The Problem with Site Comparisons Today
A tenant is evaluating three industrial buildings. All three have the right zoning, the right dock count, and similar asking rents. The question that actually decides the deal — "how many pallet positions can I fit in each building?" — takes days to answer through normal channels.
You could call a racking contractor. If they're fast, you get numbers back in 48–72 hours. If the tenant is on a tight timeline or the market is competitive, you may not have that window. Calling three contractors for three buildings multiplies the delay.
RackCity gives you those numbers in about two minutes per building — not as a rough guess, but as a calculated layout based on the building's actual dimensions and a realistic B2B racking configuration.
Step 1: Get the Numbers for Each Building
Upload the building flyer
Every industrial building has a marketing PDF — square footage, clear height, column spacing, dock doors, office build-out. Drop that flyer into RackCity's AI upload area. The system reads the dimensions and generates a complete B2B racking layout automatically.
No flyer? Enter the dimensions by hand: building length, width, and clear height. Takes 30 seconds.
Read off the pallet count
Once the layout renders, you have the total pallet positions for the building at a standard B2B configuration, a floor plan showing where rack rows fit relative to columns and dock doors, and a rough BOM estimate useful if the tenant wants to model storage cost per pallet. Repeat for each building. Three buildings, three layouts, ten minutes total.
Step 2: Build the Site Comparison
| Building | Size | Clear Ht | Positions | Annual Rent/SF | Cost / Position / Yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site A | 350 × 200 ft | 28 ft | 1,120 | $8.50 | $2.66 |
| Site B | 400 × 300 ft | 32 ft | 1,920 | $9.25 | $1.93 |
| Site C | 600 × 300 ft | 36 ft | 3,040 | $7.75 | $1.53 |
Presenting pallet positions alongside square footage reframes the conversation from "how big is the building?" to "how much can I store?" — which is what the tenant actually cares about.
Clear height matters more than footprint for tenants who stack high. A 600,000 SF warehouse with 28 ft clear will often hold fewer effective positions than a 400,000 SF building at 36 ft clear. RackCity makes that visible immediately.
Step 3: Show the Tenant a Layout
Before the site tour, print a one-page floor plan PDF for each building — a top-down drawing with rack zones, aisle widths, and position counts labeled. Tenants who receive a credible layout before the site walk engage more deeply. They're thinking about where their dock doors align with their pick aisles, not whether the building will work at all.
Some tenants don't know how many positions they need. RackCity helps there too — describe their current storage setup, run it through the tool, and estimate their current utilization. Then you can frame each site against that baseline: "Site C gives you 40% headroom over your current footprint."
The Pitch to the Tenant
You're not a racking contractor. You're not giving a binding quote or a stamped engineering drawing. What you're showing is: "Based on the building dimensions in the marketing package, here is a realistic estimate of how much storage capacity you're buying."
That's a differentiated service. Most brokers hand tenants a spec sheet. You hand them a floor plan.
The RackCity Quote PDF includes an explicit disclaimer — all quantities must be field-verified before ordering — so there's no ambiguity about what the document is. It's a pre-LOI planning tool, not an order form.
Handling Common Questions
"What if our racking config is different from what you modeled?"
The layout is a starting point, not a commitment. Change beam length, upright height, or aisle width in RackCity and the pallet count updates instantly. You can walk through scenarios on a laptop while the tenant is in the room.
"What if the building has more columns than the flyer shows?"
Flag that on the layout and note that column locations may reduce positions from the estimate. The disclaimer handles this legally. A site walk with actual column measurements will tighten the count before the tenant commits.
"Can you get us a racking quote before we sign the lease?"
RackCity generates a BOM and Quote PDF directly from the layout — a ballpark estimate based on standard component pricing. Close enough to stress-test the economics before an LOI, not close enough to order from. Your racking contractor will do the final count after the lease is signed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How accurate are pallet position counts from a building flyer?
Within 5–15% of what a contractor would count manually, assuming the flyer dimensions are accurate. Column and obstruction locations in the actual building may reduce positions from the estimate. RackCity includes an explicit disclaimer that measurements must be field-verified before ordering.
Can I compare buildings with different dock configurations?
Yes. RackCity lets you add dock door obstructions on any wall. A building with 20 dock doors on the south wall will have a different effective rack zone than one with 8 docks. Modeling both shows the capacity impact explicitly — useful for tenants who need cross-dock capability.
What clear height is needed for standard B2B pallet racking?
Standard B2B with 4 beam levels and 48-in pallets typically requires 24–26 ft clear. Adding a 5th level pushes the requirement to ~30 ft clear. Clear height is measured to the lowest obstruction (often sprinklers or HVAC), not the building eave. RackCity validates beam levels against clear height automatically.
How do I explain racking capacity to a tenant who doesn't know warehousing?
Show the floor plan PDF and point to the total position count. Say "each position holds one pallet" and work backward from their current inventory count. The cost-per-position metric (annual rent ÷ total positions) makes the comparison concrete without requiring any warehousing knowledge from either party.
Can I save and reuse layouts for multiple showings?
Yes. RackCity lets you save layouts as JSON files and reload them in any browser session. Save a layout for each building in your listing pipeline and you have an instant floor plan for every site tour.