Lease rent is often the largest fixed expense for small and mid-sized businesses. During an entire lease term, the total cost of your lease (including base rent, common area maintenance expenses, and other costs) can easily total hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For example, a 2,500 square foot retail space with a monthly base rent of $5.00 per square foot and common area maintenance (CAM) expense of $1.50 per square foot over a 5-year term with 3% annual increases amounts to a total lease cost of $1,035,281.48. That's right, it's over a million dollars! This does not even include taxes, insurance, fees, build-out costs, and other expenses commonly tenant’s responsibility under commercial leases.

If you were going to spend this much on anything, wouldn’t it make sense to invest in due diligence before deciding whether to buy?

Use our total lease cost calculator to discover approximately how much your lease really costs. The calculator does not account for annual rent increases, which is common in commercial leases, but will give you a rough estimate of how much your lease really costs. This tool can help you decide whether it is worthwhile to invest in a lease review to help you manage the risks inherent in commercial leases.