Boma Standards and Office Space Measurement Errors

But it’s much more likely if Mr. Small Landlord and his son measured the space themselves that a mistake has been made. If you disagree after making your own measurements and the landlord offers to measure it with you, keep an eye out to make sure that he holds the tape from the very end.

Some of these Boma Standards Measurement Errors can be covered off in the offer to lease and lease but if it’s a small space, it’s not a bad idea to measure it yourself. If it’s really off, you don’t want to pay for space that you are not using.

If you are paying rent of 50 feet of space that you aren’t using and you are paying twenty dollars per square foot and you stay in the space for 10 years, that $10,000 you overpaid. So measure the space if you can and if you find obvious mismeasurement, resolve it.

I once saw a landlord who measured the floor space from the exterior of the building adding almost five hundred feet of unusable space to a three thousand foot area.

There are also firms that are certified to measure space on the web which may be more ammunition for you than your own space measurement. As an aside, measuring space is an art and not a science and two different space surveyors may come up with different measurements. So if the space measurement is off a few feet, don’t worry about these small measurement errors.

Most office buildings are measured to Building Owners and Management Association Standards BOMA Standards.

However many landlords have their own standards and may measure from the outside of the building rather than the inside and you can end up paying a lot more for 1000 feet of space in that landlords building because you are paying for unusable space.

Check the lease for measurement standards and negotiate down the price for inefficient buildings or interior designs. Get a good interior designer with experience in the your type of business. It can really save you in the long run. To get more information on interior designer, what they do and how to choose one to avoid measurement errors.

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