Before You Start Looking for Space, Read This

You’ve got the concept. You’ve got the drive. You’re ready to open your doors in Richmond. So, naturally, you do what most business owners do: you hop online, start searching for “For Lease” listings in Scott’s Addition or the Fan, or maybe drive around calling the numbers on those big real estate signs.

It’s not that this approach is wrong; it’s just premature.

Starting your commercial real estate journey by shopping for square footage and price is like ordering construction materials before you have blueprints. You’re shopping for a product before you’ve defined your actual requirements.

And the stakes are high. Signing a five-year lease on the wrong space isn’t a minor setback. It can cap your revenue, drain your cash flow, or lock you into a location that actively works against your business model. Honestly, we’ve seen it end businesses.

The decisions that determine whether a space will work for you happen long before you ever tour a property. The real estate search isn’t step one; it’s step five or six.

Here is what you actually need to do before you start looking for a commercial space.

1. Know Your Numbers Before You Know Your Neighborhood

What you can afford isn’t just the base rent. It’s the all-in monthly occupancy cost, and sadly, most business owners don’t calculate this until they are already emotionally committed to a property.

Let’s translate the jargon. A “$20/SF NNN lease” might sound like a flat price, but it isn’t. For a 1,500 square-foot space, that equates to $2,500/month in base rent. But what does “NNN” mean?

NNN (or Triple Net) means you pay the base rent plus a share of the building’s operating expenses — property taxes, insurance, and maintenance, including Common Area Maintenance (CAM), which is your pro-rated share of shared costs in a multi-tenant building.

These charges typically run an additional $5 to $8 per square foot, adding another $625 to $1,000 to your monthly bill. Utilities are almost always a tenant expense too, either billed directly to you through a separate meter or prorated back through your landlord.

And before you can truly compare two spaces, you need to understand how buildout costs are handled, whether the landlord is covering them outright, amortizing them back into your rent over the lease term, or expecting you to pay out of pocket. The same base rent can mean very different things depending on the answer.

Always ask for an estimate of NNN charges, utility setup, and buildout before falling in love with a space.

If a real estate agent shows you a space before asking about your P&L or your actual rent budget, consider that a red flag. You must know what you can afford before you look at a single listing.

The Practical Step: On a blank sheet of paper, write down the absolute maximum total monthly amount your business can comfortably spend on housing itself. When you eventually talk to a broker, present this number as your ceiling, not the base rent number.

2. Lease vs. Buy: Decide Before You Search

Most business owners default to leasing simply because it feels safer or more familiar. But you need to examine that assumption before you start your search, because the answer changes everything about what you’re looking for.

The question isn’t just, “Can I afford to buy?” It is, “Am I already paying someone else’s mortgage, and is that the right call for my business?”

Leasing often makes sense when you need maximum flexibility, you are in a high-growth phase, your buildout needs are modest, or your ideal location simply has no available purchase options.

However, buying makes sense when you are established, your space needs are predictable for the next 7+ years, you want to build equity, or you want the ability to sublease a portion of the building as a future income stream.

Make this decision before you look at anything, because it dictates which properties you look at, which neighborhoods make sense, and what your 5-year cost structure looks like.

The Practical Step: Write down a 7-year projection of your space needs. Will you definitely outgrow a 1,500 SF space in three years? If yes, cross “buying” off your list for now. If no, you should evaluate purchase options alongside lease options.

3. Lock Down Your Non-Negotiables

Every business owner has a wishlist, and most of them look like requirements. But only a few actually are.

True non-negotiables are purely operational. “I need a Type 1 hood vent and a gas line for a commercial kitchen”. “I need an ADA-compliant entrance and restrooms”. “I need loading dock access”.

Strong preferences are not non-negotiables. Saying, “I’d love exposed brick” or “I want to be in Scott’s Addition” is great, but those can be flexible. For example, you might prefer the dense, walkable energy of The Fan, but if your business absolutely requires 30 dedicated parking spaces, you might need to look near Short Pump.

You need to know the difference between a preference and a requirement before you start touring.

The Practical Step: Write two lists. List A is what the business physically cannot function without. List B is everything else, ranked in order of preference. List A is your search filter. List B is your negotiating room.

4. Understand the Timeline You’re Actually Working With

Commercial real estate moves a lot slower than residential real estate—and frankly, it doesn’t care about your desired launch date.

A typical small business timeline from “we want to find a space” to “we are open for business” is usually 6 to 18 months. This accounts for the initial search, negotiation, lease execution, permitting, and the actual buildout.

Common timing mistakes include starting the search 60 days before needing to move in, or finding the perfect space only to discover that the required buildout is a 6-month permitting process with the city.

If you have a hard open date, like a lease expiration, a license renewal, or a seasonal business launch, you must work backwards from that date before you start looking, not after you’ve found a space you love.

The Practical Step: Pick your ideal opening day on a calendar. Count backward by 9 months. If that date is today (or in the past), it is time to start making calls immediately.

5. Assemble Your Team Before You Need Them

The professionals you will need don’t just materialize the day you sign a lease. The good ones are often booked out. You need to line them up early.

Your absolute minimum team for a commercial lease includes: a commercial real estate broker (not a residential agent), a commercial attorney to review the lease, and a contractor or architect if any buildout is involved.

But the right title isn’t enough; make sure each professional has actually done deals like yours. An attorney who handles billion-dollar corporate mergers isn’t the right fit for a small business commercial lease. An agent who has never worked in your price range or your target neighborhood is going to be learning the ropes on your deal.

Why does this matter before you search? Because your broker should be shaping your search parameters, not just unlocking doors for you. Your attorney should be flagging potential zoning issues before you get emotionally committed. Your contractor should be giving you a rough buildout estimate before you agree to a base rent that doesn’t account for those construction costs.

The most heartbreaking mistake we see is when business owners fall in love with a space, only to discover a $150,000 required buildout they didn’t budget for, or a hidden lease clause that prohibits their planned business use.

The Practical Step: Reach out to your network today and get three names: a commercial broker who specializes in your industry, a local commercial contractor, and a commercial real estate attorney.

The Bottom Line

The business owners who navigate Richmond’s commercial real estate market successfully aren’t necessarily smarter or luckier. They simply do these five things before they start looking. They know their real number; they’ve made the lease vs. buy call; they know their non-negotiables; they understand the timeline; and they have their team ready.

If you are 6 to 18 months from needing commercial space and want to think through these vital questions before you start, we’re the conversation worth having to avoid falling in love with the wrong place.