You’ve likely heard the analogy that businesses are like children. Child-rearing takes time and dedication as does growing a business. Like children, businesses experience growing pains. Growth is ultimately a good thing, but sometimes it hurts, often pinching the wallet! If you aren’t careful, one wrong decision can cost you thousands of dollars in unnecessary expenses and/or lost revenue.
As Your Business Grows, it Will Likely Need More Space
But if you’ve outgrown your warehouse, it’s a little more complicated. Not only do you need extra workspace for more employees, but you’ll also need more room for things such as added operations and product inventory space.
Those growing pains can compound quickly, but the good news is you have options, including building from scratch or expanding. You may purchase another established facility, but you’ll likely need to purchase with the vision of a possible expansion in the future anyway.
Since warehouses are easily expandable, this is a great place to start when it comes to addressing current and future needs of your business. Speaking with a quality Design-Build firm like McCree General Contractors and Architects of Orlando, FL to evaluate your business processes and develop a great renovation design to meet those needs is time well spent. When you meet with one of our McCree Cares professionals, they can discuss several options to consider, including these timely tips.
Warehouse Expansion Is Less Expensive
The costs of land, materials, and labor have been on the rise in recent years. Although the COVID-19 pandemic may have caused a shift in the economy and real estate, building new is still considerably more expensive than on-site expansion.
Also, the square foot costs of warehouses follow a parabolic curve. Basically, small buildings are more expensive per square foot and larger buildings are more economical. When constructing new or expanding, size matters. For example, suppose you are thinking about expanding your food processing warehouse. It is currently 100,000 square feet. The greater you expand it, the less it is per square foot. Tripling the size to 300,000 costs less per unit than doubling it.
Warehouse Expansion Is Faster
Despite having a construction team working around your employees while expanding your current warehouse, it is still typically going to be quicker than building from scratch. Although the best scenario is to work when your employees are not present, our design-build professionals can develop a strategy to get the construction done while minimizing interruptions to your daily operations.
Depending on the existing warehouse, the types of materials used can make the process go much quicker as well. Steel is commonly used, but precast and tilt-wall can be done faster and in many cases cheaper. The precast saves time as it is produced during permitting off site and is a perfect solution for a site that does not have a large amount of space to build. The tilt-wall is essentially like precast, however tilt wall is poured and erected on site and does not save nearly as much time as precast.
Utilizing different material options may mean big savings in time and money allowing for your warehouse space to be expanded more efficiently.
Warehouse Expansion Still Allows for Customization
Of course you always have customization options for aesthetics, but what about customization for the function of your expanded warehouse? Many customers enjoy the process of modifying an existing space to meet their needs and making it less “cookie-cutter.”
Suppose your export company is projected to double business in the next year. You will need to hire additional workers to handle packing and shipping, so another assembly and packing area is needed to meet the increased demand. Along with that, extra dock-height shipping bays are likely required. These are the types of scenarios and business processes our design-build professionals can work with you to analyze. That way, you know you are getting a facility expansion that will serve you for years to come. They can even work with you to carve out space for that new employee lounge area you’ve wanted!
If you’re planning to grow your business in the Orlando and surrounding areas, but are a little unsure of financially biting off more than you can chew during unsure economic times, a warehouse expansion project is something to consider. Or perhaps building from the ground up is better for your business. Either way, one of our Design-Build experts would be happy to look at your current space and give you options on the best way you can responsibly move your company forward.