Industrial space checklist: documents and steps for 2027

An industrial building is checked through documents as much as through visits. The listing describes the building; the documents prove it. This checklist is the request list: what to ask for, what each item establishes, and what it means when the landlord cannot produce it.

What to take away

• Ask for the documents before the tour. A landlord who cannot produce a slab specification, a sprinkler design or a panel schedule is telling you something.
• Each document goes to a different reader: the engineer, the insurer, the lawyer, the utility.
• The site visit confirms the documents. It does not replace them.

The document request list

Document	What it proves	If it is missing
Measurement certificate and floor plan	Floor area, column grid, bay depths, office area	Measure yourself; assume the marketing figure is generous
Slab specification	Thickness, reinforcement, design load, joint layout	Have the floor assessed before committing to racking or a mezzanine
Clear height survey	Height under the lowest obstruction across the floor	Measure at several points, under ducts and lights, not at the peak
Roof report and warranty	Age, condition, past repairs, who carries replacement	Budget for leaks; negotiate the roof allocation hard
Electrical panel schedule and utility letter	Service size, voltage, spare capacity, what other tenants are committed to	Ask the utility directly about capacity and upgrade lead time
Sprinkler design and last inspection	Design density, commodity class it was built for, in-rack provision	Assume it suits nothing until a fire protection engineer says otherwise
Dock equipment schedule	Count, type and rating of levelers, seals, restraints, doors	Operate each on the visit and record condition
Site plan with yard and circulation	Truck court depth, entrance radius, trailer parking, gate positions	Walk the truck route yourself and find the pinch point
Certificate of occupancy	What use the building was approved for	Ask the building department; your use may need a change of use
Environmental report	Past contamination, current conditions, any ongoing obligations	Commission one, or accept unknown liability for what is under the slab
Survey and title notes	Easements, access rights, restrictions on the land	Ask the lawyer to obtain them before the lease is drafted
Operating expense history	What the shared costs have actually been	Treat the budget as a guess

The dimensions these documents describe, and why each rules buildings in or out, are set out in industrial space.

Who reads what

Send each document to the person who can act on it, and give them your operation's numbers alongside.

• Your material handling designer gets the floor plan, slab specification and clear height survey, with your rack module and equipment list.
• A fire protection engineer and your insurer get the sprinkler design and inspection report, with a description of what you will store, how high and how packaged. The design basis they are comparing against is set by standards such as NFPA 13, and whether the system meets the version the local fire authority enforces is part of the question.
• An electrical engineer or the utility gets the panel schedule, with your connected and starting loads.
• Your lawyer gets the certificate of occupancy, survey, title notes and lease form.
• An environmental consultant gets the environmental report and a description of your process.
• Your operations manager gets the site plan and dock schedule, with the largest vehicle that will call.

Ask each for a short written opinion: does the building support the operation, and what would it take if not.

The site visit, document in hand

Go with the documents printed, and check each against the building.

• Measure clear height where the survey says it is lowest and where it says it is highest.
• Find the columns on the plan and confirm the grid on the floor, including any that were added.
• Look at the slab: cracking, joint damage, spalling at the dock, patches. Compare with the specification's joint layout.
• Open every dock door on the schedule. Operate the levelers. Note anything seized or missing.
• Find the electrical room and photograph the panels against the schedule.
• Find the sprinkler riser and the design plate, and photograph it.
• Walk the truck route from the road to the dock and out again. Identify the tightest point and whether a trailer can leave without reversing onto the road.
• Look at the roof from inside for staining, and outside if you can for ponding and patching.
• Check where trailers would stand and whether that blocks a neighbor, a gate or a fire lane.
• Note what the previous tenant left: racking, a mezzanine, a compressor, a spray booth. Ask who owns each item and who is obliged to remove it.

Come back at your busiest hour and look at the park's roads, the shared entrance and the neighbors' yards.

Permission checks

The building can be right and the address wrong. These are separate enquiries, and none of them is the landlord's to answer.

• Zoning district and the use table: is your process permitted, conditional, or absent?
• Performance standards: noise, hours, lighting, vibration, odor.
• Outdoor storage: permitted, screened, limited, or prohibited.
• Fire authority: permits for the materials you store.
• Environmental body: air, wastewater, stormwater, waste. Runoff from a yard sits under the federal NPDES stormwater program, administered locally, and it is the item most often missed on a site with a large paved area.
• Building department: change of use, racking and mezzanine permits.

The way to make these enquiries and record the answers is set out in zoning and permits.

Before the lease is drafted

• The written opinions from the engineer, the insurer and the utility are in hand, and any upgrade they require is priced and scheduled.
• The permission answers are in writing, or the lease is conditional on them with an outside date.
• The allocation of roof, structure, slab, HVAC, dock equipment and yard paving is agreed, not left to the form.
• The surrender obligation for racking, mezzanines and any equipment you install is agreed now, while you have room to negotiate. The lease mechanics for both are in commercial leasing.
• Any landlord's works are described in a schedule with a completion standard and a date, on the principles in tenant improvements.
• The condition of the building at delivery is recorded in photographs and a schedule, so pre-existing damage is not yours later.

Common questions

Which document is refused most often?

The sprinkler design. Landlords often do not have it, or have only the last inspection report. Without it, a fire protection engineer will have to survey the system, and you should get that done before signing.

Is a slab specification really necessary for a warehouse?

If you are installing racking above a modest height, a mezzanine or heavy equipment, yes. A slab that cannot carry the loads is not a repair; it is a different building.

Can I skip the environmental report on a modern building?

You can, and you then take the risk of what is under it. On land with an industrial history, the report is cheaper than the surprise.

How long do the utility and fire enquiries take?

Longer than the lease negotiation, often. Start them the day the building reaches the shortlist.