Before you sign that office lease, ask these questions.

Part 1

Internet connectivity: the most critical question

Everything else depends on this. Electrical problems are expensive and cabling problems are disruptive, but internet problems are existential, and they are often baked into the building in ways that are difficult or impossible to fix after you sign.

Question 1Which carriers actually serve this building, and what does "fiber available" really mean?

"Fiber available" is one of the most misleading phrases in commercial real estate. It can mean the building has multiple carriers with existing infrastructure and competitive pricing. It can also mean a carrier is willing to run fiber if you pay for it, a process that takes three to six months and costs $10,000 to $50,000 before you connect a single device.

The question to ask is not whether fiber is available. It is which carriers have physical infrastructure in the building right now, whether there are exclusive agreements limiting your options, and what the installation lead time is for each. A single-provider exclusive means you pay whatever that carrier charges, with no leverage and no alternative, for the length of your lease.

Question 2What speeds are actually available today, not in theory?

A building can have fiber infrastructure and still deliver inadequate bandwidth. Speeds are sometimes capped per tenant, and more often shared across businesses in the building, so performance sags during peak hours, precisely when you need it. As a baseline: a small office of five to ten people needs at least 100 Mbps and preferably 250. A growing business of ten to thirty needs 250 to 500. Larger operations need 500 Mbps to a gigabit. Ask for a sample service agreement and current pricing before drawing conclusions.

Question 3What is the redundancy situation, and does the building support it?

A single internet connection is a single point of failure. Real redundancy means a second connection from a different carrier on a genuinely separate physical path into the building. Two connections sharing the same conduit fail together. Before signing, confirm whether a secondary carrier can be installed, whether the paths are truly separate, and whether the building restricts backup connectivity. Budget for it from day one, because the alternative is negotiating with a carrier in the middle of an outage.

Part 2

Electrical and power infrastructure

Technology needs clean, dedicated power with room to grow. This is the problem that surprises people most, because electrical capacity is invisible during a tour and rarely comes up until something goes wrong.

Question 4What electrical capacity is allocated to this suite, and is it enough?

Buildings designed decades ago were not built for a modern office's load. The math is worth doing before you commit: each workstation with dual monitors draws 3 to 5 amps, a network rack 10 to 20, a small server rack 20 to 30, and a break room 15 to 20. Add those against the suite's available amperage. Ask specifically whether capacity is dedicated to your suite or shared, because shared capacity means a neighbor's peak usage affects yours, and that is nearly impossible to solve after you sign.

Question 5What happens to your operations when the power goes out?

In the Bay Area this is not theoretical. PG&E public safety shutoffs and outages are real operational risks. Start with what the building's generator actually covers, which is frequently limited to emergency lighting and elevators, protecting people but doing nothing for your equipment. Then confirm whether you can install your own uninterruptible power supply (UPS) equipment and whether there are restrictions on battery backup. UPS protects against both outages and the power fluctuations that damage equipment over time. It is operational insurance, and far easier to plan for before move-in than to retrofit.

Part 3

Physical space for technology

Network equipment generates heat, needs ventilation and secure access, and has to connect to the building's infrastructure. Where that equipment lives affects both your build-out costs and your long-term reliability.

Question 6Is there a dedicated server room or network closet, and is it actually suitable?

A "server room" on a floor plan tells you little. Converted storage closets with no cooling, no dedicated power, and no security get listed as server rooms all the time. What you want is a climate-controlled, separately secured space that was designed for equipment. The practical minimums:

• Temperature held between 65 and 75 degrees, humidity below 50 percent
• 15 to 30 amps of dedicated electrical capacity
• A separate lock or access control, independent from the suite
• Room for rack-mounted equipment plus cable management, with ventilation

If the space falls short, find out whether you can modify it and what that costs. Retrofitting an inadequate room typically runs $10,000 to $30,000, and that belongs in your build-out budget before you sign, not in a surprise invoice after.

Question 7Where are the building's main network connection points, and how far is your suite?

Buildings distribute network connections from a main point out to individual floors. Your suite connects to one of these, and the distance drives your cabling cost. Cable runs are priced per drop, typically $50 to $150 each, and a typical office needs dozens. A suite on a floor with its own connection point wires up cheaply; one several floors away, with no existing pathways, does not. When comparing spaces in the same building, ask about each one.

Part 4

Existing infrastructure and cabling

The space has a history. Understanding what is already there, and its condition, can save you $5,000 to $20,000, or reveal costs you need to factor in before you commit.

