Business premises and location

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.