Small Business Unit

Jonny303

Sorry to be doing my market research here but I thought it might be the first place to start.

I am trying to do something with my premises (10,000sq ft showroom and workshop) and am looking at different ways of splitting it up to make the most of it.

I am curious from looking around online that there seems to be little to no small units (500-800sq ft) units available in the greater dublin and surrounding areas. The big question is of course, is there no demand for this size of a unit or is the stock not there? I would be interested in hearing new start ups and existing businesses thoughts!

Thanks

mrawkward

Very unlikely to yield a return once the costs of dividing it into such small units along with building reg, fire safety complience etc are factored in. 10/12 tenants paying buttons = nightmare.

minikin

Talk to your local enterprise office to see if they have any interest in setting up incubator units?

Jonny303

minikin wrote: »

Talk to your local enterprise office to see if they have any interest in setting up incubator units?

Had thought about this alright, might give them a call. Thanks

duploelabs

Jonny303 wrote: »

Sorry to be doing my market research here but I thought it might be the first place to start.

I am trying to do something with my premises (10,000sq ft showroom and workshop) and am looking at different ways of splitting it up to make the most of it.

I am curious from looking around online that there seems to be little to no small units (500-800sq ft) units available in the greater dublin and surrounding areas. The big question is of course, is there no demand for this size of a unit or is the stock not there? I would be interested in hearing new start ups and existing businesses thoughts!

Thanks

How's your traffic/football in the area?

jimmii

I actually have an office with a company that does this they have around 100 sites around the UK so it seems to be working for them! In our building most of the office are <1k sqft but there are some people who have put a few together to make larger offices. In our building there is a record label, a kids charity, a massage centre, an online vases retailer and all sorts of random service companies. For them there seems to be demand all over the UK in much smaller places in Dublin so you would think there is enough demand to make it work. Our Office is actually in a tiny town of around 7k but there still rarely more than 1 unit available at any time.

mrawkward

Of course Jimmii is right. My concern arose from the showrooms and workshop type of buildings indicated and the costs of configuring them to such a use versus the return. It does depend on how they are configured at present as to how much it would cost to transform them into viable opportunity for this use as opposed to just letting them out. There is a lot of management in this type of small unit and many of the tenants struggle to pay, in my experience. Just factors to consider when making your decision.

Jonny303

Appreciate all the feedback.

I'll put it this way to you. I have opening up sections of the building/yard as a self storage business which is going well. However I don't know if I will have the business long term to maximise the premises into all units of 50-200 sq foot.

It is easily broken up for me to put in 5 units of 500-100sq ft without a lot of effort, its just the demand really. Footfall would not be huge so shop like units I don't think would work. It is well situated in terms of connections to main roads/larger towns around.

Its basically a choice between 4 large units or 40 smaller units onto my additional business. Thanks for feedback

mrawkward

Self storage is a lot less complex than renting habitable workspace from many perspectives. Commercial Property is all about location, how about a specialist section of units for storage of classic cars, boats/trailers, RVs, caravans etc

Jonny303

Dosn't pay I am afraid.

In terms of € per square foot, unless you have a premises that you can maximize the space used for storing these items, I don't think it will work. True, I could get 30 cars stored in my showroom, but I don't want a business where I have to be there watching for any potential damage to other peoples property.

Making individual units for car storage just takes up too much room for access to/from the unit

mrawkward

well then you need to trwal the commercial property to let sections of myhome, daft and property.ie to see what rents and availability (competition) are like in your specific area. I have commercial properties in Dublin and Wicklow....curiously the larger rent better in Wicklow ( less competion!)

Jonny303

Thats just it, there is no units available in that size range, but again, it comes back to is there no supply or no demand!

Interesting about the rent alright, especially north Wicklow, there is a lot of old money around still being spent!

lucky john

Would it be possible to test the market by putting up a 1000sq/ft and a 2000sq/ft unit on daft as the building stands now with a rental start date of oct (assuming no planning issues). If the inquiries are good get the builder in if not then at least you know without spending anything. I have a unit rented that I first saw as bare concrete. it was then partitioned to my requirements.

mrawkward

Jonny303 wrote: »

Thats just it, there is no units available in that size range, but again, it comes back to is there no supply or no demand!

Interesting about the rent alright, especially north Wicklow, there is a lot of old money around still being spent!

Welcome to the world of the entrepreneur! You make your judgement call, if it is good, you win and if not you lose! Risk/reward is the game but only you gets to make the call.

Markcheese

lucky john wrote:

Would it be possible to test the market by putting up a 1000sq/ft and a 2000sq/ft unit on daft as the building stands now with a rental start date of oct (assuming no planning issues). If the inquiries are good get the builder in if not then at least you know without spending anything. I have a unit rented that I first saw as bare concrete. it was then partitioned to my requirements.

Start offering different size units, large and small, if everyone wants small then run with it... ?

Jonny303

lucky john wrote: »

Would it be possible to test the market by putting up a 1000sq/ft and a 2000sq/ft unit on daft as the building stands now with a rental start date of oct (assuming no planning issues). If the inquiries are good get the builder in if not then at least you know without spending anything. I have a unit rented that I first saw as bare concrete. it was then partitioned to my requirements.

Interesting John. Thats what I started doing earlier today. My only reservation is when you get someone in looking at a bare canvas it is very easy to make everything work for the first person and then end up getting stuck after that with some bad moves.

lucky john

Jonny303 wrote: »

Interesting John. Thats what I started doing earlier today. My only reservation is when you get someone in looking at a bare canvas it is very easy to make everything work for the first person and then end up getting stuck after that with some bad moves.

true, but if you only have 1 or 2 guy interested over the next couple of weeks I would consider that a fail on the market research side.

mrawkward

My experience is that lettings of commercial property are slow burn, nothing unusual in 3+ months to get them away.

Jonny303

mrawkward wrote: »

My experience is that lettings of commercial property are slow burn, nothing unusual in 3+ months to get them away.

I know this is a needle in a haystack question, but how do you find the sticking power once you get them in?

mrawkward

I do 4 yr 9 month leases, carry out financial due diligence, get 2 months deposit at least and personal guarantees from directors of Ltd companies as appropriate. I have all my properties fitted with heavy duty steel brackets that can carry security bars to close up the unit if they do not pay as due. They can regain access by paying up to date. I don't have issues, generally. I explain the ground rules from the outset, tends to focus the minds!