Are you planning on designing your first technology center, or expanding the technical operations of your business? Before thinking about the equipment, employees, and other resources that will fill the property, think about what a specific location has to offer. Rural areas have a lot to offer when it comes to tech business growth, but you need to know which features are to your benefit and ways to neutralize the negatives. Here are a few rural lot issues to consider as you plan your first brick and mortar facility or plan a business expansion.
Local Utility And Growth Options
To operate efficiently, a business needs to cut down on as many unnecessary costs as possible. Two basic operational costs that most businesses can't avoid are electricity and water utility bills, but you can reduce your utility consumption with proper area selection.
Many tech businesses such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Sun Microsystems sometimes look to rural areas for some of their data centers. In many cases, data needs to be distributed in a general location and not necessarily be located right on the edge of a major city such as New York, Atlanta, Chicago, or Los Angeles to be effective. The cost to buy land drops, and the utility costs are usually cheaper as well.
Beyond a passively lower cost, you can negotiate with the local government and utility companies for a few deals on services. You need to know the right arguments, such as discussing the bulk amounts of power being used and the benefits to the local economy. Be careful, as many rural areas are waking up to the less-than-guaranteed job creation prospects that may come from a data center. Be sure to back up your claims, or have a plan for forcing economic stimulation that doesn't negate your rural savings.
Creative Control Of Local Infrastructure
One problem with designing a technical building in populated areas is that underground cabling, overhead wiring, and many other infrastructure changes can come with too much consultation.
The problem is real and can lead to legal challenges against your company if you aren't careful. You can't just hire a crew to dig anywhere in a city or even most towns, as you'll likely hit an underground internet connection, water pipe, or electrical connection that isn't obvious to anyone but the installer and city officials in charge of utility location management.
It's wise to call before digging in any location, but rural areas will have far fewer restrictions. If you buy a lot large enough for your business with access to a road, you should only need to call once as you begin bringing in new connections.
Full control of utility location means faster upgrades and project management for infrastructure. When new businesses move in, you can get ahead of many of the accidental utility damage problems by marking your utility areas while holding a bit of authority by being the first utility customer in the area.
Contact a real estate professional to discuss available land for purchase, or to sell land if you need to get rid of property that doesn't fit in with your business plans.
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