The question is usually framed wrong. It is not "how many square meters do I need?" but "who should operate them?" — and that second question has far less to do with size than most assume.
The two arrangements
Under a 3PL/4PL model you contract an outcome: goods arrive, are stored, prepared and shipped. The operator provides the building, the equipment, the people and the process. You keep commercial control of your product.
Under dedicated space you contract a container. You install your racking, your machinery, your systems and your staff. The park provides the building and the infrastructure that sustains it.
| 3PL/4PL | Dedicated space | |
|---|---|---|
| Who operates | The provider | Your team |
| Process | Theirs, adapted | Yours, unmodified |
| Upfront investment | Minimal | Racking, equipment, systems |
| Cost nature | Variable, service-linked | Fixed, area-linked |
| Access control | Shared | Yours |
| Typical threshold | From 500 m² | From 3,000 m² |
The five deciding variables
1. Is your process a differentiator?
If the way you prepare goods is part of what makes you competitive — proprietary kitting, special sequencing, a quality check nobody else applies — outsourcing it means handing it over. There, dedicated space stops being an option and becomes a requirement.
If your process is standard and you compete on price or coverage, running it yourself gives you no advantage: it gives you payroll.
2. How stable is your volume?
High, flat volume amortizes a building's fixed cost well. Volume that swings 300% between seasons turns that building into a liability half the year.
When seasonality dominates, neither pure model works well and it is worth looking at flexible pallet-position rental, where you pay only for occupancy.
3. Do you have people who know how to run a warehouse?
The most underestimated variable. A dedicated warehouse needs an operations manager, supervisors, certified forklift operators, and someone who answers at 6 a.m. when a shift is short. If your company has no such structure and does not want to build one, dedicated space will cost far more than the lease.
4. How much capital do you want tied up?
Racking, forklifts, systems, docks, training. That investment competes directly with inventory, marketing or product development. For a company entering a new market, the question is not whether it can pay — it is whether that is where it wants the money.
5. How fast do you need to start?
Outsourcing starts in weeks. Building your own operation starts in months. For a foreign company that has just decided to serve Mexico, that gap is often the whole argument.
The crossover point
There is no universal figure, but there is a pattern: most operations move to dedicated space when volume no longer fits comfortably in the outsourced model, or when the process becomes proprietary enough that adapting it costs more than running it.
Until one of those is true, outsourcing is usually the more efficient decision — and the more reversible one.
A third path that gets overlooked
Choosing is not mandatory. Combining is common: dedicated space for base inventory and your own process, plus 3PL or flexible rental to absorb peaks, plus cross-docking for freight that is only re-sorted.
Both models are available at San Luis Potosí and Querétaro.