Before you buy a warehouse

always have it surveyed,

including the roof

Understanding our clients requirements

Today we have been carrying out work for a company we have worked with for a long time however what was different with today's warehouse survey was that they now have a new director and as such a different focus which can in some ways be harder than taking on a new client where setting up a tailor made report for them.

In this case we had known the company for quite some time and we feel we understand their requirements quite well which is generally for warehouses across the country with an office element and more specifically outside major towns in industrial estates where they had good motorway access. They had moved from their original decisions which were mainly based on price where we were looking at some very poor quality warehouses often predominantly asbestos warehouses and often in need of a lot of maintenance and repair basics such as leaking roofs and electrics not to standard, etc.

Free phone 0800 298 5424

Helping clients with their acquisition selection criteria

We have worked with their area managers to better define what they should be looking for to minimise their operational costs (you don't want to be repairing roofs all the time) and also advising them of potential dilapidations claims at the end of the lease. We do tend to be looking at far better properties than we did a year ago as we have helped the company with their selection criteria but we do from time to time come across what we would term as good buildings with surprising problems.

Beware of hidden problems on warehouse roofs

As we have said, we do come across what we would term as good buildings with surprising problems. In this case we had recommended that the warehouse roof was inspected via a cherry picker and feel this particular warehouse emphasises exactly why you should view the roof as not only does it have the ends of the profile metal sheets cut wrongly, it also has anchor bolts rusting away, all of which would become your liability under a full repairing and insuring lease, if not identified within the Schedule of Condition appended to the lease. We like to inspect roofs using a good sized cherry picker and also use our x16 optical zoom lens cameras to focus in on the detail of the roof to identify any roof problems.

Cherry picker

Rusting to profile metal sheet roof

For example we have recently surveyed a property where it looked in good condition from ground level however when we had a cherry picker lift take us over the roof we could see that the profile metal sheet roof had been cut incorrectly and the edges were rusting away.

Rusting cut to middle profile metal sheet	Paint peeling where edge of profile metal sheet has been cut

Anchor bolts / Fixing bolts

Anchor bolt to profile metal sheets	Anchor bolt rusting

Layout advice

We also advised on specific issues such as how their storage systems work within the building as they will be needing to take weight and support off inner walls so which walls we would recommend they take support from.

The importance of a Schedule of Condition appended to the lease

We know we are mentioning this time and time again but to emphasise the importance of a Schedule of Condition we have recently been carrying out work for a medical practice who had acquired other practices and with them lease liabilities where there haven't been Schedules of Condition carried out. Some of them are only a few years old where they have a liability for twenty odd years of a lease of a building they no longer need so they are trying to enforce the break clause which means you have to hand the building back in perfect condition or perfect condition plus a bit more in our experience which really does emphasise the importance of having a Schedule of Condition.

We can email you examples of our building surveys

If you are thinking of buying a warehouse we would stress that you need a Schedule of Condition appended to the lease. Please call us on free phone 0800 298 5424 to discuss. We would be happy to email you several examples of our tailor made reports.

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