The short answer
As of July 2026, base rents on small industrial space in Vermont average around $12 per square foot per year, and all-in cost including common area maintenance typically lands between $15 and $20 per square foot per year. For a 1,500 SF bay, that is roughly $1,875 to $2,500 a month before utilities.
The spread is wide because the advertised number and the number you actually pay are two different things. This page explains the difference, and publishes the full operating budget from our own building so you have at least one honest benchmark to compare against.
Base rent is not the number that matters
Nearly every small industrial space in Vermont is quoted NNN, or triple net. The quoted rate covers the space itself, and you separately pay a proportionate share of what it costs to keep the property running: property taxes, building insurance, and common area maintenance. That second bucket gets abbreviated CAM.
Here is what that does to a comparison. A space quoted at $12.50/SF with $6.05/SF of NNN costs you more than a space quoted at $13.00/SF with $3.00/SF of CAM. The first looks slightly cheaper on the headline rate and is about 16% more expensive in reality. On a 1,750 SF unit, that is roughly $4,500 a year.
The gap gets wider when heat and electricity are bundled into CAM instead of submetered. A building quoted at $9.00/SF with $8.00/SF of CAM looks about 31% cheaper than $13.00 and costs about 6% more once you add it up.
This is the most common mistake tenants make comparing two Vermont listings. The fix takes five minutes and is at the bottom of this page.
Vermont rate benchmarks, mid-2026
| Benchmark | Rate |
|---|---|
| Vermont industrial listings, statewide average base rent | about $12.00/SF/yr, ranging from $6.00 to $25.00 |
| Burlington-area warehouse, a representative brokered listing | $12.50/SF base plus $6.05/SF NNN, so $18.55/SF all-in |
| 310 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon (our building) | $13.00/SF base plus $3.00/SF CAM, so $16.00/SF all-in |
Two things to take from that. Base rents in Vermont cluster in a fairly narrow band, so base rent is rarely where a deal is won or lost. And the NNN load varies enormously between buildings, which is where the real money sits. A $6.05/SF load on a 1,750 SF unit is $10,588 a year. A $3.00/SF load on the same unit is $5,250. That difference is larger than most tenants' entire equipment budget.
Chittenden County generally prices above Rutland County on both base and NNN, so those two lines are not apples to apples. The point is the structure, not the geography.
Our actual CAM budget, line by line
Most listings will not tell you what is inside the CAM number, and many landlords quote an estimate without showing the arithmetic. Here is ours in full, for a 4,703 SF three-bay building in the Rutland Airport Business Park, for the 2026 lease year.
This is a budget, not a record of spend. The confidence column shows how firm each line is, because that matters more than the total.
| CAM line item | Annual | Per SF | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property taxes (tenant share) | $8,248 | $1.75 | Confirmed, 2025-26 assessment |
| Property insurance | $3,000 | $0.64 | Estimated, policy not yet bound |
| Business park association assessment | $2,094 | $0.45 | Contracted, $523.45 per quarter |
| Common area utilities (exterior lighting, water and sewer) | $300 | $0.06 | Estimated |
| Lawn maintenance | $821 | $0.17 | Estimated, 19 cuts per season |
| Snow removal | $900 | $0.19 | Estimated, average winter |
| Total | $15,363 | $3.27 |
Per-SF figures are rounded to the penny individually, so the column sums to $3.26 against a total of $3.27.
How to read this:
Property taxes dominate. At $1.75/SF they are more than half the budget. Any building's CAM is mostly a function of its assessed value and its town's tax rate, which is why identical buildings in different towns carry very different CAM.
The park assessment is the second-largest line and the only contracted one. At $523.45 per quarter it is easy to miss on a tour. Ask about it. Many Vermont industrial parks have one and it lands in your CAM whether or not anyone mentions it.
Roughly a third of this budget is estimated. Insurance, snow, lawn, and common utilities are forecasts, not invoices. A hard winter or a policy that binds at the top of its range moves the total meaningfully. Any landlord telling you their CAM to the penny before a full year of operating history is telling you a forecast, whatever they call it.
Taxes, lawn, and snow are not passed through in full. We retain part of the rear lot for our own use, so tenants are not charged for that portion of those three lines. Insurance and the park assessment pass through in full because they cover the building itself.
Why our published rate is under our budget
Budgeted cost is $3.27/SF. We market and lease at $3.00/SF.
That is a deliberate shortfall of about $1,250 in year one, accepted to honor a rate we had already quoted our first tenant and to move the remaining bays faster.
We are publishing this before we have a year of actuals, which is the honest time to do it. When the first full lease year closes we will publish the reconciliation, actual against budget, line by line, on this page. If the estimates were wrong we will show by how much.
