The problems that kill deals are almost never visible on the tour. Here's what to verify before you sign a lease — or close on a building.
Signing is fast; unwinding isn't. Six checks that take days now and save months later.
Verify the district allows your operation — by right, not by assumption — and that the city will issue your business tax receipt at that address. Our zoning guides cover what each district permits.
Three-phase? How many amps at the panel, actually? An electrician's one-hour visit beats a listing flyer. Utility upgrades can take months and the lease clock won't wait.
Storage height and commodity type drive sprinkler requirements. High-pile storage in a light-hazard building is a fire-marshal problem you inherit at move-in.
Open permits and code violations on the space become your headache once you occupy. A quick municipal records check is free.
Quoted square footage and usable square footage drift apart, especially in older buildings. You're paying by the foot — count the feet.
The actual operating-expense history tells you whether the NNN estimate is realistic or a teaser.
A typical industrial purchase carries 30–60 days of due diligence. This is what fills them.
Easements, encroachments, and access rights live here. A truck route that crosses a neighbor's parcel without a recorded easement is a problem you want priced in — or walked from.
A records-and-site-visit review for contamination risk. Lenders require it; cash buyers should too, because it's also your legal protection as an innocent purchaser.
Roof, structure, HVAC, electrical, and the slab, inspected by people who do industrial buildings. Roof replacement on a 50,000 SF warehouse is a seven-figure conversation in today's market.
A written statement from the municipality of the district, permitted uses, and any open violations. Cheap insurance against "everyone assumed".
For tenanted buildings: rent roll, every lease, and estoppels from every tenant confirming what they actually pay and claim. The rent roll is marketing until the estoppels agree with it.
Wind and flood coverage in South Florida can reshape a deal's economics. Get real quotes during diligence, not at closing.
See the gotchas below — the seller's tax bill is not your tax bill.
The two-step environmental process scares people more than it should. Most deals only ever need step one.
An environmental professional reviews historical records, databases, and walks the property looking for signs of contamination. No drilling, no samples. Two to four weeks, modest cost. Most properties pass.
Ordered only when Phase I flags a concern — a former gas station, a plating shop, an old dry cleaner. Actual sampling and lab work; longer and costlier. The result either clears the site or defines the problem.
Environmental liability in the U.S. attaches to the owner, including new owners who didn't cause the problem. A clean Phase I performed before purchase is the core of the "innocent landowner" defense.
Four issues that surprise buyers from other markets — and even locals.
Florida reassesses at market value after a sale, and caps on assessment increases don't transfer. Budget millage on your purchase price — not the seller's current bill, which can be a fraction of yours.
Premiums vary sharply with roof age, construction type, and flood zone. An older roof isn't just a repair item — it's an insurance-pricing item. Quote before you're committed.
Older buildings in South Florida counties face mandatory structural and electrical recertification (historically at 40 years, now sooner in many jurisdictions). Ask when the building's next milestone is due and what the last report said.
Insurers stop binding new coverage once a storm is named. A closing scheduled into hurricane season without bound insurance can slip weeks. Bind early.
Leases: days to two weeks of checking, run in parallel with negotiation. Purchases: typically 30–60 days under contract, driven by the Phase I and lender timelines.
The buyer or tenant ordering them, almost always. It's the cheapest money in the deal — a few thousand dollars protecting a commitment of millions.
Only if the Phase I identifies a recognized environmental condition. Most properties don't get one, and needing one isn't automatically a deal-killer — it's a pricing and liability conversation.
A tenant's signed confirmation of their lease terms. When buying a tenanted building, estoppels are how you verify the income is real. No estoppels, no certainty.
We run these checklists on every deal we touch. Tell us where you are in the process and we'll flag what's still open.