Measure Twice, Move Once: The Test Fit Missed the Third Dimension

The shelving fit on the plan. The ceiling height changed how much of it could actually be used.

When performing a test fit for a relocation, it isn’t enough to confirm that existing furniture, equipment and storage fit within the proposed floor plan.

Sometimes you need to look up.

On a gut renovation for a law firm, our client was relocating approximately 100 utility shelving units containing legal Redwells—the expandable file folders attorneys use for case materials.

At the existing location, generous ceiling heights allowed the firm to use every shelf, including the very top.

During site selection and test fitting, the shelving was incorporated into the proposed space plan. On paper, it fit.

But there was a problem.

The Footprint Fit. The Storage Capacity Didn’t.

The ceiling at the proposed location was substantially lower than at the existing office.

That mattered because the files stored on the upper shelves would not maintain the required clearance below the sprinkler heads. Those shelves could no longer be used.

The shelving units themselves fit perfectly well on the plan.

The same shelving footprint simply didn’t provide the same storage capacity.

By the time our firm became involved after the lease had been signed, the project was already well into the construction-document phase.

We determined that several thousand linear filing inches would have to be removed from the upper shelves. To replace that lost capacity, the tenant needed additional shelving.

There was just one problem.

There was no additional floor space in the lease.

Fortunately, adjacent space was still available. The tenant ultimately added more than 600 square feet to the lease to accommodate the additional shelving.

A Test Fit Has to Test the Operation

A test fit can show that 100 shelving units fit within a proposed space.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the proposed space can support what those 100 shelving units currently hold.

The same principle applies well beyond filing.

Storage racks, equipment, furniture, technology and other operational requirements can be affected by ceiling heights, columns, sprinkler clearances, access, utilities and other physical conditions that aren’t obvious from a simple comparison of square footage.

The project team needs to understand not only what the business has, but how the business uses it.

That investigation should happen before the lease is signed, while there is still an opportunity to change the space, change the design or negotiate a different solution.

In this case, the difference wasn’t a few shelves.

It was more than 600 additional square feet of leased space.

Leadership Takeaway: A test fit shouldn’t simply prove that everything fits on the floor plan. It should prove that the proposed space can support the way the business actually operates.