Measuring Space     

 

Cirrus Commercial
Measuring Office Space
 
Multiuser office buildings are unique from other types of real estate in that there are certain areas within the building that are shared by all or some of the tenants in the building.  For example, the building’s main lobby area is used by all for ingress and egress to the building, and corridors on multi-tenant floors are shared by users located on that floor.  Since the tenants not only pay rent on the space they occupy but also for a pro-rata share of these common areas, a building is said to be more “efficient” if its ratio of common area to user space is lower than another building.
 
Because some of the common areas are particular to a given floor and some are shared by all tenants in the building, each floor in a multi-user office building can have a different common area “add-on factor.”  The industry has attempted to standardize the way in which it allocates these common areas when measuring space by using definitions created by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA).  The most recent edition of BOMA’s Standard Method for Measuring Floor Area in Office Buildings was released in 1996 (ANSI/BOMA Z65.1 — 1996) and can be ordered via http://www.boma.org, or by calling BOMA Publications at 800-426-6292.
 
The following chart explains the commonly used terms and definitions for measuring office space:

BOMA Term
Industry Term
Definition and Use
 
Gross measured area             
Gross square feet (GSF)   
Includes all enclosed areas of all floors in a building. Only used in leases for single-user buildings.
 
Total rentable area             
Rentable square feet (RSF)
For entire building:
Gross measured area of the building minus major vertical penetrations (such as elevator shafts, vents, and stairways).
For a given floor:
Gross measured area of the floor minus major vertical penetrations (such as elevator shafts, vents, and stairways). Typically used in leases for multiuser buildings.
 
Floor common area               
Common area typically refers to the combined sum of floor and building common areas.
Areas on a given floor that are for the common use of all tenants on that floor, such as the floor elevator lobby, bathrooms, corridors, and mechanical and electrical rooms.
 
Building common area             
Common area typically refers to the combined sum of floor and building common areas.
Areas in the building that are for the common use of all tenants in the building but not included in office areas and store areas such as the main building lobby, fire corridors on the first floor, the building mail room, and vending rooms.
 
Office area    
Useable square feet (USF)  
For entire building:
Rentable square feet for the building minus all floor common areas and all building common areas.
For a given floor:
Rentable square feet for the floor minus all floor common areas for that floor minus all building common areas located on that floor.   Generally includes the space within the walls of the user’s office.
 

 
Please call us at Cirrus Commercial if you need assistance in measuring space.
(605) 271-5400