Warehousing is a never-ending project for most industries. No matter how much storage you currently have in your facility, there will always be the need to bring in new storage, move products around, and more to make sure you have enough room for all the products you need.

And yet sometimes, an overhaul of your current warehouse isn’t enough. When your business grows to a certain point, or if your inventory has expanded farther than expected, you may need to either move into bigger facilities or expand to multiple locations to meet your storage needs. However, there’s a lot more to warehouse expansion than just leasing a second (or bigger) building and move all of your stuff into it. If your business is considering an expansion or a move into bigger warehouse spaces, there’s a few things you need to consider before committing to the move.

The first and most important thing to take into account is the type of inventory you store. Do you handle consumable items, fixed inventory, or both? The space needs are vastly different for both, and the requirements for fixed inventory (such as parts used in a factory that will be replenished at a constant rate) as opposed to consumable items will include different storage and different rotation needs. Remember in this case consumable means anything like retail inventory that is being sold externally and not used for your business, not just perishable goods. If you deal more in one inventory type as opposed to another, you might find yourself better off renovating the space you have to keep costs down.

Another big deciding factor is the type of business you operate. E-commerce and retail are always going to need more warehousing space than the manufacturing industry just due to the way they operate. Retail needs a constant influx of products and SKUs of all kinds of sizes and shapes to meet customer demand, and this can easily lead to the need for expansion. Manufacturing, on the other hand, will generally keep a fixed amount of products for a fixed amount of time, and any storage problems encountered can generally be solved by smarter inventory usage and better use of the current space.

This brings us to one of the biggest questions you should ask: can you get by with rearranging your current storage? Not to crush anyone’s dreams of expansion, but it’s no secret that a lot of warehouse space in America isn’t being used as well as it could be. Particularly for newer businesses, a lot of storage problems can be solved with better use of industrial storage, wire shelving, and floor space. Take a careful look at what your space requires, and see if your needs can be met with some careful rebalancing of the floor space you’ve got currently.

And after you’ve checked all of these and you still find your currently facility isn’t meeting your needs, then it might just be time for a move. Otherwise, making the most of your current space is always an economic and faster choice.