Commercial real estate (CRE) owners have done it all to yield a better return on investment (ROI) at their properties – from improving the tenant experience to increasing energy efficiency at their buildings. But it still might not be enough. Have you considered better space management to create the most profitable commercial real estate?
It may seem nuanced but there are ways property teams can adjust the layout of buildings or find additional leasing space at their buildings to add to profits – which is essential for lease transactions, building valuation, space utilization, and the allocation of building expenses to different building operations.
Space management challenges today
Let’s start with today’s space management challenges. Unfortunately, not all CRE properties are maximizing their spaces. And that’s a missed opportunity for additional revenue.
Pain points include:
- Inaccurate measurements and minimizing rentable square footage (RSF)
- Outdated floor plans and hard-to-find data
- Poor visibility into leasing data and growth potential
With these pain points in mind, CRE teams can evaluate their property’s space and use the following as a way towards a more profitable future.
1. Generate accurate measurements of your spaces
To maximize profitability, ensure your property’s measurements are aligned with the latest BOMA or REBNY standards. These standards hold properties accountable under an agreed upon method of measurement and promote a clear-cut framework for determining RSF calculations.
One way to ensure your property follows these standards is to measure your commercial space down to the last square foot. This is where utilizing modern laser and 3D technology comes into play. Such technology scans 420,000 points per second to measure a space. Laser beams bounce off objects and walls to create a 3D map of the property and exact 2D floor plans with panoramic images.
With the information collected through this process, property owners and operators have unquestioned confidence in their space measurements. Teams might even uncover new leasing and revenue opportunities that your property wasn’t already capitalizing on.
2. Create a bird’s-eye view of all your buildings
After collecting all your space measurement data, it’s time to put it to use. And using CRE software to manage and present your space measurement is a great place to start. Because when you can see your buildings from a bird’s-eye view, it shows you where to concentrate efforts, how to restructure your spaces, and brings you back to focusing on the profitability of your space.
More specifically, with accurate space measurements and floor plans, you can enable your property teams to:
- Drop pins to indicate the precise location of work order requests to accelerate task completion
- Add location icons for key equipment like fire extinguishers, generators, etc.
- Make it easy for teams to annotate and visualize spaces to empower cross-team collaboration
- Ensure your teams have the most current floor plans at their fingertips
The more you know your space, the more you will know where you can maximize profits. So, it’s up to property owners to enable their property teams with such technology. With this technology in hand, your property teams can work more efficiently and critically.
3. Store all that valuable space measurement data
Now, you must store and track all that great space measurement data. Centralizing all your floor plan documents and space data in one central repository makes it easy for teams to access at any time.
In this central data repository, you can ensure floor plans are always accurate, up-to-date, and available to every team member. Allowing for this collaboration and access ensures everyone is on the same page and teams and owners are aligned with the correct data.
From here, both CRE owners and operators can drill down into tenant leasing data by seeing how leases are trending, or if they’re expiring, and view targets for their spaces, the total number of vacant or occupied units, tenant breakdowns by floor, and more. By staying on top of all your space measurement data, you can maximize your leases – generating more profit from your buildings.
Build the most profitable commercial real estate with efficient space management
Efficient space management can truly make or break the profits of your CRE property. When properties have accurate representations of their spaces with up-to-date measurements, they will know exactly where they can maximize their revenues.
Space management software can help your property not only measure your space but can help manage it. This means taking accurate measurements so you can maximize RSF, giving you easy access to the space data you need, and providing you with dashboards to visualize leasing data across your portfolio.
For more information on why accurate space measurement matter, download the checklist, “Space Measurement Checklist for CRE Due Diligence: Buying, Selling or Refinancing a Building.”
