How we helped a business owner lease a new warehouse and grow.
A few weeks ago we signed a lease for a local business owner here in Marietta, GA. He just moved in to the warehouse office suite and thanked us for our efforts. I want to detail exactly how we found his business a new warehouse.
First, the backstory. My buddy Jeff is the owner of a small company here in town. He has operated the business fairly lean for many years, working mostly out of his truck, his home office in the basement and storing materials and documents in his garage. He finally outgrew that stage and needed to find a warehouse for rent. He texted me: “I’m ready.” I’d been on him for a while.
What we did:
- We talked about space. We talked a lot about space. Jeff had operated pretty lean but he really needed to find a building with some office space for his team and plenty of space to store materials. He initially thought he needed 2,000 square feet. We determined he really needed 5,000. 1,500 square feet of office and 3,500 square feet of warehouse space. This would give him plenty of room to hire, meet with clients and most importantly to store materials.
- We talked about how much he could afford. I gave Jeff the run down of exactly how much it costs to rent a warehouse in the Atlanta suburbs these days. It’s not cheap but we were able to really dive into what it was costing his business each year he DIDN’T have the space.
- We talked specifics. Jeff needed a place he could install racks to store materials. We decided on a 18' clear height. All of his stuff comes on pick up trucks or box trucks so we decided to go with a drive-in door. Plus he could store some equipment in the warehouse over the weekends.
- We talked location. Jeff wanted to be close to I-75 so he could get into Atlanta where most of his cliental operated, but also close enough to his house that he wasn’t still working in the truck all day. We decided on a northern suburb of Atlanta that we both know well. Keen readers can probably figure that one out!
- We talked through the options. I was able to narrow down the list pretty quickly and present him 3 options. We toured two and he liked one the best.
- We put forth a compelling lease proposal. Jeff is a straight forward guy. We didn’t play games, didn’t mince words. Here is what we can do. Done deal.
I love success stories like these. Reach out to me if you want to chat further.