Purchasing or leasing an industrial warehouse for manufacturing or distribution purposes have several key components to consider during the decision making process. While the majority of brand new industrial warehouses today are already master planned with today’s ideal tenant in mind, we continually run into clients who end up having buyers remorse on existing warehouses caused by important items overlooked during the due diligence process.
Before agreeing to a contract, make sure these important factors have been addressed and will meet your specific requirements:
Fire Protection/Sprinkler System Capabilities:
Clear heights of a warehouse don’t dictate the maximum storage heights of products that can be stored in a warehouse. The specific commodities being stored AND how they are being stored will be a key factor in maximum storage height capabilities in a warehouse based on the current sprinkler system design.
In an ideal scenario, request the property owner provide formal documentation of the Capabilities and Limitations of the Sprinkler System
Concrete Slab Thickness:
Having the information on concrete thickness and PSI Strength is an important factor in understanding the capabilities of what your warehouse can or cannot support on the concrete slab. In high seismic zones this factor is an extremely important item of interest. When considering solutions to increase square footage (mezzanines, multi-level pick modules, high density automated storage systems)
concrete thickness is a significant financial factor in realistic options.
The requirement for concrete footings and structural reinforcement due to a less than desirable slab thickness can be a mistake easily avoided on the front end of a property acquisition.
Are you currently dealing with a concrete floor thickness issue – the link below is an article that dives into greater detail on the challenges with bad floors and how to fix/repair them.
AutoCAD Drawings – Shell of Building:
Majority of tenant improvement projects and material handling scopes will require permits with the municipality. Some older buildings do not have a digital AutoCAD (.dwg) files documenting the dimensions and locations of egress, sprinkler system piping, locations for electrical/power source, dimensions of walls, etc. Hiring an architect to reverse engineer the floorplan can be a costly expense. Have this negotiated up front and factored into the closing costs of the transaction if AutoCAD drawings do not exist.
When AutoCAD drawings do exist, the ability to map out an optimized facility and provide a master plan for future growth can provide your team with a blueprint to adapt for expansion and avoid the need to find a larger warehouse in the future. The real headache is dealing with the entire relocation process all over again.
These three key issues, when addressed early on in the warehouse selection process will significantly reduce downtime and allow your team to focus on getting your new facility up and running as efficiently and as time effectively as possible.
With the current supply chain constraints being a factor in industries , don’t let these key issues be another bottleneck setting your organization back from being operational.
Moving into a new warehouse or manufacturing facility? Our team is ready to help master plan your warehouse or manufacturing facility. Contact us here: https://mhstorage.com/contact/
Material Handling & Storage, Inc. has been serving clients in the material handling industry since 1992. With offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and Scottsdale, Arizona our team is ready to help improve efficiencies in your manufacturing or distribution facility.
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