What to look for when you are choosing an office park

Comparing office space on rate alone is like comparing cars on fuel economy. It is a real number, and it is not the one you will think about every day.

Count the parking, honestly

Work out bays per person at full occupancy, including visitors, and compare that to what the lease actually allocates. Parking is the complaint that surfaces within a month of moving and the one that is hardest to fix afterwards.

Ask what happens when the power goes

Backup power is not a yes/no question. Ask what it covers — lifts, air conditioning, server rooms, all of it or some of it — and for how long.

Look at the commute, not the address

Visit at the time your staff would actually arrive. A location that is ten minutes from the highway at eleven in the morning can be a different proposition at half past seven.

Read the escalation clause

The annual escalation compounds over the term. Over five years it matters considerably more than the difference in starting rate you spent the negotiation on.

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