Question 8What network cabling already exists, and is it usable?

Existing cabling is only valuable if it meets current standards and terminates where you need it. The minimum acceptable standard is Cat 5e, which supports gigabit; Cat 6 or 6a is preferred. Anything older is effectively worthless and will be replaced regardless. Even good cabling that terminates in the wrong places means new runs. Ask to see documentation and get quotes for additional drops before signing, because cable installation after move-in is disruptive and expensive.

Question 9Are conference rooms pre-wired for AV and connectivity?

A room with four walls and a table is not a conference room. Modern meeting spaces need network drops, dedicated power, display connections, and mounting for cameras and audio. If those are not in place, you are building them after move-in. Network drops run $150 to $300 per room, display runs $200 to $400, added electrical $300 to $600, and equipment mounting $500 to $1,500. A typical office with three or four rooms can require $5,000 to $10,000 in AV build-out that was not in anyone's budget.

Question 10What is the WiFi situation, and can you install your own?

Building-provided WiFi is almost always inadequate for business use: shared bandwidth, inconsistent coverage, no security segmentation. What you want is your own wireless, roughly one access point per 2,000 to 3,000 square feet, with cabling to each location. What you need to confirm is whether the building allows it. If it restricts ceiling-mounted equipment or cabling routes, treat that as a serious red flag, because it is making a fundamental technology decision on your behalf.

Part 5

Building access and logistics

Technology has to be installed and tested before your team arrives, typically one to two weeks of work that has to happen before move-in day. Whether the building accommodates that is worth knowing before you sign.

Question 11How far in advance can you access the space for installation, and on whose schedule?

Early access is a prerequisite for a working first day, not a convenience. A small office under 15 people needs three to five days, a mid-size office of 15 to 40 needs one to two weeks, and a larger operation needs two to three. Confirm both the timing and the flexibility: can your IT vendors work independently, are installs restricted to nights or weekends, and are permits or approvals required. If the building will not provide adequate early access, you are accepting that your first week includes technology that does not fully work.

Question 12What are the restrictions on equipment delivery and installation, and what do they cost?

Freight elevator reservations, delivery windows, loading dock limits, move-in fees, and vendor insurance requirements are reasonable individually but can combine to make coordination genuinely hard in a busy building. Watch for severe loading dock restrictions with morning-only windows and reservations required weeks out. Get it in writing before you sign, and note how building management handles the questions, because a defensive answer now previews what problem-solving looks like once you are locked in.

Part 6

Security and physical protection

Most security conversations are about the network. This one is about the room. Your equipment is a significant investment and provides access to your data, and the same risks you manage digitally can walk through a door.

Question 13What are the building's physical security measures, and can you supplement them?

Start with the basics: controlled building access or an open lobby, camera coverage, how suite access is managed, and after-hours procedures. The more important question is whether you can build on it. Can you add independent access control to your suite, and can your server room be separately secured? If the answer to both is no, you depend entirely on the building's posture. If you handle regulated data, your compliance requirements may set a higher bar than the building's standard, so verify it before you sign, not after your first audit.

Question 14Is there environmental monitoring, and what happens when something triggers after hours?

Equipment fails when exposed to heat, humidity, or water, and the damage is almost always worse because no one knew until morning. Find out whether the building monitors temperature, humidity, and water in equipment areas, and what the after-hours response is. If it does not, you can install your own sensors inexpensively, but it is easier when the building supports integration. Equipment rooms should hold 65 to 75 degrees with humidity below 50 percent; an alert at 80 gives you time to respond, and no alert means you learn about it when equipment starts failing.

Part 7

Cybersecurity and compliance: the hidden infrastructure risk

Most businesses treat cybersecurity as software. What they overlook is the building. If your equipment sits in an unsecured telecom room or your connection is shared without segmentation, you may be creating compliance exposure and insurance problems you do not know you have taken on.

Question 15Who actually has physical access to your network infrastructure?

Many buildings place tenant internet handoffs in shared telecom rooms accessible to management, other tenants, contractors, and cleaning crews. Find out whether the room is shared, who has access, whether that access is logged, and whether you can secure your equipment in a locked cabinet. If you handle financial, health, legal, or government data, uncontrolled physical access is not a minor concern; it may be a compliance issue.

Question 16Is building-provided internet truly isolated from other tenants?

