Month: July 2012

How much office space should I REALLY lease?

Leasing too much (or too little) office space can be a costly mistake, however determining exactly how much space you require is one component of the leasing process that is often rushed or inaccurate.

Unfortunately, our industry is partially to blame for this.  Tenants often think they need more space than they actually do, and since a broker earns more when you lease more, they may be the last person to tell you that you could scale back.

Taking the time to identify the size, configuration and quantity of each element of your new office will not only save you time and money down the road, but chances are you’ll find that you require less space than you originally thought you did.

Old rules of thumb such as, “tech tenants require 150 square feet per employee, and law firms require 350” is an unreliable measure and nothing more than an insightful metric for spotting a gross irregularity; there are far too many variables involved in determining your space requirement to simplify it in this way.

A better and more accurate solution is to take an analytical approach by using a tried and true Excel spreadsheet.

First, calculate the quantity and size of all your desired offices, cubes, conference rooms and supporting spaces such as kitchens, server rooms, storage closets, reception area so as to arrive at your Net Square Footage.

Then factor the following into your spreadsheet as they’ll substantially affect your true space requirement.

  • Circulation Factor – this is simply “the space between” and takes into account all the interior space that hasn’t yet been accounted for such as hallways and walkways between cubes.
  • Load Factor – Buildings add a percentage on top of the actual square footage of your office to account for common areas such as lobbies, restrooms and hallways.  This is the difference between the Useable Square Footage (USF) and Rentable Square Footage (RSF). Properties can vary greatly in how efficient they are, and a good broker will not overlook this important factor.

Finally, this exercise will yield an accurate square footage of what you require today, but what about in the future?  Take time to consider factors that will affect your space requirement throughout the term of your lease such as hiring or consolidation, planned mergers and acquisitions and changing in funding schedules.