BIM – Issues for Building Owners
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One of the major benefits of our service is the preparation of lease plans and calculations, typically done to the latest BOMA Standard. BOMA(Building Owners and Managers Association) is a North-American organization, and publishes and promotes the BOMA Standards which have become the de-facto standard for the measurement of commercial space of any type (office, retail, industrial, mixed use). And knowing which Standard applies to your building, and which version would be most beneficial, is one of the benefits of entrusting this to LASERTECH ® Floorplans, one of a few companies qualified to provide expert interpretations of the BOMA Standards.
Once a building has been surveyed and a LASERTECH ® Floorplan prepared on our CAD system, the delineation and calculation of lease areas is much easier. The BOMA Standards lay out a fairly rigid set of guidelines and definitions, clearly defining such things as COMMON AREAS, VERTICAL PENETRATIONS, USABLE and RENTABLE areas. Probably the most confusing aspect of the Standards are “where to draw the lease lines”. There are many factors which have to be taken into consideration when deciding whether a lease boundary goes to the inside of a wall, the outside, the center-line, or to the glass. As well, common areas must be distinguished between “Floor Common” (for the benefit of tenants on that floor only), or “Building Common” (for the benefit of all tenants in the building), up until 2010 at least. With the new 2010 Standards, this is complicated further with areas to define including Building Service areas, Building Amenity areas, Floor Service areas, Floor Amenity areas, and in some cases Base Building Circulation areas.
This differentiation also affects where the lease lines are drawn, and the resulting areas. Calculating a lease to the wrong side of a wall can dramatically affect not only that tenant, but an entire building when dealing with Building Common Area.
When you have a LASERTECH ® Floorplan prepared on your building, you can rest assured that the areas are calculated precisely according to the BOMA definitions. As part of our service, a detailed spreadsheet is prepared and provided, showing in detail all calculations; Spreadsheet layouts and formulas are as-defined in the BOMA Standards. Final results are summarized on the Lease Plan accompanying each detailed LASERTECH ® Floorplan.
Having buildings measured to BOMA Standards makes sense in many ways:
- First, it facilitates the comparison of your building with others, as it is the industry-wide standard on which rents are based.
- Second, the current BOMA Standards always represent a major change from previous versions, and may result in the ability to capture areas previously not considered as part of Rentable space. In most cases, the increase in Rentable area upon resurvey to the latest BOMA Standard more than offsets the cost of the survey and plans. And as an added benefit, when using the LASERTECH® system, you end up with a great-looking and invaluable, multi-purpose set of laser-accurate drawings for each floor!
- Third, by using the BOMA Standards, you will enjoy the Standard’s recognition by the courts as THE National Standard.
- And finally, having your building conform to BOMA, and certified by LASERTECH ® Floorplans, will protect you from possible future lawsuits with tenants. We guarantee our results, typically to within 0.1% survey accuracy! With increasing rents, tenants are becoming more aware of the effects of incorrect square-footage calculations on their occupancy costs. Often, we are contracted by a tenant to verify square footage.Why not remove this potential problem by getting accurate figures on your buildings today?
