While all properties use the square foot as the basis of measurement, which parts of the property are included in the final calculations vary by building type. Gross square footage is most typically used with warehouses, industrial buildings and other stand-alone buildings, such as freestanding retail sites. Typically, the calculation will include the thickness of the sidewalls when measuring the total footprint of the site. When measuring multi-tenant warehouse, industrial and retail property, the inside measurement may be the most appropriate. This measurement will include 50% of the thickness of any demising walls.
Office buildings use substantially different calculations. The actual square footage that an office user may occupy is typically less than the amount upon which the rent is based. The square footage that you use exclusively is termed “usable square feet” and the amount upon which the rent is based is called “rentable square feet”. This is because office tenants pay their proportionate share for their use of building common areas. Common areas include lobbies, hallways, rest rooms, and service areas. The differential is expressed as a percentage known as a load or loss factor. When comparing properties, it’s a good idea to ask, “What is the load factor?” The higher the load factor the more of your space will be in the common areas and less inside the suite for your exclusive use. Occasionally, one may find a building that bases the rent upon the usable square footage. Since load factors can run 17 to 22 percent, this may represent real savings.
About The Sundance Company
The Sundance Company has become a development powerhouse with more than 30 years of successful history in Idaho’s Treasure Valley and the Boise metropolitan area. The Sundance Company is one of the few local companies that self-manages and maintains its own properties—enjoying higher occupancy levels and superior quality control for its projects.
Savvy tenants and buyers look to The Sundance Company for development; office, warehouse, and retail leasing; property management; build-to-suit/construction; and land and building sales. With more than 1.5 million square feet of prime office and industrial space in the greater Treasure Valley, The Sundance Company has the size and diversity to avoid the need for a “one-size-fits-all” approach—thereby assuring customized solutions that are genuinely tailored to each client’s needs.
Every project by The Sundance Company is conceived and executed with integrity, innovation, accountability, and dedication by a team of seasoned experts who always remains mindful not only of tangible aspects of a property transaction but also the intangible. The in-house management team values its personal connections and the relationship of trust it has created with its tenants and property owners, which include national and regional companies, some of whom have been in Sundance buildings for more than 15 years.
The Sundance Company 