What to ask any landlord about CAM
A CAM estimate that comes in too low is worse for a tenant than one quoted accurately up front, because the shortfall arrives as a surprise. Before you sign anywhere, ask:
- What is in the CAM, line by line?
- What were last year's actuals per SF, not the estimate?
- Does CAM reconcile annually against actual cost, and when does the true-up land?
- Is there a cap on year-over-year increases, and does it apply to everything or only to controllable expenses? Taxes, insurance, and snow are outside a landlord's control and are commonly excluded.
- What is the cap measured against, the prior year's estimate or the prior year's actual?
Ask us the same five. We will send the CAM language from the lease before you sign anything.
What is in neither number
Budget for these separately:
- Electricity. Our bays are individually submetered at 100A-200A, so you pay for exactly what your bay draws and nothing for your neighbor's. That does mean the number is not knowable in advance. Ask any landlord for prior-year actuals on the specific unit. If a building is not submetered and electric is bundled into CAM, a heavy user next door is on your bill.
- Heat, unless the building includes it, which most small-bay buildings do not.
- Internet and phone.
- Your own liability and contents insurance. The landlord's policy covers the building, not your tools or your operations.
- Interior buildout. Racking, benches, compressors, air lines, lifts, and anything you bolt down.
How to compare two Vermont quotes in five minutes
- Add base rate and NNN or CAM rate together. That is your all-in per SF.
- Multiply by actual square footage, not the rounded marketing number. Ask for the measured figure.
- Divide by 12 for a monthly all-in, before utilities.
- Ask each landlord for last year's actual CAM per SF and compare it to their estimate. The gap tells you how well they forecast.
- Ask about reconciliation and caps, using the five questions above.
Worked example on a 1,750 SF unit:
| Building A at $12.50 + $6.05 | Building B at $13.00 + $3.00 | |
|---|---|---|
| All-in per SF | $18.55 | $16.00 |
| Annual | $32,463 | $28,000 |
| Monthly | $2,705 | $2,333 |
Building A advertises the lower rent and costs $372 more every month.
What this kind of space is actually called
Half the difficulty of finding a small industrial unit in Vermont is that the same product gets listed under five different names depending on who wrote the listing.
- Shop space and warehouse space are what most Vermont listings and most tenants actually say.
- Flex space is broker language for a unit mixing warehouse with some office or showroom. Vermont brokers use it constantly.
- Small-bay industrial is the national industry and investor term. It appears in market reports more than in local listings.
- Contractor bays or contractor garages usually signals a self-storage operator's product: month to month, storage-oriented, often without three-phase power or a real lease. A different animal from a commercial NNN lease, and worth knowing which one you are looking at.
- Light industrial unit shows up in zoning and permit language.
If you are searching, run all five. If you are running one, you are seeing a fraction of the market.
Frequently asked questions
How much is a 1,500 SF shop bay in Vermont per month?
Roughly $1,875 to $2,500 a month all-in before electricity, depending on the building's NNN load and the town's tax rate. At our all-in rate of $16.00/SF, a 1,500 SF bay is $2,000 a month.
What does NNN mean on a Vermont industrial lease?
You pay base rent plus your proportionate share of property taxes, building insurance, and common area maintenance. It is the standard structure for small industrial space in Vermont.
What is a reasonable CAM for a small Vermont industrial building?
About $3.00 to $6.00 per square foot per year is common. Below $3.00 usually means a low-tax town or a landlord absorbing cost. Above $6.00 usually means high assessed value, an expensive park association, or shared utilities that are not submetered.
What is a CAM reconciliation?
CAM is billed monthly as an estimate. At year end the landlord totals actual spend, works out each tenant's share, and either bills the difference or issues a credit. Without a reconciliation clause, the estimate is effectively fixed additional rent for the whole term.
Is CAM negotiable?
The rate usually is not, since it reflects actual cost. The structure often is. Reconciliation timing, caps, what the cap applies to, and audit rights are all normal things to discuss.
Why do some listings look so much cheaper?
Because the NNN load is quoted separately, or not at all. Always get the CAM figure before comparing.
Do I pay for electricity separately?
In a submetered building, yes, and you should want to. Where electric is bundled into CAM, you are partly paying your neighbor's bill.
About these numbers
Figures are current as of July 2026 and reflect the 2026 operating budget for 310 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon, Vermont, a three-bay flex building in the Rutland Airport Business Park. Statewide benchmark ranges are drawn from public Vermont commercial listings as of mid-2026. Tax figures are public record.
We are the owner-operator of this building, not a broker. The budget above is illustrative of one building in one town and is not a market survey, a quote, or a contractual term. Actual charges under any lease are governed by that lease.
Questions about a specific space, or want the numbers on one of our bays? Call (802) 417-2107 or email leasing@innovationbays.com.