Webinar Library

Your Building Might Be Bigger Than You Think

Six questions every office owner should ask about rentable area

Adam BoskovichSenior Account Executive

Recorded
November 4, 2026
Length
40 minutes
Format
Live webinar with Q&A
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Most owners have relied on the same rentable square footage for years, while the standards and the buildings themselves have kept changing. Pick one building, work through the six questions below, and use the action plan to see where a closer look could pay off.

How the standards have evolved

Each revision added rentable area.

BOMA Office Standard

  1. 1980Common area counted floor by floor
  2. 1996Building common area shared by all tenants
  3. 2010Two load factor methods: A and B
  4. 2017Tenant balconies, rooftop terraces, and lowest-level shafts
  5. 2024Ground-level patios, tenant storage, covered galleries

REBNY (New York City)

  1. 1987First published; the Manhattan office norm
  2. 2003The “four-inch method,” measured from the outside face of the building
  3. TodayLoss factors ~27%; new buildings 28–29%

Six questions that spot rentable area

Pick one building and keep score: I know, or I’m not sure.

Question 01 of 06

Are you using yesterday’s rules to measure today’s building?

  • Which edition does your measurement report use?
  • Which edition does your lease cite, if any?
  • “BOMA” or “REBNY” alone is ambiguous

Action plan: do you have…

  • Field-verified CAD files with existing conditions
  • A current measurement report on the latest standard that reconciles with your lease language
  • Physical changes (amenity spaces, lounges, patios) that your measurement report doesn’t include
  • A current space accounting book or tenant listing that reconciles with your floor plans

If any answer is “I don’t know” or “I’m unsure,” that’s a good time to call Stevenson Systems.

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