- A warehouse might seem fairly straightforward,
but it's much more than just four walls and a roof.
In fact, warehouses serve a very important role
in the world economy,
the global supply chain,
and ultimately, in getting things
from the factory floor to your front door.
So, in this video,
I'm gonna explain some of the key components
of a functional warehouse.
Not only will these elements make you more knowledgeable,
but if you're involved in the industry in any capacity,
this could also help you avoid making a costly mistake.
Now, the first thing that we need to acknowledge
is that before any work can be done
in the warehouse itself,
products need to get to and from the building
in the first place.
To address this,
we need to consider what types of vehicles
will come and go from the property,
and how products will move back and forth
from the vehicles to the warehouse.
This might include small delivery vans,
cube vans,
or most commonly,
at least for larger buildings,
semi-tractor trailers.
The trailers themselves can be up to 53 feet long,
and when combined with trucks,
these big rigs can approach 73 feet in total length.
Naturally, the longer the vehicle,
the more space will be required to maneuver,
and something we'll soon explore
is that not all buildings are compatible
for longer vehicles.
This leads to the first point.
A warehouse is only as functional
as the receiving and delivery allows it to be.
This may sound obvious at the first take,
but let me show you an example,
so you can see how the amount of loading space
sets the literal parameters
for what type of vehicles can access the building.
And while I do that,
I want to show you two free tools you can use,
which are very helpful.
Okay, so, the first tool I want to show you
is Google Earth Studio.
And if you just type in Google Earth Studio
into your browser and go to it,
you do need to apply to get an account.
But everybody that I know that has applied for one
has been granted one.
So, as long as you have a Gmail account,
you should be able to get this.
And this is just really cool
at how quickly you can create an awesome 3D video map.
So, I'll show you a quick way of doing this.
If we just go File, New,
Fly-To and Orbit,
type in the address.
I'm gonna type in an address
for a property that I owned,
which I don't own anymore,
but it's a good representation of a property
with a very tight loading area.
So, there's some learning curve to this,
but you can pick this up very quickly,
especially if you just wanted to do the basics,
but I'll leave a tutorial for a guy
who did an awesome job explaining
just how functional and impressive this program is.
But when you come to here,
you could see some of the things that we can set.
We can set the angle that it comes in at,
where it starts,
how low it actually goes.
And the one that we put on here
is it zooms in
and then does an orbit of the property.
And then you can play
with all these functions in here as well.
And then when you render it,
I'm just going to render it as the address.
You can actually render it in the cloud
and it will email it to you when it's finished.
And I'll just put up real quickly
what this looks like
when it's done.
(light music)
As you can tell,
this particular building is more conducive
for smaller delivery vehicles,
such as a small truck or cube van.
So, you can immediately see the challenges presented
if the tenant expects to have larger vehicles
coming and going.
To be fair, people are quite creative
when posed with situations like these.
I've seen a number of companies try to work
around these issues by pulling in the truck
perpendicular to the loading door,
and loading and unloading via forklift.
This might work in situations
where large vehicle deliveries
are rather infrequent,
but it can undoubtedly cause major issues
for other tenants in the building.
The next thing that I want to show you is a cool tool
is if you go to Google...
So, let's just open a new window here,
let's go to the address again,
go to the Maps,
click on the map.
If you come down to this map area right here,
you can actually get a pretty good idea
using the Measure tool,
right on the function that's on here.
So, I'll actually show you
how cool this can actually be.
So, if we come up,
this is the building here,
and there's actually a little fence right here,
which might be a little bit hard to see.
But if you come to the end of the building,
right-click,
go down to the Measure distance,
and then go to where the end of the yard space is,
you can actually see how long that distance is.
And you can see in this particular one,
it's about 45 feet.
You could see why this property just isn't ideal
for bringing in any type of larger vehicles.
So, this leads to the question,
is there an optimal number?
As it turns out, there is.
And that number, according to HPA Architects,
one of the leaders in warehouse design and architecture,
they've calculated that 131 feet
between the loading door
and the end of the yard space
provides enough yard area
for the largest legal vehicles to have room
to conduct a single swing,
even if there are other vehicles parked on either side.
Now, instead of 131 being the most common number,
we'll typically see either 130 feet or 135 feet.
Let's check with the Los Angeles area
and I'll search for just a generic distribution center
so we can see how this works.
And if we look at this property right here,
you could see the loading with the trucks in here,
and there's a little grass boulevard right here.
So, again, if we go and click on the end of the building,
click Measure distance,
go to where the yard ends,
and you could see that
that's like right in that 132 foot range.
And if we were pinpoint accurate,
that could either be 130 or 135,
but that is a pretty common number on there.
Note that this is an optimal number for yard depth.
And there are certainly scenarios
where a building with less depth
can still accommodate large vehicles.
If there aren't any trailers
or tractor trailers parked adjacent to the stall,
a truck that's backing into it needs less room.
How much less is debatable,
but just be aware that the smaller it gets,
the more challenging it becomes.
Maybe driverless vehicles in the future
will narrow this down to a fine art,
but in the meantime,
we should all be thankful
for the hard work of truck drivers,
and the difficult job they have backing into stalls.
