Service
Design & layout planning
The drawing is the cheapest part of the project and the only part you can change for nothing.
What the visit records
A site survey takes a few hours and settles the questions that otherwise get assumed:
- Internal dimensions, ceiling heights, and where every obstruction sits
- Columns, doors, loading bays and traffic routes
- Sprinklers, lighting, heating and cable runs that limit where shelf levels can go
- Floor condition, joints and flatness
- Any racking or shelving already there, and whether it can be reused
- Your forklifts: how high they lift, how much room they need to turn, and what you plan to replace
Then the numbers
Capacity planning compares layouts against each other rather than against a target. For each option you get the number of pallets it holds, the aisle widths, the equipment it assumes, and what it costs.
The comparison that usually matters most is aisle width. Narrowing aisles from what a counterbalance forklift needs to what a guided truck needs can fit roughly 40 per cent more racking into the same building. It also commits you to specialist trucks and a much flatter floor. That is a business decision, and it should be made with both numbers in front of you.
Where warehouse layouts usually go wrong
Designing around the building instead of the stock. Filling the shell efficiently is easy. Filling it in the order your stock actually moves is the part that saves labour every day for a decade.
Ignoring the forklifts. Racking is cheap compared with changing your fleet. Designing aisles your existing trucks cannot work in is a common and expensive mistake.
Forgetting what happens at the edges. Goods in, goods out, staging, returns, damages and empty pallets all need floor space. Layouts that use every square metre for storage push those jobs into the aisles.
Treating height as free. Every extra level needs lift height, decent lighting, sprinkler coverage and a floor flat enough to work on safely at that height.
What you receive
A layout drawing in PDF and CAD format, a count of how many pallets or metres of shelving each option holds, a list of the parts, a written proposal, and a summary of the assumptions behind the numbers and what would change them.
None of it commits you to placing an order.
What that means in practice
- 01
Options, not one answer
Two to four layouts with pallet counts, aisle widths and costs, so the choice between fitting more in and reaching it is yours.
- 02
Measured, not guessed
We record heights, obstructions, floor condition, doors and sprinklers. Capacity comes from what is there, not the floor area on the lease.
- 03
Honest about doing nothing
Sometimes the answer is to rearrange what you have rather than buy more. If the numbers do not justify the spend, we will tell you.
Questions
Design & layout planning, common questions
Is a warehouse site survey really free?
Yes. The visit, the layout drawings and the written proposal are free and come with no obligation to go ahead, on the basis that we would rather quote against measured facts than guesses. Detailed structural calculations and formal submissions for a job placed elsewhere are chargeable.
What is the right aisle width for a warehouse?
Aisle width follows the forklifts, not the other way round. Counterbalance forklifts typically need 3.5 to 4.2 metres, reach trucks 2.6 to 3.0 metres, and guided narrow-aisle trucks 1.6 to 1.9 metres. Narrower aisles fit in more pallets but need more specialised trucks and a flatter floor. The right width is the narrowest one your chosen truck can work safely at full height.
Can you design around racking I already have?
Yes, and reusing what you have is often the largest single saving available. The site survey records who made it, what condition it is in and whether it can be extended. Where the parts can be identified and are undamaged, they can usually be reconfigured. Mixing parts from different manufacturers in the same run is never acceptable, because the published weight ratings only apply to matching components.
How long does a warehouse layout take to design?
Usually five to ten working days from the site survey to receiving the drawings, depending on how many options you want compared and how complicated the building is. A straightforward single-option layout can be quicker. If planning or building regulations are involved, those add weeks rather than days, which is why we flag them at the start rather than partway through.
Next step
Tell us the building. We will tell you what it could hold.
Send a drawing, a sketch, or just the internal dimensions and the height. You get back a layout, what it will hold and a costed proposal.