Should You Build, Buy, or Renovate your Commercial Property? 

Texas is a great location for your next commercial property due to its recent population growth, diversity of its city options, and its business potential. Whether you are looking to expand on an already established business or if you are looking to start your first build of your new commercial property, you will want to decide if you want to build, buy, or renovate your commercial property. In order to help you make the right decision for your business and your needs, we’ve come up with a few questions you’ll want to consider that can help guide your choice.  

What’s your budget?   

There can be big costs associated with building, buying, and renovating depending on where you are starting and what you want the end product to look like. When you buy an existing building, you will have to account for more than just the listed purchase price. You will need a downpayment and may even need additional payment to cover the cost of the lender’s appraisal and closing costs. Buying an existing building may come with some build-out costs if you decide the building isn’t going to work exactly as you bought it and you need to add on some parts of the building to make it work for your commercial needs. Renovating is likely to be the cheapest of the three options, but those prices will vary depending on which contractors you work for and what exactly you are trying to get done. If you are constructing a new building, you will need to take into account the cost of purchasing land and the cost of paying architecture and contractors to build the building. Depending on if the land had been previously developed or not, you may also need to pay to connect utilities and meet any specific city codes in the area.  

How Soon Do You Expect the Commercial Property to be Fully Functional? 

Some companies may have certain timeframes in mind as to when the build needs to be ready to go and fully functional. When deciding to build, buy, or renovate, this is another thing you will want to keep in mind. If you are in a hurry or need to start profiting from the company as soon as possible, renovating or buying a pre-existing building will allow you to open your doors to the public much sooner than a new build because the large foundation of the building is already built and established. These options could be ready to go in a few weeks or months. On the other hand, a new build will take time to get the actual construction of the building in place and a turnaround time from start to finish may take a lot longer. Depending on the commercial property, the actual construction phase of a new build can take months to years to be ready to function as a business. When considering how quick you want to be able to start using your commercial property, there is no one right answer. This will vary depending on the needs of your business.  

How Much Freedom Do You Want? 

When deciding between building, buying, or renovating, you will also want to consider just how much freedom you want with your project. When you buy, you have somewhat limited design freedom. Though you may be able to add things on after the fact or tear walls down here and there, the major point of buying is to keep the building as is so as to minimize extra work you may have to do. If you decide to build, you have unlimited design freedom and you can basically create what your mind and physics will allow. You can put the building where you want, design it how you want, and specifically accommodate any intricacies you have in mind. Renovations, while not as much freedom as a new build, also offer a relatively creative design outlet as you can add different variations to a preexisting foundation of a build in order to make it more your own.  

Will it Qualify for a Tax Break, Grant, or Loan?  

When making this decisions about your commercial property, you may also want to look up tax incentives in your area of build. Certain types of builds in certain locations may qualify for a tax break or may even be eligible for grants or loans that would help cover some of the costs of the construction process. Certain ways of building that are more energy efficient may also qualify for a tax-deduction. Unless you are buying or renovating a commercial property that already qualified for this, this will probably be easiest to obtain by building a brand new construction as you can look up what guidelines they are looking for and plan to build your new build so it meets those guidelines. 

Which One is Right for Me?  

With so many factors to consider when deciding to renovate, buy, or build for your commercial space, you may still not be sure what the right option is for you. Renovating can be a great choice for those looking to liven up their current space but not looking to make any huge structural changes or physical moves. Buying a previously used building can be a quicker process than building from the ground up, but you are a little bit more limited with what the final product will look like as the foundation of the property is already in place. While all options can work great for your business, building will give you the most creative freedom and ability to truly make your commercial property what you had always dreamed it would be. Benchmark Houston Builders specializes in helping others design and build the perfect space for their company. Contact us today to learn more about building your commercial property in Texas and what benefits it may have for you and your organization.