How should occupancy evidence inform a lease-consolidation business case?

Density occupancy evidence helps a corporate real estate team identify which space changes are worth testing before a lease decision. A separate cash plan shows what each option could change financially, and when.

Density Advisory brings workplace data into portfolio planning, including questions about seasonality, events and consolidation. Connect the proposed space change to explicit operating and financial assumptions.

Give each option two tests

First, test whether the remaining space can serve the people who need it. Look at simultaneous desk demand, meeting-room use, usable capacity and known busy periods. Include the constraints that averages leave out: which teams can share a neighborhood, which work needs specialist equipment, and where employees report difficulty finding a suitable space.

Second, test the cash consequences of that exact option. An underused floor may be an opportunity to reconfigure, consolidate or avoid future expansion. Its observed occupancy does not establish when its costs can change. Have the people responsible for the lease and budget supply the timing and amounts.

Review the space evidence and cash consequences together before choosing an option.

A worked example: the same move, different timing

The following hypothetical example illustrates how timing affects a consolidation budget. Its assumptions are not Density pricing, market rents or promised savings.

Assume a team is considering a floor consolidation over a 36-month planning window. All amounts are incremental to keeping the current arrangement over those same 36 months. Its finance team models $480,000 a year of avoidable cost and $30,000 a year of additional recurring cost after the change takes effect. Assume a $600,000 total one-time cost allowance. For this simplified model, the one-time and recurring allowances cover all additional costs of the proposed change.

The illustrative annual net benefit is $450,000: $480,000 less $30,000. Applying that amount to different effective dates gives:

Assumed cost-change timing	Months with net benefit inside the window	Net cash benefit over the window
Starts immediately	36	$750,000
Starts after six months	30	$525,000
Starts after twelve months	24	$300,000

For example, the six-month-delay case is 30/12 × $450,000 − $600,000 = $525,000.

This simplified model treats the annual amounts as uniform monthly cash flows and places all one-time costs inside the window. It excludes discounting, taxes, inflation, financing and residual value. It does not establish whether a lease can be changed or which costs are avoidable. The people responsible for the transaction must replace these assumptions with the actual terms and budget.

The point of the example is the effective date: the same space proposal produces different results when the cash changes later.

Keep the assumptions attached to the proposal

Build one short decision record for each option:

• Space evidence: the locations, observation period, coverage gaps, busiest intervals and remaining usable capacity.
• Demand assumptions: expected changes in staffing, attendance patterns, equipment needs and team schedules.
• Cost scope: the specific payments that would change, additional recurring costs and one-time work. Include measurement deployment and software, move and fit-out work, transition overlap, exit costs and continuing obligations where applicable. Assign each cost once so it is not double-counted.
• Timing: the earliest supported effective date, transition period and remaining planning window.
• Decision owners: who validates the space plan, who supplies the financial inputs and who approves the transaction.

Then vary one assumption at a time. Test a later effective date, a higher fit-out quote or a different attendance pattern. For combined scenarios, say which assumptions change together rather than presenting the result as a forecast.

Density provides evidence for the space side of this discussion. Your team's transaction terms and financial model supply the cash side. Keeping those inputs connected helps you compare practical options instead of multiplying unused square footage by an assumed rent.

Turn the analysis into the next decision

Bring Density the buildings or floors under consideration, the workplace question and the deadline for a decision. Ask how to measure the busy periods and space types that matter to that choice. Keep the financial assumptions alongside the resulting evidence so the team can see what would need to be true before proceeding.

Book a demo, or email sales@density.io, to discuss the measurement plan for your next portfolio decision.

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