How to Find Space to Start Your New Business

Location, location, location is the key to success or failure for many businesses. Where you locate your company depends on its industry (service or manufacturing), number of employees, rate of growth and target market, among other variables.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Measuring Tapes
• Real Estate Brokers
• Spiral Notebooks

1. Determine your "trading area." This is the area from which people will travel to purchase your goods or service. Look at your market and demographics to help you pick a location that will best draw from your trading area.

2. Calculate how much space will you need. The space requirements for a manufacturing company will be different from that needed for an accountant's office.

3. Decide whether to buy or lease the facility. Unless you have substantial resources available, it is usually better to lease than to buy.

4. Scout out suitable commercial areas. Try to get a sense of the character of the neighborhood and surrounding areas. Take note of the foot and car traffic patterns. It's better to make your own observations before soliciting the advice of real estate brokers.

5. Once you have selected several acceptable locations, enlist the advice of a commercial real estate broker. Tell him/her what you are looking for and explain the type of business you are going to open.

6. Visit the sites. Take notes on what you like and dislike about each location. Always bring a tape measure with you to be sure that the facility fits your business's space requirements.

Tips & Warnings

• Choose a site that is bigger than you think you will need. Leave plenty of room for growth.
• Find a property that offers short-term leases. Start-up businesses need the flexibility of short-term, renewable leases.
• Review the zoning ordinances of the area in which you want to locate. If you're planning to build on the property, make sure that it is zoned properly for your needs.
• If you're looking to save money on office space, you might consider joining a business incubator, finding partners to share space or renting a professional office suite. All of these options typically include shared resources such as fax machine, copier and even office furniture.
• Be wary of whom you talk to about a specific location. Landlords, Chamber of Commerce representatives and brokers are likely to give glowing reviews about a location that they are pitching.
• Although some start-ups can very easily be launched from your home, be sure that this situation suits your business. It's often better to keep work and home life separate. Also, if you must interact with customers or clients, having your business in your spare bedroom or garage may not appear professional.

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[lucyyy]

on 5/3/2009 If you're just starting your company, you might want to get creative with office space. Is there a non-competing company you know with an empty office or two? Maybe you can work out a friendly sublease -- which might also mean you can used their photocopier and other business machines. When you're a startup, you need to be crafty about keeping expenses low.

on 11/22/2005 Have a look at your surrounding businesses to see if there are businesses like your own. If the businesses around you are highly productive, yours might be, too. If the businesses around you are run down and not very productive, there is a good chance yours will be the same.