Warehouse facility management when you are the tenant

Warehouse facility management covers the systems that keep a distribution centre running: fire protection, dock equipment, roof and building envelope, the slab, HVAC, lighting, racking, and the yard and truck court outside. In an owned building the question is how to maintain them well. In a leased one, the first question is who is responsible, and the answer is whatever the lease says.

Why industrial leases split responsibility differently#

Industrial leases are commonly triple net, and the net tends to be netter than in other asset classes. Industrial buildings are often single-tenant, so there is no common area to share, and industrial leases run long, which makes landlords comfortable transferring lifecycle cost to a tenant who will be there for most of the asset’s remaining life. Assumptions carried over from a retail or office portfolio will be wrong; read the lease for each building.

The responsibility matrix#

The roof and the slab carry the most cost. A membrane at the end of its life is neither obviously structural nor obviously a repair, and the argument arrives exactly when the cost is largest; negotiate a stated threshold or amortization mechanism rather than relying on the adjectives. A condition record at handover, with photographs, is the cheapest insurance against slab damage being characterised as tenant-caused years later.

Fire protection follows what you store#

The landlord usually owns the sprinkler system as a building system and maintains it. What the system is required to be, however, depends on your operation. The National Fire Sprinkler Association, writing on high-piled storage under NFPA 13, notes that "the square footage of the high-piled storage area, along with the commodity classification, are used to determine when sprinklers are required and the overall design," and that classification depends on "the product, the packaging, and the type of pallets used." Source: National Fire Sprinkler Association.

A new product line, a shift in packaging, or a switch from wooden to plastic pallets are ordinary operational decisions that touch the inputs determining classification, and the system installed for the building’s original design basis does not change when your storage does. Check classification before a product mix, packaging, or pallet change, not after, and treat it as a real estate question. This is squarely facilities compliance and safety territory.

Racking is yours, with its own regime#

Racking is almost always tenant property rather than a building system. It carries its own permitting, since a permitted configuration reflects the racking layout, aisle widths, and commodity classification as approved. It carries its own inspection obligation, since damaged uprights and beams are a live safety exposure and a common insurer requirement. And it comes out at the end, usually within your make-good obligation, which makes it part of the location exit process.

What to check, and when#

Before signing, read for the roof threshold, the slab damage language, the HVAC replacement obligation, whether the yard sits in CAM or with you, and what the lease says about changes in use affecting fire protection. During the term, run dock equipment on a planned cycle, keep racking inspection on a schedule with a damage-reporting route, and route any product or pallet change through a fire protection check before it reaches the floor. For yard, paving, and snow costs that arrive as CAM, apply the same scrutiny as any other CAM audit.

More for logistics operators and across facilities and maintenance.