Benefits of Working With an Acquisition Surveyor
The way Warwick Bookman & Associates work is completely different from a residential estate agent and even from the vast majority of commercial surveyors. Unlike a traditional commercial property ‘agent’, we primarily work for the occupier/tenant and not the landlord, so there’s no conflict of interest.
It’s worth taking a few moments to see how different we are and to understand the huge benefits we can bring to the bottom line of your business.
You will already have an idea of where you want your new commercial space to be located and probably a good idea of your budget, so what can we do to help?
How we Save you Money
If you see a building that’s available and call the number, you will speak with someone who works for the landlord or vendor; their job is to get as much money as possible for the property. We act almost exclusively for tenants and our job is to reduce the total price for you. There are a number of ways in which we do this:
1. Rent Negotiation and Rent-Free Period
- As well as negotiating the rent, we seek an appropriate rent-free period and consider all the terms in the lease
2. Measuring the Commercial Office Space, Showroom or Retail Unit
- We measure the building accurately so you’re not paying for space that isn’t there – you would be surprised how many people don’t do this properly!
3. Creative Property Sourcing: Location, Location, Location
- We may suggest an area you hadn’t thought of, where rents are better value.
- With several recessions behind us, we know when the market is peaking and will advise accordingly – the last thing we want is for you to make a property decision that you regret in a few years’ time.
4. Full Project Management to Completion
- Working closely with your solicitor and other members of the professional team, we make sure the deal goes through with the minimum of delay.
What about the Fee?
If that sounds like a great service (and we hope it does!) your next question will almost certainly be about our fees.
- The industry standard fee is a percentage of the first year’s rent. That does have the benefit of being nice and easy to understand and compare. However, it gives your agent no incentive to get you a better deal, in fact it actively discourages him or her from reducing your rent.
- Our fees depend on the nature of the job, but are often calculated as a percentage of savings. In some cases that may mean that our fee seems high. However, what you need to compare is your overall property costs after fees. If we substantially reduce what you pay, and take a percentage of that reduction, your business is still better off overall. A great example of this is our Serica Energy Case Study – instead of simply paying the prevailing market rate of over £40 psf in rent, our creative approach secured them a property that met their needs and a reverse premium of over £900k.
- We sometimes ask for staged or periodic payments; these protect us both if circumstances change and also incentivise you to focus on the task and get the job completed quickly.
Your first meeting with Warwick is at no obligation; once he understands your brief, he will produce a report outlining the proposed approach and giving the costs in detail. At that point, you will decide whether to appoint us to act for you or not.
Our mantra is ‘do unto others as you would wish to be done by’ which explains why so much of our work is repeat business.
Warwick BookmanCommercial Surveyor & Founder