Stay or Grow

Do you actually need to expand — and how long have you got?

Most companies decide this after they have already hit the wall. Answer some questions about your site and we will work out what runs out first — room, people, power or your lease — how long you have, and which of your options can still be delivered in that time.

About 15 minutes One site per run Your answers save as you go
1

The facility

We measure every site against limits set for its own type. A warehouse starts struggling at a different point than an assembly plant, and a data centre is different again.

sq ft
Used to measure the labour pool within commuting distance. Street address is ideal; city and state still works.
A forcing date, not a capacity wall — but renewal talks usually open 18–24 months out, so the real decision lands earlier.
acres
acres
After setbacks, detention, and parking. This one field decides whether expanding on your existing site is even on the table.
Land you can build on and land you are allowed to build on are different things, and the gap between them is measured in hearings. This time sits in front of construction, not alongside it.
Optional, and it overrides our figure. A planner who knows the jurisdiction beats any average we can offer.
months
2

How much can this site handle?

This is where the dates in your report come from. Real figures give a firmer answer than an estimate — but a rough estimate is far better than leaving it blank.

The unit you would use if someone asked how busy you were — cases shipped, orders picked, tons produced.
Whichever period you have the figures for.
On a normal week with normal staffing — not a record week. Give the full rated figure; we already allow for the fact that no site runs at 100%. Sometimes called design or nameplate capacity.
What really went through over the last full period, including the quiet spells. Not a forecast.
Think of a normal week, not your busiest — we ask about busy periods further on. If the honest answer is over 100%, say so. That tells us a lot.
%
Unused shift capacity is the cheapest relief there is — but only if the labour market can staff it, which the next steps test.
Docks and yard

Plenty of sites run out of dock before they run out of floor — there is room inside for the pallets, and not enough door-hours to get them in and out. Skip this and we will say we did not check, rather than say you are fine.

In and out together, on a normal day
Only used when the two figures above are blank. Doors and trailers give a firmer answer, because we can apply your shift pattern to them.
%
A peak figure, not an average — we will not add the seasonal uplift to it again
3

Demand

This matters more than anything else you will tell us. Every date in your report moves with it, so it is worth a moment's thought.

Forward-looking, over the next three to five years. Negative is a valid answer.
%/yr
How much busier your peak is than a normal week. If your busiest weeks run about half as busy again as usual, that is 1.5. Sites run out of room at their peak, not their average. Leave blank and we will use a typical figure for your type of site.
x
The same thing you counted earlier — what actually went through the site each year. Not sales revenue: money moves with prices as well as volume, and that would quietly break the comparison. We check these against the forecast above and the report says so if the two disagree. Optional, and the most useful thing you can add.
4

Labour

The constraint that most often kills a project, and the one least often modelled. Attrition and hiring rate together set a ceiling on how large this site can ever be.

%
All separations, voluntary and involuntary. Warehouse figures above 60% are common and usually turn out to be the real story.
How many people you actually hired over the last twelve months — what happened, not the target. Include everyone who replaced a leaver.
This changes the answer more than the number itself. How many you hired tells us what you needed; how hard it was tells us what the market would actually give you.
Don't have that figure to hand?

If you do not know your monthly hires, give us these two instead and we will work it out. Less accurate, and the report will tell you so.

days
5

Power and committed work Optional

Skip this if you do not have the figures to hand. We will report power as not checked rather than fine — those are not the same thing.

Rated capacity at your meter
kW
Highest 15-minute demand on a recent bill
kW
Rated capacity and deliverable power are not the same thing. The queue is for transformers and substation work rather than for electricity, so it does not shorten because you need it sooner. Usually one phone call to find out, and the answer can change what we recommend.
Optional, and it overrides our figure.
months
Capacity work already funded

We count work you have already funded before working anything out — and the report will tell you if it arrives too late to help.

6

AI and your headcount Optional

If AI means you need fewer people per unit shipped, you may have longer before hiring becomes the thing that limits you. We report that separately as a what-if — it will not change the headline verdict, because these estimates are softer than the rest of the model.

We assume most pilots never make it to the floor, so piloting counts for very little here.
Tick anything AI is doing, or is about to do, a meaningful share of.
This matters more than anything else on this page. Time saved only helps with hiring if it turns into a job you never have to fill.
AI changes how many people you need. It does not add floor space, it does not add electrical capacity, and it does not extend a lease. If one of those is what runs out first, this section will not move your date.
7

What are you seeing day to day?

These do not change the dates — they test them. If you tick several of these but your figures say you have plenty of room, it is usually the figures that are wrong.

8

Does this location still suit you? Optional

Everything so far has been about when you run out. This is a different question: whether more of the same place would actually help. If several of these are already a problem, the site may be the issue rather than its size. These are the factors Area Development’s annual Corporate Survey has tracked for forty years, so they line up with how the industry frames the decision.

Highway, rail, air and port access
Availability of skilled labour
What labour costs you here
Operating costsUtilities, occupancy and tax
How competitive the incentives are
Political and regulatory stability
Being close enough to your suppliers
Being close enough to your customers
Water and sewer reliability
Infrastructure generallyGrid, roads and telecoms
9

Where should the report go? Optional

Your results appear on screen either way. Leave an address if you'd like a copy you can forward.