Choosing the right warehouse location makes your business more affordable and efficient. It also improves customer expectations and helps you grow faster.
Whether you ship your products via air, sea, or road, selecting a convenient location helps boost supply chain efficiencies and reduce costs. It’s also important to consider other warehouse-specific factors, such as the space’s ability to accommodate your product and type of business.
Location
It is important to consider location when looking for warehouses for lease near me. Your location will affect your workforce, supply chain and warehousing processes. This is especially true if your business needs frequent deliveries or uses precision machinery and equipment transport.
Zoning regulations should be considered, as well as how square footage is measured (some landlords include the space underneath floors or from outside walls). Lastly, you will want to ensure the warehouse is in an area conducive to your business type. For example, some warehouse listings will limit the types of activities that can be run on the premises, such as mechanic or repair services; this could lead to significant misunderstandings down the line.
Tax structures should also be taken into consideration, as they can have a direct impact on your warehouse operation and cost. For example, some states and cities offer incentives to businesses such as low inventory or franchise taxes or lower corporate income tax rates.
Size
Finding the right-sized warehouse in the best location is a major decision that impacts your business and company’s efficiency, shipping costs, and overall customer experience. It is important to consider projected growth and look at the size of the warehouse in terms of its usable square footage and floor loading.
Finding a warehouse near the most common transportation routes and airports may be advantageous depending on your business. For example, e-commerce businesses rely on air cargo to deliver goods. They should consider warehouse locations near major airports. At the same time, companies that primarily ship less than truckload (LTL) shipments can save money by leasing warehouse space in areas with access to common LTL carriers and transportation lanes.
It’s also essential to survey the surrounding area before committing to a lease and assess the availability of local workforce and service businesses. Then you can determine whether the existing commercial real estate market dynamics and energy availability will support your business’s operations.
Accessibility
If you choose to lease distribution warehouse space, it’s important to ensure that the property is accessible to all your business processes. This includes providing that your employees can get to and from the site easily and ensuring you have easy access to transportation routes for your trucks, containers, and other shipping equipment.
Another factor to consider when choosing a location for your warehouse is how close it is to the major highways and other ports your trucking, shipping, and delivery partners use. The more central the location is, the easier it will be for everyone in your organization to access it.
Owning a warehouse is usually higher than leasing one, but it has some perks that can compensate for this expense. Purchasing a warehouse allows you to build your facility and create functional, efficient spaces for sorting, fulfillment, and shipping.
Security
Almost every product manufactured, imported, or sold in the retail market in the United States has been stored in a warehouse at some point. The massive warehouse leasing industry is the backbone of our economy.
Security measures are an important consideration for anyone looking to rent a warehouse. If you store expensive goods or materials, a secure building is essential to ensure your items remain safe. Some things to consider include if the area is fenced, whether or not there is CCTV monitoring, and what other security features are in place.
Also, it is essential to determine how much parking space is available in the warehouse and the conditions. If you expect large truck deliveries, the warehouse must have a parking lot to handle these vehicles. This includes if the lot is paved and big enough to allow trucks to park in it overnight.
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