Warehouse Design
Stein Service & Supply has completed more than 10,000 warehouse projects since 1995. We design warehouse layouts to scale and check each one against the sprinkler system and the fire code.
Certified byRoss UllmanPresident, Stein Service & Supply
Warehouse Design Services
Warehouse design is a core service at Stein Service & Supply. We prepare a scale drawing of the building that shows every rack run and the flow of product, with an elevation for each bay type. Some customers have designed warehouses before and ask us to review their plan. Others ask us to prepare the complete design for a move, a new site, or additional storage.
Our primary service area is North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia. In 2025 we also completed projects in 24 other states.
- Review of the stored products, inventory goals, and lift equipment
- Building measurement, or a layout based on the owner’s CAD (computer-aided design) file
- Scale layout with an elevation for each bay type
- Layout revisions, typically two or three rounds
- Code review of the sprinkler design, aisles, exits, and lighting
- Drawings carried into the permit documents and the installation
The most useful starting point is a clear statement of what the customer needs to accomplish and where the current problems are. With that information and a CAD file of the building, we can begin the layout.
Design Decisions
Time spent on design is one of the highest-value steps in a warehouse project, because a layout is difficult to change once the rack is installed. Our team starts with a detailed scale drawing of the building. The layout on that drawing sets the storage height, how far forklifts travel to the dock, and what the permit will require. A change at the drawing stage costs little, but once the steel arrives, the same change requires labor, freight, and rework.
We check the layout against the building’s sprinkler system and the fire code as we draw it.
| Decision | Planned at Design | Not Planned at Design |
|---|---|---|
| Storage height | The rack height matches the storage height that the sprinklers allow, and this is confirmed before the lease is signed. | The sprinkler system limits storage to well below the ceiling, and this is found after the lease is signed. |
| Rack layout | Long runs align with the dock doors. One or two tunnels (openings through the rack at floor level) allow cross traffic. | Loads to a truck travel around the end of a row, and each break in a run requires another upright. |
| Capacity | Beams and frames are rated for the heaviest pallet, including planned future loads. | Lighter steel lowers the initial price, and the beams are replaced when the loads change. |
| Permit | The drawings meet the code, and plan review is routine. | The rack is installed before the permit and may have to be removed, or a fire protection engineer is required late in the project. |
When the sprinkler system cannot support the planned storage, the customer must know that before the rack is sold and installed. That review belongs at the start of the project.
Sprinkler Systems and Storage Height
The first limit on any layout is the storage height, which depends on both the sprinkler system and the products stored under it. Once the top of storage is higher than 12 feet, the high-piled storage rules of the fire code apply, and the sprinklers must be rated for the stored products at that height. Under the same sprinkler system, one tenant can be permitted to 20 feet and another only to 12 feet.
Most customers contact us after the lease is signed. When the sprinklers are not sufficient, an upgrade can cost several hundred thousand dollars and landlords rarely pay for it, so the result can be a building with 30-foot ceilings and 12 feet of usable storage. We review a building’s sprinkler design against the planned storage and report the maximum storage height before the lease is signed.
For a new building or a building purchase, we recommend ESFR (early suppression, fast response) sprinklers, especially in a building that may change tenants. They cost more, but they protect most products at height.
Key Layout Measurements
Three measurements set the limits of every layout in a building. We confirm them before we draw the first bay.
Aisle Width
12–13ft
Typical aisle for a sit-down counterbalanced truck
The lift equipment sets the aisle width. Narrow-aisle trucks operate in 8 to 10 feet, and very-narrow-aisle trucks in 6 feet or less. The fire code sets minimums for all aisles, including 6′8″ of headroom and a maximum dead-end aisle length of 50 feet.
Sprinkler Clearance
18–36in
Kept open below the sprinkler heads
Clear height is measured from the floor to the lowest overhead item, such as a sprinkler head, light, duct, or joist. Standard sprinkler heads usually require approximately 18 inches of open space below them, and ESFR heads 36 inches. What remains below that space is the clear stack height, the maximum height of storage.
