Lasertech Floorplans Opens NY Office

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LASERTECH Floorplans, an international provider of as-built architectural services, is pleased to announce the opening of its New York office.    The New York office will allow LASERTECH to meet an increasing demand for as-built solutions and services on the East Coast.  LASERTECH has a network of surveyors located throughout the US and Canada, and by adding a local office in the New York market will be able to leverage its national presence in the largest real estate market in the country.

“The opening of our New York office is a reflection of the increased demand that we have seen in not only the New York market, but on the East Coast as well”, comments Paul Romas,  VP of Business Development for LASERTECH Floorplans.

 

Please contact Paul Romas at 888.825-2112, or click here in order to request a Lasertech quote.

 

About LASERTECH Floorplans

LASERTECH Floorplans was founded in 1998 in order to service the real estate community with the creation of accurate, as-built CAD drawings, as well as providing BOMA lease square foot analyses to building owners, property managers and others that require accurate, up-to-date information on their real estate assets.

 

BOMA 2017 Office Standard – implemented!

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Having just received the much-anticipated new BOMA 2017 Office Standards, we quickly went to work here at Lasertech Floorplans to digest, as well as implement, the new Standard, so as we could offer this to our clients, both old and new. Since implementing in October, we have done dozens of conversions already, and it seems most all new projects are requiring BOMA 2017 as the preferred Standard for Office buildings.

Our experience to date has shown that each building is different, but most buildings will see an increase in their total RSF to some degree, we’ve had anywhere from about 0.25% to over 5% increase. Typically all buildings will have an increase due to the inclusion of former vertical penetrations (non-rentable, stairs, elevators, etc) on the lowest level of a building within the Rentable area now. However, with the removal of ‘public pedestrian thoroughfares’, this can offset the gains. We have seen 1 case where the new Rentable actually decreased overall!

Of course the big potential gain is for buildings with balconies and/or rooftop terraces, as these areas can now be included. Note that ground floor patios and terraces are NOT included, and neither are ground floor unenclosed public gallery areas.

For a quick analysis of any existing buildings we may have done in the past please give us a call, we’d be happy to review and give you an estimate as to overall impact, to see if it might be worth your while to convert. We have set our fees for doing conversions, as well as for new surveys to this new BOMA 2017 Office Standard, and we are recommending all building owners move to this Standard over time.

BOMA releases the new 2017 Office Standards

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Finally, the new BOMA 2017 Office Standard has been officially released. This has been much anticipated by building owners, as it will certainly increase Rentables in most buildings, by an average of 2% is what we’ve been told. Most notable are the ability to now include exterior balconies and roof top terraces in Rentable area, as well as the lowest level of elevators and stairwells in a building, typically excluded as vertical penetrations in previous releases.

Lasertech Floorplans of course is working on the implementation of this Standard, and will be making it available to all of our clients as an option going forward. In the short term, until it is actually implemented, we are offering to do free conversions from the current 2010 Office Standard to the new 2017 version, for all projects approved going forward. And then once implemented, we will offer as we always have in the past a conversion service to convert your buildings from any previous version to the current 2017 version. This would typically not require any site visit, simply CAD work.

From the Standard:

Since 1915, BOMA International has published the office floor measurement standard. The standard has evolved over time and is known as the preeminent standard for calculating areas in Office Buildings. The application of the standard produces areas vital to lease transactions and building valuation in a consistent manner, regardless of geographic location, building architecture, or the practitioner who applies it.

The BOMA 2017 Office Standard features two distinct methods of measurement called Method A – Multiple Load Factor Method and Method B – Single Load Factor Method. With both methods, it is necessary to measure all the floors of a building.

Method A follows the BOMA 1996 and BOMA 2010 Method A standards in its approach. It generates multiple Load Factors for various shared space types (e.g. Building Service Area, Floor Service Area, Inter-Building Area etc). These Load Factors are successively applied to Occupant Areas on a pro-rata basis.

Method B was first introduced in the 2010 Office Standard. Method B essentially consolidates all shared space types together to produce a single Load Factor for the Building which is then applied to all Occupant Areas uniformly. To achieve this,

Method B establishes a consistent and permanent corridor configuration called Base Building Circulation on every single and multi-tenant Floor, regardless of whether such corridors exist or not. This “fixed” allocation of shared space means that Load Factors are less likely to change over time and Rentable Areas are less likely to shift; even when Floors are physically reconfigured.

Both Method A and Method B offer their own advantages from a building management or leasing perspective; however neither Method A nor Method B create a larger or smaller Building. They simply allocate the same quantity of area differently.

The end product of applying this standard is a spreadsheet called the Global Summary of Areas. Practitioners must enter raw data called Input Values directly into the spreadsheet. It is advised that Input Values be determined in CAD, BIM, or other such spatially-aware software. Input Values are generated for each space in the Building according to its appropriate Space Classification while considering the outer extents of measurement (called Boundary Area) and the way such spaces adjoin each other (called Wall Priority).

Once the Input Values are determined and entered into the Global Summary of Areas, the spreadsheet allocates shared space among Occupants and calculates Rentable Area. Method A and Method B are independent methodologies with their own distinct Global Summary of Areas.

Due to the sheer variety of architectural designs, space configurations, and business requirements found in today’s Office Buildings, this standard goes to great detail in order to cover as many real-world building conditions as possible. Since it is not possible to cover every conceivable permutation, BOMA International does offer question-and-answer style interpretations to users of the standard via the Interpretations Subcommittee of BOMA International’s Floor Measurement Standards Committee.

This 2017 Office Standard includes many new features, enhancements, and clarifications. Key among them are compatibility with International Property Measurement Standards: Office Buildings, greater flexibility in allocating shared space, improved text and illustrations throughout, helpful hints, and an easier step-by-step layout among other things. It also addresses many questions that users of the BOMA standard have asked about previous versions of the standard.

Need to comply with San Francisco “Soft Story Retrofit” Ordinance?

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San Francisco recently signed into law an ordinance making retrofitting of thousands of seismically unsafe buildings mandatory.  This ordinance applies to wood-frame buildings built before 1978, which are at least three stories tall and have at least five residential units. These apartments are unsafe because an earthquake shakes the bottom floor that supports the weight of the apartments above, causing buildings to collapse and pancake. The retrofitting involves adding new walls or steel braces to strengthen the ground story. The cost of this structural work is estimated at $60,000 to $130,000 per building.

For more details, click here.

LASERTECH Floorplans is one of the largest providers of laser-accurate as-bult measuring services in not only California, but throughout the West Coast states and provinces, since 1998.   We have measured thousands of buildings of all types and sizes, and our clients include architects, engineers, and property owners that need to obtain As-Built documentation quickly, accurately and affordably.

We are familiar with the Soft Story Retrofit Mandate, and can help you get the compliance process started efficiently and cost-effectively by creating the necessary As-Built Floor Plans. Typically you will only need to document the dimensions and conditions of the two lowest floors (including subterranean, if applicable). You can then use your completed As-Built plans as a resource to help you obtain competitive bids from a Structural Engineer – who can guide you through the rest of the process. We work directly with several San Francisco engineers that do Soft-Story Retrofit work, as well as knowledgeable Seismic Retrofit Contractors. We are happy to refer you to some of the finest Soft-Story Retrofit engineers and contractors in the business.