calculate square footage | Southcreek

Determining Office Size for an Office Space in Kansas City: Part III

You can ease some of the stress of determining the amount office space you need by considering a few important factors. Here are a few final ones to think about:

Conference Rooms
Adequate space in conference rooms is essential. Think about how many people are typically invited to meetings. A good rule is to allow for 20-25 SF per seat, which will help ensure adequate space per employee. Here are some guidelines for estimating conference room dimensions:

Board Room – (375 sq. ft.) Holds 15 to 18 people
Conference Room – (300 sq. ft.) Holds 12 to 15 people
Small Meeting Room – (225 sq. ft.) Holds 9 to 11 people

You might also consider sharing resources such as conference rooms or break rooms with other tenants on the property, though be sure to look into lease types and terms before making that decision.

Future Growth
A final factor to consider is the growth of your business; you want to aim for a space that will accommodate all of the personal projected through the midterm of the lease. A common calculation used for projecting future growth is simply adding 10-20% to the current needed square footage. However, bear in mind that growth can vary by industry and a variety of other factors, so talk to the landlord about the possibility of expanding in the building during your lease term.

Pinpointing your business’s needs, especially in regards to space, is the most important part of finding a new office space. Be sure to consider factors such as personnel, area layout, special arrangements, conference rooms, and future growth as you calculate square footage!

If you are looking at office suites for rent in Kansas City, give us a call at 913-685-4100!

Determining Office Size for an Office Space in Kansas City

Finding a new office space can be time-consuming, difficult, and stressful, and office space size can be one of the most common areas of misunderstanding. It is important to know that the majority of landlords lease space by Rentable Square Feet, which includes a share of the common area in proportion to the size of their space (i.e. a tenant might be paying for 175 RSF in a 10’ x 15’ space). This fact is important to consider, along with a few other factors to consider:

Personnel
When deciding to change office locations, one of the most important things to consider is how many employees will be utilizing the new space, as well as the types of employees. Usually, upper management employees have larger office spaces than entry level employees. Here are some basic guidelines for personal office sizes:

CEO or Director’s Office (300 sq. ft.)
Manager’s Office (225 sq. ft.)
Standard office(150 sq. ft.)
Small Office (120 sq. ft.)

Considering the amount of personnel who will be occupying your office and the sizes of spaces they will need is a good way to start determining how much office space you will need.

If you want someone to help you calculate square footage, give a commercial real estate broker in Kansas City a call at 913-685-4100!

4 Mistakes to Avoid When Acquiring a Kansas City Office Space for Lease: Part I

While finding an office space can be a great move for businesses both big and small, there are a lot of mistakes that companies make on the types of leases the acquire that can hurt their company down the line. Here are 4 major mistakes to be aware of and avoid when finding an office rental space:

1. Leasing a space that is too big or small. Over or underestimating the amount of office space your business will need for all projects, departments, and employees is one of the biggest mistakes businesses make. It can be tricky to estimate, because a space always seems a bit bigger when empty, but taking the time to figure square footage needs specifically for your business is important.
2. Acquiring a space that is not within their financial means. The expense of renting an office space is difficult on any business’s budget, but choosing a space that is even more expensive than what you budgeted for can really strain the entire business’s finances. Carefully review your budget before you even begin looking for an office rental space so you have a clear number in mind of what your business can realistically pay for a space. And then do not go over that number.

Some of these mistakes may seem obvious, yet business still fall into them often. All of these are easily avoidable with a little planning and research!

Give us a call at 913-685-4100 and we can help you calculate square footage needs for your business!

How to Calculate Square Footage for Commercial Real Estate

Commercial real estate rental rates are not calculated the same way as residential leases. Residential rental rates are often determined by looking at similar rentals in the area, whereas monthly rent for commercial property is a little more complex and based on several types of square foot measurements. Most commercial leases charge rent based on “rentable square feet” versus “usable square feet.” Here are some definitions that might clarify these terms:

Usable Square Feet – Square footage of space actually occupied by the tenant
Rentable Square Feet – Usable square footage + a percentage of the square footage of the common areas. Common areas are the parts of the building that all tenants use, such as hallways, elevators, stairwells, and lobbies. The percentage of square footage of common areas is divided up among tenants on a prorated basis.
Gross Square Feet – Total square footage of the entire building.

Thus, when a tenant is paying a rent according to rentable square feet, they are paying a part of the landlord’s expenses for the common areas in addition to their usable square feet. This practice of adding common area expenses and usable square feet is called the “load factor,” and the load factor typically increases annually at a rate that is different from rent increases for your usable square footage. This can all be very complicated and confusing, so before you even take a tour of a space, be sure to ask the realtor over the phone about the monthly rates for both usable square feet and rentable square feet.

We can help you figure square footage for your business using our office space calculator. To find out more about the size and rates of our commercial space for lease in Overland Park, give us a call at 913-685-4100!

Business Office Rental in Kansas City Square Footage Options

Southcreek Office Park offers square footage options ranging from 900 to more than 24,000 square feet to accommodate whatever size office space you are looking for. There are twenty different Southcreek buildings in southern Johnson County, located together on Metcalf Avenue, West 129th Street, West 130th Street, and West 132th Street, each offering different available amounts of office space.

Our Southcreek website offers a chart on our “Available Office Space” page that lists by square footage the available spaces, as well as links to more detailed information about spaces within different ranges of square footage.

However, when trying to figure square footage, you might not know exactly how much space you need. If you need help estimating how much square footage you might want, the “Available Office Space” page offers a square footage calculator, which asks a series of questions that will help Southcreek calculate square footage according to your needs.

The calculator’s questions invite you to consider factors such as the number of private offices, the number of work cubicles, and how many people a conference room might need to seat, as well as whether you would like a reception area, a break area, or a storage or teldata room. This will help give Southcreek a general estimate of how much space you need, and from there they will often divide, combine and reconfigure available space to meet your exact needs. So whether you know how much space you need and would like to check out prices, or whether you need help figuring out how much space you actually need, Southcreek can help you in your hunt for office space.

Wanna skip the formalities and just talk to someone? You can do that too by calling 913-685-4100.