Lasercad® is a property measurement service for office, industrial, retail and residential space. Lasercad® provides plans and space certification to the CREA and BOMA Floor Measurement Standards for Occupant and Rentable Area space. Lasercad® is employed by landlords for (1) leasing purposes, (2) as a property and asset management tool and (3) for marketing purposes. We offer Lasercad® space measurement services to property owners throughout Atlantic Canada (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland) and Ontario.
Since 1976, Turner Drake has measured and certified over 10,000 buildings and tenant spaces in Atlantic Canada and Ontario. We are trusted by tenants and landlords alike to provide unbiased, accurate measurement of office, retail, industrial, mixed-use and residential space using the appropriate CREA or BOMA standard method of measurement.
Our Lasercad® space measurement service brings an enhanced degree of precision and accessibility to the property measurement process. Property and Asset Managers can access their property’s as-built or perimeter plans 24/7 through their personal Client Area on this web site.
Most tenants, and some landlords, are unaware that there are CREA and BOMA Standard Methods of Measurement applicable to office, retail, industrial, mixed-use and residential space. Disputes between landlords and tenants about Occupant and Rentable Areas can be avoided and a sound landlord/tenant relationship established at the outset, by providing a Space Certificate as part of the lease. Our Lasercad® Space Measurement Service certifies that the space has been measured, and the Occupant and Rentable Areas have been calculated, in accordance with the CREA or BOMA Standard Method of Measurement appropriate to the type of space … and that our Occupant and Rentable Area calculations are correct.
Our Lasercad® Space Measurement Service utilises a precision laser system for interior space measurement. Our standard operating procedures mandate office, industrial, retail and residential space measurements with an accuracy of 1 cm. and a closing error of no more than 2%. The laser measuring equipment allows us to measure effectively from 25 cm to 100 m. No need to disrupt tenants with intrusive tape measures! We just point the visible laser dot at the distant target and we’re done in seconds.
We download the space measurement data into our Computer Aided Design (CAD) system to produce laser sharp plans in a convenient letter size (8½” x 11″) format. The Lasercad® plan forms part of the BOMA Space Measurement Certificate and can be incorporated into the lease. The plans for each floor of the building and for each tenant space may be viewed on a personal computer, or can be provided in hard copy format in an Inventory Binder, for the client’s continued use as a property and asset management tool. Lasercad® plans are produced in colour and updating them is quick and inexpensive. We also provide free storage of these Lasercad® plans and the BOMA Space Measurement Certificate on the client’s own password protected Client Area on our web site, so that they can be viewed, enlarged or printed at any time.
It is not unusual to find that 50% of the leases in a building show incorrect Rentable and Occupant areas. This can occur because of (1) inaccurate measurement, e.g. “counting the ceiling tiles”; (2) space modifications on lease renewal which were not corrected in the new lease; (3) use of a non-standard or inappropriate Method of Measurement. The latter can result in the same space having a rental rate of $16.82/ft.², $15.00/ft.², $14.89/ft.², $13.33/ft.², $12.74/ft.², … simultaneously … because it is measured using any one of the non-standard methods in use.
At a rental rate of $15.00/ft.² net absolute, every 1,000 ft.² “lost” could reduce the value of the property by $250,000.
The 1996 revision to the BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association) Standard Method of Measurement for space in office buildings took a big leap forward by allowing building owners to “gross up” their building common areas to the various tenant spaces. On average it allowed landlords to capture an additional 3% of rentable space. The 2010 revision to the BOMA Office Standard further changed how this common area was allocated within the building, and allowed landlords to re-allocate it from the (lower rent) storage areas to the (higher rent) office areas. The 2017 revision to the BOMA Office Standard continued to refine it by replacing the term “Usable Area” with the more intuitive “Occupant Area” and tweaked the way Occupant and Rentable Areas are calculated. The amendments reduce the way the dominant portion of the wall height is calculated; allow amenity areas to be allocated to tenants who benefit from them; render additional clarification on the measurement and allocation of doorway setbacks; and provide the option to cap a single tenant’s load factor, rather than the entire building. The 2024 BOMA Office Standard continues this fine tuning.
Commercial tenants frequently view ten or more spaces before making a lease commitment. Often they opt to remain in their existing space because they cannot visualise how their operation will “fit” and are reluctant to risk the expense and upheaval of an unsuccessful move. The multiplicity of choices available serves to confuse their decision making process.
Our detailed Lasercad® “as built” plans show the exact locations of all partitions, windows, doors and plumbing fixtures, thus reducing the tenant’s risk of selecting unsuitably configured premises. The lower the risk, the greater the possibility of consummating the lease transaction. Space Planners can utilise our plans to “lay out” the prospective tenant’s operation and demonstrate in concrete terms how it will “fit” into the premises.
… And landlords will be able to further lower their risk hurdle by providing the tenant with our Space Certificate showing the Occupant and Rentable Areas.
Lasercad® plans are provided in convenient .pdf format. Details of each tenant space are now just a mouse click away. Asset and property managers can flick through the floor plates, then zoom in on each individual tenant space. A précis of each lease can be recorded on the relevant tenant layout. The fiscal, physical and legal attributes of the real estate asset can be analysed visually. Alternatively we can supply the same information in hard copy format. In addition we provide free storage of Lasercad® plans on the client’s own password protected Client Area on our web site, so that they can be viewed, enlarged or printed out at any time.
Lasercad® Space Measurement is available in two formats: full “as built” drawings or “perimeter” plans. BOMA Space certificates are provided with both formats.
The National Fire Code mandates the implementation and registration of a Fire Safety Plan, a document detailing the type, location and operation of building fire emergency systems, for all buildings that are required to have an alarm system under the National Building Code. This includes virtually all buildings with sprinkler systems; and non-sprinklered buildings over three storeys (basements count as storeys) or which meet specified minimum occupant loads. The Fire Safety Plan document has to include Fire Emergency Floor Plans showing the location of the building fire emergency systems (detection and fighting equipment) such as emergency lights, exit signs, pull stations, fire extinguishers, hose cabinets, bells, sirens, smoke and heat detectors, gas and sprinkler shut off valves, electrical shut off switch, pull pins for kitchen fire suppression systems, standpipes, fire panel, fire pump, fire department connections, and sprinkler riser. We can also prepare Fire Evacuation Plans for use as part of the wayfinding signage posted throughout the building common areas indicating the exits, evacuation route, muster point and the type and location of firefighting equipment (pull stations, fire extinguishers, hose cabinets). The National Fire Code requires Fire Evacuation Plans in every hotel and motel bedroom.
“Lasercad” is a registered trademark of Turner Drake & Partners Ltd.
Click here to order, or to obtain a price quote, on any of the above Lasercad® products.
Click here to review actual Lasercad® case studies.