If you rely on shared or managed building internet, understand exactly what it is. Is connectivity shared? Are networks fully segmented? Can you install your own firewall and control your perimeter? Are there restrictions on bringing in an independent carrier if the building's solution falls short? Most security-conscious businesses deploy their own firewall regardless; the question is whether the building allows it, confirmed before signing.

Question 17Will this space support your cyber-insurance requirements?

Almost no one asks this, and it matters more every year. Insurers now scrutinize infrastructure, and depending on coverage they may expect redundant connectivity, secure equipment placement, environmental monitoring, and documented disaster recovery. If the building cannot support those requirements, you may have a coverage gap you do not discover until you file a claim. It is far easier to confirm compatibility before you sign than to retrofit under pressure after an incident.

Part 8

Future-proofing and how your team actually works

The space needs to support how you operate two or three years out, and on your busiest day, not your average one. Infrastructure that handles average load often fails at peak, and in hybrid environments the gap between the two is wider than it used to be.

Question 18What does peak occupancy look like, and can the infrastructure support it?

Get clear internally on your real numbers: how many people are onsite on the busiest day, whether desks are assigned or shared, and how many simultaneous video calls happen. Hybrid schedules compress attendance into fewer days, so your busiest days are busier than a traditional office. WiFi density, bandwidth, and conference-room capacity need to be sized for that reality, and you will not fix a shortfall by rearranging furniture.

Question 19Are conference rooms truly video-ready?

Modern rooms need reliable bandwidth, strong WiFi, adequate power, proper AV cabling, and sensible camera and microphone placement. These are baseline requirements for a hybrid workforce, not enhancements, and retrofitting them is expensive and disruptive. A screen on the wall is not a video-ready conference room. Verify it before you sign.

Question 20What is the capacity for expansion over the life of the lease?

Think three to five years out. If you are growing, assume two to three times your current bandwidth, fifty percent more power, and expanded wireless. Ask what the building's maximum bandwidth ceiling is, whether there is spare electrical capacity, and whether you can add drops later. If the building cannot support reasonable growth, you may face another disruptive move sooner than expected, a cost that rarely shows up in lease comparisons but should.

Part 9

Smart buildings, costs, and timeline reality

Newer buildings advertise smart features, and those introduce network considerations. The core question is not whether smart systems are good, but whether they are isolated from your network. Building systems and tenant networks should be completely separate; if a building system needs access to your infrastructure, press harder.

Question 21What technology costs are your responsibility versus the landlord's?

This is where expensive misunderstandings happen. Landlords typically cover building internet to the suite demarcation point, base electrical to code, and building HVAC. Tenants typically cover cabling within the suite, additional electrical, their own equipment, and any upgrades for their needs. The gray areas, server-room improvements, added electrical, network upgrades, access control, are worth negotiating explicitly. In a competitive market landlords sometimes contribute; always ask, and get the answer in writing.

Question 22What is the realistic timeline for getting internet and technology operational?

"Fiber available" does not mean fiber ready on your move-in date. An existing building fiber connection runs four to eight weeks from order to installation. A new fiber build runs three to six months, sometimes longer. Cabling runs one to three weeks, and electrical upgrades two to six.

Before you sign

Do your due diligence

You have asked the questions. Now verify the answers before you commit.

• Visit the space during business hours. Run speed tests if building WiFi is provided, find the network closet, check outlet placement, and confirm what is actually in the conference rooms. Ask current tenants about reliability and how management responds when something goes wrong.
• Get everything in writing. "We can definitely get you fiber" and "early access will not be a problem" are not commitments until they are in the lease or a signed addendum. If they will not put it in writing, that tells you something.
• Have your IT provider walk the space before you sign. A 30-minute evaluation catches problems that are invisible on a standard tour, and it costs almost nothing relative to what it can prevent.

The takeaway

What more than 20 years actually teaches you

The companies that move well are not the ones with the largest IT budgets or the most sophisticated teams. They are the ones that understood, early enough to act on it, that a real estate decision and a technology decision are often the same decision.

That is the lesson that repeats: the gap between when infrastructure decisions get made and when the people who understand infrastructure get involved. By the time most businesses bring their IT provider into the conversation, the lease is signed, the timeline is fixed, and the options are narrowed. What is left is execution under constraints that did not need to exist.

The questions here are not complicated, and they do not require technical expertise to ask. They just need to be asked at the right moment, before you commit. That window is shorter than most people realize, and it matters more than almost any other decision you will make about your new space.