Building Or Rebuilding On An Industrial Property: Pros And Cons

Industrial construction is often the most complicated type of construction. There is no one formulaic plan for construction of an industrial plant because every plant is different, produces different products, and sits on a unique piece of land. That said, there is something to be said for taking an existing industrial property and rebuilding it versus building an entire industrial building from underneath the ground all the way up. Here are the pros and cons of each. 

Pros and Cons of Building from Scratch

Pros

If an empty piece of land is zoned for industrial use, then you can purchase it and build a plant here. You can hire an architect to make the building into everything you want it to be and have every possible feature needed to make it high-tech and productive. The sky is literally your limit, as are the dimensions of the property, but you can do a lot with a blank piece of land. 

Cons

You have no idea what is going on underground. For all you know, there could be a major underground river that feeds into the water table and sources of water for the entire area. Building too deep of a building might cause collapse or a sinkhole to form, and if anything toxic or poisonous leaks from the plant into the ground water, you could have a lot of legal issues later. 

Pros and Cons of Rebuilding an Existing Industrial Building

Pros

You already know what to expect from an existing building. It is there, not harming groundwater or the environment, since it has been regularly inspected from its inception. It only needs some modifications to suit your needs, which costs far less than building the structure from below ground to the concrete roof. You can have dozens of building inspectors check over every structural aspect and feature of the building to make sure it is sound and ready for use (once the modifications are complete). 

Cons

You have to work with what you have. There may not be a lot of room for expansion in any direction at the ground level, as you will need plenty of parking for employees. Adding levels to the building may be tricky, and you may have to hire both an architect and a structural engineer to determine if additional levels are even possible. Whatever land the building is on is all the land you have, unless you can convince neighboring property owners to sell their parcels, which in an industrial zone is unlikely.

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