As a doctor, finding the right medical or health-related office space is last on your list. There are so many options out there, and at the same time, it's hard to know where to look. Here are a few tips that will help you find health and wellness and medical doctor's offices in Houston Texas.
SpaceiShare has medical office spaces near the Museum in Houston for rent as well as a Spring Texas, health and wellness office space. Both are seeking like-minded businesses or something completely different. Sharing space has its benefits including an opportunity to pay less cost with no long-term leases.
1.Find out what the average rates are in the area.
This seems like a no-brainer, but it would behoove you to look into the area you want to work and determine the pricing. There are many options on where to search, but the internet is a sea of info. Medical office space rents usually are quoted as rent/SF/year. That means that if they say $12, that translates to $1/SF/month. If a 500 SF office space is available, you would pay $500 per month.
At SpaceiShare, we offer a Concierge service, allowing people who have health and wellness office spaces or doctor's offices to share, post and promote on their behalf. This allows us to be an office space matchmaker.
2. Add up all costs over the month to lease or buy
"Your monthly rent is not the only thing you’ll pay for your office space. Most leases are what are known as “triple net” leases, or NNN leases. That means that in addition to your rent you’ll also pay your pro-rata share of the building’s property taxes, insurance, maintenance costs, management costs and repair fees. A triple net lease also means you will pay for your own electricity bill as well that will be billed directly to you from the electric utility provider. A “modified gross” lease typically means that your rent includes many of the costs not included in a NNN lease, but you’ll still pay for your own electricity and janitorial. Every modified gross lease is a little different as far as which expenses are included in rent and which aren’t, so ask your broker or property manager to put in writing any additional fees not included in your rent. Finally a “Full Service Gross” lease typically means that your rent includes all other expenses, including electricity and sometimes janitorial. So in comparing your options, you’ll want to do your best to compare “apples-to-apples” which typically means converting all rates to total occupancy costs per square foot. Total occupancy cost per square foot is how much you’ll be paying per square foot when all the fees are included."
3. Negotiate Amenities: Parking, Storage and other amenities?
Will you need to store documents on site and will extra storage be required? Or how about parking for your employees or clients. Chances are people need to be located right near the entrance with added accessibility for your wheelchair and disabled clients. Lastly, it's important the building has the general security you need. Don't be afraid to ask all these questions. Although choosing a short-term space is best, you'l want to ensure you can settle nicely. Do you need biohazard waste removal? Are they set up for that?
Also be sure to understand your access and hours, can you visit anytime or is it only available until a certain time. Will the building be heated or cooled the entire day and do you have access to it? If a client needs to see you out of those hours, can you still arrange? All good questions to understand your limitations, if any.
What about the lease?
At this point it's important to remember that when going over the lease document, there can be a few things that you might not catch and additional benefits to negotiate. At SpaceiShare, we can offer that service on your behalf. Our service can include a Concierge legal review of your lease document before you sign. If it's long-term, it's definitely recommended that you engage someone to briefly review the document. After all, if there are ways to save you money or represent what you need, it can be a great asset.
4. Are there Lease Upholds or Improvement Allowances?
Some landlords will provide an allowance to improve the look of the property. Be sure to understand what changes you can make and if they'll cover any or all of these costs - or at least for supplies
5. Again, VIVA MEDSUITES in Scottsdale, AZ said it best:
Understand the Difference between Rentable and Useable Square Footage
"Say you find a nice office space that has 2,000 square feet, and you see that the rate is $24 per square foot. You get an annual rate of $48,000, or about $4,000 per month. What you might not realize is that the 2,000 square feet that you’re paying rent on do not equate to the actual square footage you’ll have use of inside your suite. There is always a difference between “rentable” square footage and “useable” square footage. This difference is typically called the “building load factor.” A building load factor is the percentage of the total square footage of a building that is taken up in common area spaces such as lobby, atriums, stairwells, elevators, storage rooms, electrical rooms, etc. This percentage can range from a low of 5% for single tenant, ground floor buildings with exterior entrances to a high of 15% to 20% for multi-story, multi-tenant office buildings. Ask the broker or property manager of each building what their building load factor is so you can compare among your options. A high load factor isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it often comes with more common area amenities, it just means you’ll be paying for your pro-rata share of them in your rent."
6. Consider Health and Wellness and Medical Office Sharing
A professional Houston medical office space for rent is quite expensive and can put you in a commitment that you might otherwise decide against in the next few years. Shorter term leasing is a great opportunity to build up your business while using all the benefits that co-sharing has - shared amenities and responsibilities can have a lot of upside.
7. Will the facility complement your business? Refer you clients?
A great referral business allows their clients to walk right over to yours, and vice versa. Having a specific specialty will go a long way in ensuring you can be great referral partners.
We wish you all the luck in finding your new perfect space to help people! If you need assistance to find space in Houston Texas, reach out to the SpaceiShare team and we can assist.
TEXT: 713-992-4761 for assistance.