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Business premises checklist
Using a checklist is a practical way to compare business premises and helps you to make an informed decision about the site that best suits your business.
Create a checklist of what is important to your business and give each item a weighting. For example, a weighting of 1 means the item is not essential, while 5 means the item is essential to your business.
Then you're ready to grade each item. For example, a grading of 1 means the item is not satisfactory, a 5 means it is passable and a 10 means it is excellent.
When you type your entries into the below checklist, it will automatically multiply the weighting by the grading to give a weighted score for each item. Using weighted scoring is a good strategy to compare premises as it takes into account the importance of each item to your business, and this is reflected in the total score.
Once you have scored all premises, you can create a shortlist. If no premises scores highly on your checklist, it may be time to consider another area.
You can customise this checklist to include information specific to your business by typing into the 'Other' section.
Sample business premises checklist
| Checklist for | Weighting 1-5 | Grading 1-10 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | |||
| Visibility of site to passing traffic | |||
| Vehicle and pedestrian traffic flow | |||
| Overall customer convenience | |||
| Centrally located to target market | |||
| Close to suppliers | |||
| Neighbourhood | |||
| Health of local businesses | |||
| Complementary businesses nearby | |||
| Crime/shoplifting rates | |||
| Character/reputation of the neighbourhood | |||
| Quality/location of police and fire protection | |||
| Competitors | |||
| Number and location of competitors | |||
| Quality of this site compared to that of major competitors | |||
| Access | |||
| Number of staff parking bays | |||
| Number of customer parking bays | |||
| On-street parking | |||
| Parking/access for deliveries | |||
| Access to major transport links | |||
| Access to good public transport links | |||
| Lease | |||
| Initial rent and options for increases (e.g. CPI increases only or provision for larger increases) |
|||
| Terms of lease (including options for renewal) | |||
| Cost of outgoings - air conditioning, marketing, etc. | |||
| Included building services - security, gardening, etc. | |||
| Responsiveness of landlord | |||
| Condition | |||
| General appearance of the building | |||
| Condition of premises - fixtures, equipment, inventory, etc. | |||
| Major repairs required in near future | |||
| Facilities | |||
| Adequacy of utilities - sewerage, water, power, gas | |||
| Storage facilities | |||
| Future | |||
| Option/space to expand if required | |||
| Current and future zoning restrictions | |||
| Other | |||
| Total score |
Also consider...
- Use our market research kit to find key economic, demographic and statistical information about your industry.
- Visit Australian Business Licence and Information Service (ABLIS) for licensing information tailored to your business.
- Check you have the skills for running a business.
- Last reviewed: 18 Jul 2017
- Last updated: 19 May 2017