The Third Rule of Thumb and the Fire Code

Due diligence is the time period that helps you determine if you found a great property or a dud. There are so many things that you need to look at during your due diligence. One of the little things that you may not think of is the fire code. There are a lot of factors to take into consideration before you buy a property to make sure that you can accommodate the fire requirements.

The very first thing that you want to find out is if you have to have sprinklers in your self-storage facility. If you have to have water run to your facility, it is a completely different than if you just have to have a bunch of self-storage units.

If you have to have sprinkles in the property, can you even get water to the property. The water may be so far away that you are not able to get it to your property. Or you may have to have water rights that you can exchange with the city in order to get water. If that is the case, and your property doesn’t have those water rights, it can be expensive to buy water rights.

If you have to run water to your property, your costs can be exorbitant. This will change your financials significantly. Your numbers may no longer work. On the other hand, if you are able to build the property without sprinklers, then you won’t have to worry about the additional costs. If there is no way to get the water to your property economically, then your project may be over before you even look at the next due diligence step.

Another important factor that can affect your property from the fire code is the fire walls. If you have to have 3-hour fire barrier every 2400 square feet, that is expensive. In addition, fire doors are expensive. When you have a climate controlled building, you are looking at a lot of doors. This will add a significant cost to your bottom line. Before you even close on your deal, you need to have an idea what your building costs are going to be. Will this project make sense after you finish building it? If you can’t cash flow, what is the point?

Finally, you have to be able to get a firetruck in and out of your self-storage facility. If they can’t get in and out, you won’t ever get a certificate of occupancy. If you don’t have that, you won’t open. If it is extremely difficult for a fire truck to maneuver through your facility, you may not get approval.

Don’t wait until it is to late to research how the fire code will affect your self-storage facility. Do your research during your due diligence period to make sure that your costs are still in line with what you expected. Make sure that you can meet the fire marshal’s expectations and as always, happy investing.