How do you find a tenant for a vacant industrial unit?
You find a tenant for a vacant industrial unit by working out which kinds of business the unit suits, then contacting the ones that need space now instead of waiting for them to find your listing. Scayled's Campaign does that for one property: it builds the list of businesses most likely to lease the unit, around it and across the market, names the person who decides at each, flags those showing signs of needing space, and writes the emails. List the unit and put up a board as well, because they catch active searchers. Then qualify every tenant on covenant and use before you sign.
- Who is most likely to lease your industrial unit?
- Where do tenants for industrial units actually come from?
- How do you tell which businesses need space now?
- Who should you contact, and what should the email say?
- Should you search yourself, use an agent, or run a campaign?
- How do you check a tenant before you sign?
Who is most likely to lease your industrial unit?
The unit decides the tenant more than the market does. Small units with a roller door and a little office suit trade suppliers, contractors, workshops, e-commerce sellers, mechanics and storage users. Mid-size units with docks and a yard suit distributors, wholesalers, light manufacturers and regional depots. Large modern buildings with high clear height and deep yards suit national 3PLs, retailers' distribution centres and manufacturers with heavy throughput.
Within that, the specific features narrow it further. A deep secure yard points to transport and equipment hire businesses. Heavy power points to manufacturing, food processing or cold storage. A high office share suits businesses that run sales or admin from the same site. Zoning and permitted use can rule groups in or out entirely, so check it before you build a target list around a use the site cannot legally host.
Write the result down as a short tenant profile: five to ten types of business, the size range of each, and the feature of your unit that makes it a fit. That profile is what you will use to build your list, write your emails and judge enquiries, so it is worth an hour of thought before you spend anything on marketing.
Where do tenants for industrial units actually come from?
Industrial tenants come from four places. The closest is your own neighbourhood: local businesses nearby that are outgrowing their premises, short of yard or doors, or facing a lease end. Industrial occupiers tend to stay in the area they already operate in, because their staff, customers and routes are there, so the neighbours are often the most likely tenants of all.
The second is the wider market: businesses across the city or region whose size, use and type fit your unit, even if they have never been near it. For specialist buildings, such as cold stores, high-power units or sites with very large yards, this pool matters more than the neighbours, because the right operator may be on the other side of town.
The third is requirements circulated by tenant rep brokers and agents, which you reach by telling the local brokerage community the unit is available and that you will pay an introducing broker's fee. The fourth is passive enquiry from listings on LoopNet, Crexi, realcommercial.com.au, Rightmove Commercial, Bayut and the other portals in your market, and from the board on the building. Most owners rely on the last two alone. The first two hold far more tenants, but nobody in them is searching yet.
How do you tell which businesses need space now?
A business rarely announces that it needs a new unit, but it leaves evidence. Volume hiring for warehouse operatives, forklift drivers or truck drivers suggests growth that has to be housed somewhere. A new contract, a new major customer, a new product line, fresh funding or an acquisition all tend to precede a change in premises. So do a lease ending, a sublease listing, a planning application at the current site, or a yard so full that trailers are parked on the street.
Most of this is public. Company announcements, local business news, job boards, planning portals and company filings carry it, if someone reads them for each business on your list. Date every reason you find, because a contract win from last month is a reason to call this week, while one from three years ago is history.
Put the businesses with a dated, specific reason to move at the top of your list and contact them first. They will not all need your unit, but they are far more likely to reply than a business with no reason to change anything, and the reason gives your email something real to say.
Who should you contact, and what should the email say?
Contact the person who decides on premises. At a small business that is the owner or managing director. At a mid-size company it is usually the operations director, general manager or finance director. At a national occupier it is the head of property or real estate, or the supply chain director. Generic info@ addresses and switchboards almost never reach these people, so find a named, verified email for each business before you write.
Keep the email short and specific. One line on the property, with size and location. One or two lines on why it suits that business in particular, for example that it has the yard their fleet needs or that it sits next to their current site. One clear next step, such as a viewing or sending the floor plan. Sign it with your name and a phone number. Send from your own address, not a marketing platform, and include a simple way to opt out, which keeps you within B2B email rules such as CAN-SPAM in the US, the Spam Act in Australia and PECR in the UK.
Send in batches of around 50, best first, and follow up once about a week later. A single follow-up often produces as many replies as the first email. Do not chase further than that, and remove anyone who asks.
Should you search yourself, use an agent, or run a campaign?
Doing it yourself costs time rather than money. Building a fitted list of a few hundred businesses, finding the decision-maker at each, reading for reasons to move and writing personal emails can take days or weeks, which is why most owners stop at listing the unit and waiting.
An agent brings a network, live requirements and negotiation experience, and remains a good option, especially for large or specialist units. You pay a fee on success, and you depend on the agent's priorities, since your unit is one of many they are leasing.
The Campaign from Scayled is the middle road between doing it all yourself, as in leasing a vacant warehouse without an agent, and appointing one. You send the address and a short brief; Scayled builds the list of businesses most likely to lease the unit, finds the person who decides at each, flags the ones that need space now and writes every email as the owner. Focused covers the strongest 100 to 150 businesses from US$449 in about three working days, Full covers 250 to 350 for US$749 in about five, and both are one payment per property with no subscription. Send the emails yourself, or add We Send It For You for US$299.
How do you check a tenant before you sign?
Check the covenant. Ask for the last two or three years of accounts or, for a private business, management accounts and bank references, and confirm how long it has traded. Where the covenant is light, ask for a personal or parent company guarantee, a rent deposit, a security deposit or a bank guarantee, depending on what is normal in your market. A tenant that cannot pay is more expensive than a few more weeks of vacancy.
Check the use. Confirm the business can operate legally on the site under its zoning, and ask directly about hazardous goods, noise, working hours, heavy vehicle movements, floor loading and power demand. A manufacturer that needs more power than the site can supply, or an operator whose 24-hour trucking breaches a consent condition, becomes your problem after the lease is signed.
Check the plan. Ask what fit-out the tenant intends, who will pay for it, and what they will need to reinstate at the end. Agree heads of terms covering rent, term, incentives, outgoings, permitted use, make-good and any guarantee, then have your property lawyer draft the lease. Doing these checks properly is what turns a fast letting into a good one.
Find Who Will Lease Or Buy Your Property.
Send the address. Scayled finds the 100 to 350 businesses most likely to take the space, the person who decides at each, the ones already showing signs of needing space, and writes every email. One property, one payment, from US$449.