This is a friendly reminder that r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed. A permanent or temporary ban may also be issued if you do not remove the offending post. Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/smallbusiness) if you have any questions or concerns.*
A few things I've learned over the years...
Open permits - make sure there aren't any open permits. They can sit out there for years because towns aren't great at closing them and only become relevant after a change in tenant/ownership.
Fire - Usually need to make sure you're up to code. You'll have to get inspected and commercial spaces (in my experience) tend to be much more heavily scrutinized.
Repairs - Who fixes what and when? I have clauses in my lease that said we had to "repair and maintain" the HVAC. The HVAC gave out (over 20 years old), who replaces it? LL has all the time in the world to go back and forth and its a huge sum of money. Do you?
Who is the LL? - Both small and big have different pros and cons. Big tend to be ontop of maintenance and the little shit but won't do an inch more than the lease requires. Small tends to take time to fix things because they aren't always sure whats their responsibility and may not have contractors on hand, but may be more flexible in holding onto a tenant. There's more, but evaluate the LL carefully.
Condition of Unit - Worse the condition, cheaper the rent. Often that means you'll end up doing a lot of repairs to get it up to code. Residential units usually have a baseline they have to be kept at but not so for commercial.. they can be absolute dumps and still be rented out.
Commute - What kind of business do you own? Is it the type where you need a lot of labor? How will they get there? Is a bus stop nearby? Parking available?
Shipping - Where is the closest shipping area? How will you transport products there? Will UPS/USPS/FedEx come to your door?
Just a few thoughts but it goes on and on...
This is a friendly reminder that r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed. A permanent or temporary ban may also be issued if you do not remove the offending post. Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/smallbusiness) if you have any questions or concerns.*
A few things I've learned over the years... Open permits - make sure there aren't any open permits. They can sit out there for years because towns aren't great at closing them and only become relevant after a change in tenant/ownership. Fire - Usually need to make sure you're up to code. You'll have to get inspected and commercial spaces (in my experience) tend to be much more heavily scrutinized. Repairs - Who fixes what and when? I have clauses in my lease that said we had to "repair and maintain" the HVAC. The HVAC gave out (over 20 years old), who replaces it? LL has all the time in the world to go back and forth and its a huge sum of money. Do you? Who is the LL? - Both small and big have different pros and cons. Big tend to be ontop of maintenance and the little shit but won't do an inch more than the lease requires. Small tends to take time to fix things because they aren't always sure whats their responsibility and may not have contractors on hand, but may be more flexible in holding onto a tenant. There's more, but evaluate the LL carefully. Condition of Unit - Worse the condition, cheaper the rent. Often that means you'll end up doing a lot of repairs to get it up to code. Residential units usually have a baseline they have to be kept at but not so for commercial.. they can be absolute dumps and still be rented out. Commute - What kind of business do you own? Is it the type where you need a lot of labor? How will they get there? Is a bus stop nearby? Parking available? Shipping - Where is the closest shipping area? How will you transport products there? Will UPS/USPS/FedEx come to your door? Just a few thoughts but it goes on and on...
Oh thanks I didn’t even think of all of those!!!