What every commercial tenant needs to know!
STOP! Don't sign that Commercial Lease until you know the following:
1) Is the space safe?
- Is the building structurally sound?
- How much and what types of crime are in the area?
- Is there sufficient exterior lighting to avoid assaults to customers & employees?
2) When and by whom was the space last occupied?
- For what use and occupancy?
- Why was the space vacated?
- What issues did the previous tenant have with the landlord?
3) Was the space properly permitted by the previous tenant?
4) Does the space currently meet all the CODE requirements?
- American With Disabilities Act (Handicap requirements)
- Florida Building Code 6th Edition (Construction requirements)
- National Fire Safety Code (Life Safety requirements)
5) How much will the Architect charge to prepare signed & sealed drawings?
- Price should include cost to prepare initial submittals, plus ALL Revisions until the Certificate of Occupancy is issued?
6) How many months will it take to get the Building Permit issued?
- Competent Architects meet most requirements on the first or second submittal.
- The Average Architect will take several submittals and several months to get you a permit
- If the drawings are incorrect, Inspectors will require changes at the job site costing you even more money
7) How much will the General Contractor charge to supervise the project?
8) How much will the Sub Contractors charge to do ALL the work that will be required?
- Electrical
- Framing
- Heating & AC
- Plumbing
- Signage
- ETC
9) How much can I ask the Landlord to pay toward all the improvements being made to the space?
10) For how long can I delay paying monthly lease payments or until after I OPEN FOR BUSINESS?
A Major Problem Exists in Jacksonville
The entrepreneur is a very unique person and absolutely essential to the continued prosperity and innovation that the rest of us enjoy and often take for granted.
They are the few that are willing and able to take an idea, fuel it with passion, feed it with their life savings and in doing so build a self-sustaining enterprise that provides jobs, pays taxes and delivers products and / or service that make our lives better.
1) They don't ask for much . . . usually just the opportunity to try to make their idea a realty.
2) Most don't ask for special treatment, special favors, or special tax breaks.
3) They aren't trying to bypass the requirements.
4) They just want to know ALL what they need to do.
5) They also deserve to know in advance ALL that it will cost them to do it.
When they seek to open their new business they do politely ask a very simple question.
"Is their anything else I need to do?
The BIG PROBLEM is that they don't discover until later that the "NO, nothing else" answer they got ONLY applies to the limited requirements of that particular clerk, that department or that agency.
It is not until much later that they find out about the host of other requirements that will eventually cost them tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars and the additional months to complete before they can even OPEN their NEW BUSINESS.
Not knowing all the requirements upfront causes many new businesses to eventually FAIL.
This problem needs to be fixed . . . NOW!