Another scenario we can address
is when two buildings have the doors facing each other,
which is quite common as it can allow
for a smaller overall area for maneuvering.
Instead of two separate buildings requiring 131 feet each,
the optimal number for a shared yard area is 204 feet.
Again, this area can be less than that
in certain circumstances,
but just be aware that the smaller it gets,
the more difficult it becomes to maneuver.
This leads to the next point about yard management.
Will companies that occupy the building
plan on storing trailers onsite?
If not, where would those trailers go?
If it's right across from the loading area,
there'll need to be some additional yard space.
Or if it's beside the building,
then they'll need to be some additional land there.
Having additional yard space might not be
as much of a concern for single occupant buildings
where there isn't expected to be much storage required,
but for buildings with multiple tenants,
any clog up in the trailers can affect everybody.
Large-scale developments will typically involve
a sophisticated team of architects,
engineers, planners, consultants,
and also of course,
the knowledge and experience of the developers.
As a result,
you're not likely to encounter many functional issues
with new, modern buildings,
but challenges may arise
when you're dealing with older product
or inexperienced developers.
And this happens more often than people might realize,
particularly since property's located closer
to downtown cores or older, more established neighborhoods
tend to be that older industrial stock.
So, for all these companies looking for
that last mile of delivery,
this is something to be very cognizant about.
This leads to one of the key trade-offs
in warehouse design and construction.
There's a delicate balance
between functionality and economics.
If money was no object,
a building could have virtually unlimited loading area
and storage for trailers.
If functionality wasn't a concern,
the building would have minimal loading area
and no additional yard whatsoever.
Once we've identified the type of vehicles
coming back and forth,
we can then look at a few other important areas.
First, determine whether the yard area
is paved with concrete or asphalt.
There are a number of variables
that get factored in here
such as climate,
paving costs, maintenance,
to name a few.
As a general rule of thumb,
I'd look to see what is most commonly used in your area.
If every other property has asphalt,
then there's probably a good reason for it.
You can also talk to local paving companies
or general contractors
to get their opinions on it as well.
Now, that we've covered the yard area,
let's move to the exterior of the building
and talk about the loading.
If getting vehicles to the building
is the first major consideration,
then how the product gets inside the building
is the next logical factor to consider.
Most large warehouses will have dozens,
if not hundreds, of dock level loading doors.
These doors are typically 48 inches off the ground
and are eight feet wide by nine feet high.
That's what a dock door essentially is.
It's located at roughly the same height
as the bed of a truck,
so that product can quickly and efficiently
be loaded and unloaded.
Some companies may want a certain number of doors
all located in a row,
while other companies may want loading
on both sides of the building.
We'll talk more about
why there can be a difference in the next video,
but just be aware that the amount and configurations
of the door is critical.
Next, determine if there's a need for grade level loading
in addition to the dock loading.
Companies may need to bring in larger items
into the building,
or they may just want to have the ability
to drive something directly inside.
An existing dock door
can theoretically be retrofitted with a ramp,
but keep in mind that the size of the door
may need to be increased as well.
This is not to also mention
any engineering or cost restrictions
that might prohibit that.
Putting all this into context,
a large company will choose a building
that meets all of their requirements.
They'll want adequate access for all their vehicles,
they'll want ample yard space to store all the trailers,
they'll have numerous dock doors
and likely a few grade level doors as well.
Where this starts getting more difficult
is when you have a tenant that needs a smaller space,
or if you have a building
that wasn't built to these modern standards.
This is where you either need to be creative
or start accepting
that there might need to be some trade-offs.
This can come in the form of tighter loading areas
or the inability to have great loading,
or onsite trailer storage.
So, as strange as it may sound,
leasing a 20,000 square foot space
might be more challenging
than leasing a two million square foot space.
That's a broad statement to make, of course,
but it does underscore just how diverse
the industrial real estate industry really is.
Looking at this from a high-level view,
both figuratively and literally,
shows how this all makes sense.
Vehicles need adequate room to maneuver to the building,
and there needs to be an efficient way
of getting product to and from the warehouse
to the vehicles.
When you factor in where the vehicles
or trailers can park
and the best construction materials
to use for the yard,
you can understand why this is all so important.
Join in for the next video
where I break down some key elements
of the inside of the warehouse as well.
And as you might've guessed,
it's also much more complex
than just being a place to store product.
Thanks for watching,
catch you in the next video.
(clapperboard claps)
- [Assistant] I thought I was supposed to hold it.
(clapperboard claps)
- It's not even in focus, so.
- [Assistant] Okay, then you'll need it right here.
- See how the amount of loading space
sets the...
The limeral?
(clapperboard claps)
Shows how all this...
Just a little bit.
I was doing so well, I was on a roll.
Got that one.
- [Assistant] Again?
- Yup, not the whole way,
just the...
(clapperboard claps)
- [Assistant] Okay, not the whole way?
- And the regular general...
Huge scroll up.
(mouth popping)
Well, we should have a lot of bloopers
to use for that one.
That whole video could have almost been bloopers.