By Linh Luong, Broker — Core CRE. Draft v0 process note, August 2026.
Houston industrial tenant representation is occupier-side work on warehouse, flex, and distribution space — not a tour of whoever has a sign on the building. The sequence is the same one we use on retail: requirement, scan, RFP, LOI, lease. The building type changes the questions. This article is that industrial filter. The service hub is Houston tenant representation for retail and industrial space. The general process write-up is how tenant representation works in a Houston commercial lease.
Call 832-956-1444. That is the Core CRE line. We represent the occupier, not the landlord.
What “industrial” means on a Houston search
For this page, industrial is warehouse, distribution, and flex that an operator actually occupies — clear height, dock and grade doors, trailer parking, power, and truck access. It is not an office search. If you occupy a storefront, stay on the retail side of the tenant-representation hub.
A tour list without those fields is a week of driving past buildings that cannot receive your trucks.
Requirement before anyone books a warehouse tour
Write the requirement first: square footage, clear height, dock vs. grade, auto parking vs. trailer parking, power, timing, and which Houston industrial corridors you will actually run from. Eastside, north, and west do not substitute for each other just because the rent looks similar on a flyer.
Site selection has its own framework: commercial site selection in Texas. Who pays the broker is a separate explainer: is tenant representation actually free in Houston?
RFP — make landlords price the same industrial fields
The RFP is how you get comparable numbers. For industrial, the fields that actually move the all-in number are base rent, NNN (taxes, insurance, CAM), trailer-parking rules, truck-court maintenance, dock-equipment responsibility, and the tenant-improvement dollars if you need operational build-out or racking-related work. TI is its own negotiation: TI allowance in Texas commercial leases.
Do not let each listing broker invent a response format. You will spend the next week translating instead of negotiating.
LOI, then the lease — industrial clauses that show up later
Lock base rent, term, free rent, TI, and operating-expense treatment in the LOI. In an industrial lease, also put in writing: dock and leveler repair, trailer parking counts, after-hours truck access, and who pays to restore racking or floor load at the end of the term. If a term is “to be negotiated in the lease,” assume it will be negotiated against you.
NNN treatment belongs in the comparison sheet, not as a surprise after occupancy. The occupier-side NNN primer is triple-net leases explained.
What this page is not
This is not landlord representation. If you own the building, start at landlord representation. This is not a search for office product. This is not tax advice.
Questions on a live industrial requirement or a renewal: call 832-956-1444 or start at tenant representation.