The Total Cost of a Bangkok Office Lease
From headline rent to total occupancy cost
Headline rent is one component of office cost. This page measures the rest from the building records we maintain, then combines them into a monthly figure on a common basis.
Page updated: 11 September 2026
• Parking, across 346 buildings stating a rate: median ฿2,200 per bay per month, with the middle 80% between ฿1,300 and ฿3,000.
• Electricity, across 296 buildings stating a tariff: median ฿6.84 per unit, range ฿6.00–7.35. A further 38 buildings refer to the utility rate rather than setting their own.
• Air-conditioning system, across 346 buildings: 188 central or chiller systems and 112 split systems — a distinction that determines how both electricity and after-hours use are billed.
• After-hours air-conditioning is quoted two ways: 97 buildings charge hourly, median ฿350 per hour, while 110 charge by area, median ฿2 per square metre per hour.
We publish no figure for how far total cost exceeds rent as a percentage. That ratio depends on floor area, number of vehicles, after-hours hours and the building\x27s air-conditioning system, which vary too widely for a single market-wide number.
Separating recurring from one-time cost
Comparing buildings on a common basis begins with separating the two. Recurring costs arise every month for the life of the lease; one-time costs arise on entry and on exit. Combining them without distinction makes a building with low rent but a full fit-out requirement look cheaper than it is.
Each should use the figure from that building\x27s own quotation where one exists, not a market average. The medians on this page are for checking whether a quotation sits at a normal level.
Neither the number of months of deposit nor the scope of reinstatement is standard across buildings, and both change with the length of the lease. Read them from the draft lease rather than inferring from building grade.
Rates observed across the buildings we record
A reference point for whether a quotation sits above or below normal, not a substitute for one. The median is the 50th percentile and the range spans the 10th to 90th, which excludes outliers at either end.
| Item | Median | Middle 80% | Buildings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parking (THB/bay/month) | ฿2,200 | ฿1,300–3,000 | 346 |
| Electricity (THB/unit) | ฿6.84 | ฿6.00–7.35 | 296 |
| After-hours A/C, hourly (THB/hour) | ฿350 | ฿10–1,500 | 97 |
| After-hours A/C, by area (THB/sqm/hour) | ฿2 | ฿1–3 | 110 |
After-hours air-conditioning is quoted in two different units, so it appears as two rows rather than one meaningless combined figure. A building that states no rate is not necessarily free of the charge — it means the rate must be requested case by case.
The air-conditioning system changes the cost structure
Of the 346 buildings stating a system, 188 run central or chiller plant and 112 use split units. The distinction is not merely technical: it changes how the tenant pays.
A central system follows building hours. Its cost is usually inside the service charge or billed by area, and use outside those hours requires notice and an additional charge at the building\x27s rate.
A split system is under the tenant\x27s control and can run at any hour, but the electricity lands directly on the tenant\x27s meter. An organisation that regularly works outside standard hours may therefore reach a lower total cost in a split-system building even at a higher rent per square metre.