Renting too much space means paying every month for empty floor. Renting too little means overflow, double handling and an early, expensive move. A rough estimate before you start viewing units saves both. Here is a simple method you can do with a calculator.
Step 1: Count what you store
Start with your peak stock, not your average. Most businesses in the UAE store on standard pallets of 1.2 m x 1.0 m or 1.2 m x 0.8 m. Write down how many pallets you hold in your busiest month. If you store loose cartons, machines or long materials, estimate the floor area they take in square metres instead.
Step 2: Decide how you will store it
- Floor stacking: pallets placed on the floor, sometimes stacked two high. Simple, but it uses the most floor area.
- Pallet racking: steel racks with several levels. It multiplies capacity on the same floor, but only if the building is tall enough.
If you plan to use racking, the clear height of the building matters as much as its floor area. A taller unit can hold the same stock on a smaller footprint.
Step 3: Add aisles
Forklifts need room to turn and lift. As a rough guide, storage areas with aisles take about twice the floor area of the pallets themselves. So 100 pallet spaces on the floor need roughly 240 sq m, not 120 sq m.
Step 4: Add the space around storage
- Loading and staging: an area near the door to receive and prepare shipments.
- Office and staff areas: a desk area, washroom and rest space. A mezzanine can hold these without using ground floor.
- Work areas: packing, assembly, light production or quality checks.
Step 5: Leave room to grow
Add 15 to 25 percent for growth over the length of the lease. Moving a warehouse is disruptive, so it is usually cheaper to start slightly bigger than to move again within two years.
A quick example
A trading company holds up to 300 pallets at peak and plans to use racking with four storage levels. That is 75 pallet spaces per level. With aisles, the racked area is roughly 180 sq m. Add 60 sq m for loading, 40 sq m for packing and an office on the mezzanine, then 20 percent for growth, and the need is about 335 sq m, or around 3,600 sq ft. A unit of about 5,000 sq ft would give comfortable room for the next stage of growth.
Convert carefully
1 square metre equals about 10.76 square feet. Always confirm whether a quoted size is the built-up area, the ground floor only, or includes the mezzanine.
Not sure about your numbers? Share your stock and operation with the Al Maha team and we will tell you honestly whether one of our 5,000 sq ft units fits.