Flow
One Way
Receiving to shipping, with no backtracking
Product moves in one direction, from receiving through storage, picking, and packing to shipping, so forklift paths do not cross. Fast-moving SKUs (stock-keeping units) are stored closest to packing.
Rack Layout Principles
Within those limits, the arrangement of the rack decides how product moves to the dock and how much steel the layout requires.
Rack Runs and Dock Doors
Rack works best in long runs that align with the dock doors. When the runs cross the path from the doors, loads to a truck must travel around the end of a row or through a tunnel.
Run Length
Because the end of each run requires an additional upright, one long run with one or two tunnels for cross traffic uses less material than several short runs.
Storage Location
We recently reviewed a 200,000 square foot plant with no rack. All material was stored on the floor at one end and carried across the building to the cutting and sewing lines. Rack next to those lines would eliminate that travel.
Wire Decking and Sprinklers
Sprinkler water must reach every level. Wire deck must be more than 50 percent open, with openings no more than 6 inches apart. Solid decking, or wire deck that does not meet this standard, is treated as solid shelving, which usually requires sprinklers inside the rack.
Not every project requires high-density storage. Where product is stored on the floor and the budget is limited, a row of selective rack along one wall can clear enough floor area to improve operations.
Design Process
Goals and Inventory
We record the stored products, with sizes and weights, and whether the goal is the most pallet positions or the most SKUs. We also record the forklift models, because they set the aisle widths and the maximum storage height.
Measurements
The building drawings are the starting point, preferably as a CAD file. Without drawings, we measure the building, including the ceiling height, columns, sprinkler heads, lights, dock doors, and floor.
Layout and Revisions
We prepare the layout to scale, with an elevation for each bay type, and revise it with the customer until it is final. When the customer prefers a different arrangement, we draw it to the customer’s requirements.
Code Review
We match the commodity class of the products, which is their fire hazard classification, to the sprinkler design, and then check the aisles, exits, and lighting. The jurisdiction’s fire reviewer makes the same checks during plan review.
Permit and Installation
The same drawings go to a structural engineer and into the permit documents. Drawings and plan review usually take 30 to 60 days, depending on the jurisdiction, so we start this work while the steel is on order. Permitting
Case Study
Consolidating Three Warehouses Into One
A utility company needed to move approximately 35,000 square feet of storage from three buildings into one new 32,000 square foot warehouse, with room for growth. The new building had higher ceilings. We designed 20-foot pallet rack to replace the existing 12-foot rack, replaced rows of light-duty shelving with modular drawer cabinets, and placed the small-parts storage on two freestanding mezzanines. Read the case study
New Building
32,000sq ft
Holding the contents of three former buildings
Pallet Positions
2,270
In 196 bays of 20-foot selective rack
Small-Parts Storage
2×
From two freestanding mezzanines in the same footprint
What a Rack Quotation Covers
A complete quotation for a rack project covers the four items below, and all four affect the cost, the schedule, and the permit.
| Item | What the Quotation Covers |
|---|---|
| Capacity | Beams and frames rated for the heaviest pallet at every level, with the rated capacity of each listed. |
| Quantities and sizes | The bays, beam levels, and decks on the drawing. A missing level or a shorter frame changes the scope. |
| Permit | Structural drawings alone are not a permit. Most projects also require a life safety plan (the building’s exits and exit paths, redrawn with the rack in place), sometimes electrical plans, and management of plan review, inspections, and closeout. In North and South Carolina, for example, the permit must be pulled under a general contractor (GC) license. |
| Sprinkler review | When no one has matched the products to the sprinkler design, the jurisdiction may require a fire protection engineer’s analysis later, often at $5,000 to $25,000. |
Warehouse Design Questions
Is there a charge for the design?
Can you review a building before I lease it?
How long does a design take?
Is a permit required?
Does the size of the storage area matter?
Do plastic pallets change the requirements?
Is an engineer required?
Can the layout change after materials are ordered?
Contact
Discuss a Warehouse Design Project
Contact us with the products to be stored and the address of the building.