It’s probably fair to say that any business looking to buy, rent or lease a warehouse isn’t likely to approach the job without plenty of consideration. Choosing the right warehouse has the potential to be rather daunting experience to say the least, with so many important considerations to bear in mind.

So in the interests of those who are looking to invest in a warehouse for their own businesses in the near future, here’s a quick rundown of the most important considerations not to overlook:

1 – Building Age

First of all, it’s a good idea to opt for a facility that sits somewhere in the middle when it comes to the age of the building. The reason being that just as buildings that are too old could be somewhat decrepit and falling to pieces, a brand new building that hasn’t yet been tested could present a wide variety of teething problems. It’s always good to select a building that has already been used as a warehouse in the past and one that has proved itself as reliable and effective.

2 – Size

Unsurprisingly, one of the most important considerations of all is that of size. What you need to think about carefully when it comes to determining the size of the warehouse you require is whether or not you expect your needs to change in the near or distant future. That being said, it isn’t necessarily in your best interests to select an overly large warehouse just for the sake of it. Productivity will always take a knock if the warehouse is too small, but at the same time, too much room and you will be overpaying unnecessarily for space you do not need.

3 – Layout

It is also of the utmost importance to think about the overall layout of the warehouse you are considering, in order to determine whether or not it will suit your business needs. In the very best instances, there will be plenty of flexibility and scope for alterations to be made in order to optimise the warehouse for your business. Be extremely careful when thinking about things like accessibility – particularly if you intend to rent or lease a warehouse as you may not be permitted to make major alterations.

4 – Location

Try to remember that while choosing a warehouse in a far off location may result in paying a low price, you may find that all such savings are outweighed many times over by transportation costs. It is basically a case of making sure that you select the location for your warehouse in accordance with your primary mode of transportation and overall transport costs. Not only this, but to open a warehouse in the middle of nowhere could make it very difficult and expensive to find the right workforce to staff it.

5 – Technology

Last but not least, it is important to take a good look at what kind of technology and warehouse management systems in general are currently being used, in order to determine whether or not it is for your business.

The building itself represents only one piece of the puzzle – is how things are handled on the inside that makes the biggest difference of all.