Congratulations! You’ve found the perfect business location for your startup.
Whether you found a great cafe space, a convenient office space, or something else, it’s time for you to go into what you’ve been preparing all this time for, and open for business.
Once you’ve crossed that off your list, you want to make sure that the place you’re renting is going to be ready to host all of your future sales. Keep the following tips in mind before you official open your doors.
1. Everything About the Lease You Signed
I know, you’ve probably checked the lease of the building you’re renting so many times. But, it doesn’t hurt to check it one last time. You never know what fine print you could have missed. Beforehand, if you were focused on the parts of the lease that pertained to making monthly payments and the utilities, try to look at other things this time.
Look at what the landlord expects from you. Some will expect you to keep the maintenance yourself, while others are able to provide a maintenance team for you. Keep a careful watch on how long the lease is. You don’t want to be deep in business and find out that you are being kicked out for the next person to take over.
There might be other specific things to your lease that you need to make note of. Maybe you need to pay extra for wifi and internet if you want to go off the plan that the landlord set up? There could be millions of small, individual things. Read every part of the contract, carefully.
2. How You Can (and Can’t) Modify the Space
Some landlords let you have free reign on the space, as long as you’re responsible and follow building codes. Others don’t want you to modify your business location at all. That should be set out clearly by your landlord as you begin the preparation process. For all future modifications, you’ll want to contact them before starting any projects, and line up the right contractor.
Also, before you do, there are some other things that you should consider. You want to make sure your contractor is properly certified in the types of buildout or modification work you intend. There are plenty of training courses like Contractor Training Centers seminar that will get you the credentials you need to evaluate your contractor, or provide him a recommendation to.
No matter what, unless you’ve made the last payment and own the place (if that is your goal), you unfortunately need to heed the words of the owner. That might mean you need to compromise on projects that you had planned. Have everything negotiated ahead of time instead of bending the rules of the lease as you go. This sounds like common sense, but you would be surprised how many small businesses get in trouble for overstepping boundaries!
3. The Best People in the Area for Maintenance
You’ll want to know all the experts in the area around your business location. Even if you are ready to open, you’ll never know what projects you’ll want to (and be allowed to) take on. Maybe the building owner has a special team that they recommend? Or maybe you have the wiggle room to choose your own team? Whatever the situation, you’ll want to keep their numbers in your book. This could go for emergencies, repair projects, or expansion projects. You don’t want to run into a bump and not have anyone to call to help you out.
Plus, reaching out to members of the community never hurts your business. Exchanging services with your neighbors is the best way to get word of mouth to spread throughout the entire area. Perhaps your local mechanic will become a regular.
