How to Plan a Facility for Business Growth

Planning for Growth in Place

With decades of providing metal building construction, building refurbishing and expansion services for business owners throughout Central and Western New Jersey, Art Hance has developed a fine-tuned sense of predicting—and preventing—owners’ future pain points, saving them untold costs and delays.

Hance says sometimes even those who carefully plan their growth might not consider how it impacts their buildings.  For him, this is where the true client partnership comes in—business owner to business owner—collaborating to create a customized solution.  His aim is to help owners avoid making poor choices out of desperation, and instead, to help plan a facility that supports their growth, now and in the future.

Art Hance points to his company’s own plan as an example of strategizing for growth in place. Hance Construction operates from a 100-year-old building, with offices having been on the second floor for several years. Over the last year, Hance completed all the long-term first floor renovations to prepare for growth.  As New Jersey’s only builder of cannabis cultivation facilities, Hance is now poised for the influx of facility project work as a result of the legalization of recreational cannabis in New Jersey. “We’re ready,” says Hance. “We planned the details ahead of time. Whenever we worked on the renovations, we did so with supporting that growth in mind.”

A Phased Approach

An owner experiencing rapid growth recently approached Hance Construction to build an 80’ x 100’ warehouse onto his existing facility, planning yet another hasty addition to the old building’s previous additions.

Realizing the owner’s business will only continue to grow, Hance suggested they pause the plans and instead consider a master plan for the property with the Design-Build team. Hance said to the owner, “Consider where you were when you bought this place. Think about that magnitude of change over the next ten years. Let’s put together a phased approach that allows to you to grow into a much larger business and gets you the maximum amount out of this piece of property.”

Plan Wisely

The building isn’t the only part of the plan; considering the whole site is essential when planning a phased approach.  In the case of the owner above, the existing structures on five acres had a 40-year-old septic system, which would fail soon. 

Hance advised the owner to upgrade the septic while all the equipment would already be on site, and to address the storm water management for the bigger buildings. “It will cost a fraction to do this now, compared to what it would cost later,” said Hance. “There are five acres here. If they’re not used wisely, there may not be a chance to address certain issues later.”

Besides considering environmental factors, planning for the long term opens a conversation to consider more options to support growth and efficiency, such as adding solar power which has an average life span of 25-30 years.

Creating a phased master plan with Hance Construction helps the owner anticipate risks to create a response plan for potential challenges, creating growth opportunities instead of setbacks as the owner’s business grows.