Free tool
What can your business afford in rent — or price?
Operators plan rent as a share of what the business takes in, and the share depends on the kind of business. Give the revenue and the space, and this prints the range that share comes to — a year, a month, per square foot — and, if buying is on the table, the price a payment inside that range would carry. The assumptions are printed next to the numbers so you can disagree with them.
Free. The whole result appears on this page the moment you finish — nothing is held back, and nothing is charged for. Shawn asks for a name and a way to reach you first.
The questions
Six questions — the business, its revenue, lease or buy, the space — and the page works out an occupancy budget a year and a month, per square foot, and the purchase price that budget would carry.
- What kind of business is it?
The planning range for rent as a share of revenue depends on this. - Annual gross revenue, in dollars?
Sales before any expenses. For a business that is not open yet, the first full year you are planning on. - Where does that revenue number come from?
- Rent, price, or both?
- How much space?
Turns the budget into a figure per square foot a year, which is how space is priced here. - When would the business move in?
What it works from
Total occupancy cost — base rent, taxes, insurance and common-area charges together — as a share of gross revenue, the planning range operators in each kind of business commonly budget to. Your accountant’s number outranks these.
| Kind of business | Share of revenue |
|---|---|
| Retail — a shop, a showroom, a service counter | 5% to 10% |
| A restaurant, café or drive-thru | 6% to 10% |
| Office or professional services | 6% to 12% |
| Medical, dental or clinical | 7% to 12% |
| Industrial, warehouse or flex | 3% to 7% |
| Something else | 5% to 10% |
The purchase line assumes a fully amortising loan at 7.5% over 25 years with 20% down, and is arithmetic on those assumptions — not a quote, and no lender is involved in producing it. These are planning ranges, not advice: your accountant’s number for what the business can carry outranks them, and nothing here says what any particular property should cost or is worth to anyone. The financing line is arithmetic on stated assumptions, not a quote.
What it can tell you
Every answer this check gives, in full — one of them is yours once you have answered. Nothing here is held back for a sign-up.
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A rough number — firm it up before you shop
The range below is arithmetic on a revenue figure that is still a projection or a guess, and on space you have not sized. Treat it as the order of magnitude. A year of books, or an accountant’s number for what the business can carry, turns it into a budget a landlord will take seriously.
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A working budget you can shop with
The revenue is from the books and the space is sized, so the range below is a budget rather than a guess. What is asked for space in that range, and what the taxes, insurance and common-area charges add on top of base rent, are the next two questions — and both are answered from real listings, not from a page.