accept semi-truck deliveries or box truck deliveries? Are drive-in doors needed for your fleet? How many of each? How high do you need your doors to be? Is the eve height of the building high enough to account for your door needs? Height is also important for your inventory stacking needs.

Columns

You will also want to determine if clear space is necessary for your warehouse for rent or if you can accommodate columns in your space. Sometimes columns can get in the way, so make sure your space plan works in the warehouse for rent you are considering.

Access

You may also want to consider several other very important features of your warehouse space for rent. How is the access and egress to the road system? Are you close to your suppliers? How close are you to your customers? Is the commute easy for your employees? Can your vehicles get in and out easily? Do you have enough parking available for employees and customers?

How Do You Locate Warehouse For Rent Near You?

Plenty of business owners go online and search for space on various commercial database systems like CoStar, LoopNet, Commercial Exchange, and many others. This is a fine place to start. This will give you an idea of what is available and what the lease rates look like in your chosen market. Each market is different so it is important to get your bearings.

Most savvy business owners work with a broker to find and locate suitable properties. Locating properties is just the first step in finding a warehouse for rent. There are many more important details to work through.

The most important reason to hire a commercial real estate broker is to obtain their negotiation services. If you look for a warehouse for rent on your own, without a broker representing you, then everyone you speak with is working against you and this doesn’t set you up for success.

The owner will look out for their own best interest. The listing broker they hired is certainly working for the owner as well. Because of this, you must consider hiring an expert negotiator to represent you and your best interests.

The Key to Hiring a Great Commercial Real Estate Broker

Now, the good news is that most listing brokers expect to split their listing commission with a tenant representative when negotiating leases. In most markets, the split is 50/50. So if a property is listed at 6% then the tenant rep will receive 3%.

The main reasons business owners are reluctant to hire commercial brokers are the following. One, they think they will somehow save money if they do not introduce a broker into the negotiations. Because most warehouse for rent is listed with a broker, the owner has already agreed, in writing, to pay the listing broker a full commission. This will not be reduced just because you do not have a broker. The listing broker will still get his full commission.

The other main reason business owners do not want to hire a broker is because they fear they will be taken advantage of, lied to, or given poor service. This is usually due to a poor previous experience with either a commercial broker or in many cases, a residential agent during a home sale transaction.

To avoid a poor commercial real estate broker experience you need to choose the right broker to work with. You should choose a commercial broker who specializes in your exact area of real estate.

Typically, you are best served by an Industrial commercial real estate broker when you are looking for a warehouse to rent. Your industrial broker needs to specialize in the area of the city you are looking for a warehouse to rent.

At Lighthouse Commercial Real Estate, we specialize in matching business owners with the right brokers to work with. All you need to do is reach out to us here, and we can assist you.

David Haug

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About the Author

David N. Haug is the Managing Broker of Lighthouse Commercial Real Estate in Madison, WI. He is passionate about helping clients, customers, and friends succeed in finding property, selling and leasing property, and investing in commercial real estate. With over 17 years of CRE experience David has analyzed, reviewed and transacted hundreds of deals worth untold millions of dollars. Reach out today and ask David to guide you on your commercial real estate voyage!
Connect with David on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidnhaug/

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