How to Lease a Building for an Accounting Firm

Once your accounting firm reaches a critical size, you may consider the productivity and marketing benefits of leasing a building in which to house your firm. The building lends an impressive aura to your operation that may inspire trust and loyalty in your clients. There are several factors to take into account when you make this choice and pursue leasing an office building for your firm.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Commercial real estate broker
• Attorney

Evaluate Your Office Space Needs

1. Gauge how much office space your employees will require. Estimate that each employee needs approximately 200 square feet of cubicle space, but also take into account whether there will be any executive suites for the partners.
2. Choose what additional facilities the firm requires. Restrooms and kitchens come standard but also figure out whether the firm needs a separate space to house networking equipment or filing cabinets.
3. Calculate the minimum square footage the firm needs to operate.
4. Calculate what the firm can afford to pay for office space.

Shop For an Office Building to Lease

5. Contact a commercial real estate broker as you search for a building. Find a broker who specializes in office transactions and this broker will likely know all the nuances of leasing an office building in your locale.
6. Look into the parking needs of your firm and keep those needs in mind when shopping for a building.
7. Share the amenities of a building with another firm, splitting time among the copy rooms, conference rooms and kitchens. This may become inconvenient but the savings can be significant.
8. Ask about putting your accounting firm's name or logo in a prominent place on the building. This raises the profile of the firm and the advertising generated can help justify the leasing of an entire office building.
9. Select your neighborhood carefully. Location can be a practical consideration as well as an aesthetic one. Also, cities may offer incentives to businesses willing to lease property in a previously depressed or underdeveloped area.

Close on a Building

10. Pay particular attention to the monthly rate, the length of the lease and any adjustments made to the lease over time. These terms can seriously effect the fiscal health of your firm.
11. Retain the services of a real estate attorney who can go over all the terms of the lease exhaustively. There can be hundreds of terms associated with leasing a building all of which can bear upon the bottom line. A seasoned real estate attorney makes for an indispensable ally.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure the impression your building leaves a client with is one of business acumen and not excess. Gold-plated faucets and marble sinks can signal a client that perhaps his accounting firm is a bit overpriced.

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