Commercial leases do not close fast, and brokers who set expectations otherwise, with clients or with their own cash flow, get burned. From the first tour to a signed lease can run weeks to many months, and that is before the build-out that delays occupancy. This guide walks the full timeline phase by phase, with realistic ranges and the points where deals most often stall, so you can plan a deal and your income around it. For the payment timeline once the commission is earned, see the guide on when brokers get paid, which is a separate clock.
A commercial lease moves through a recognizable sequence. Each phase has its own typical duration and its own ways of slipping.
It starts with defining what the tenant actually needs, then touring the market and narrowing to a short list. This phase varies more than any other, because it depends on how clear the requirement is, how tight the market is, and how decisively the tenant moves. A focused tenant in a market with options can move through it quickly. An indecisive tenant, or a thin market, can stretch it for months. For the broker, this is the longest stretch of unpaid work, since nothing pays until much later.
Once the tenant settles on a space, the parties negotiate a letter of intent setting the key business terms, rent, term, allowances, and the like. The LOI itself can be signed in days or take a few rounds over weeks, depending on how far apart the parties start. It is not binding in the way the lease is, but it frames everything that follows, so time spent getting it right here saves time later.
This is where the deal gets real and where it most often bogs down. The lease is drafted, reviewed, and redlined, with attorneys on both sides working through the legal terms behind the business points. This phase commonly takes weeks and can stretch to a couple of months on a complex deal. The detail of this stage, the redlines, the legal review, the business-point negotiation, is covered in depth in the guide on the LOI-to-execution timeline, which zooms into exactly this window.
When the lease is agreed, final signatures execute it. This is quick once negotiation is done, often a matter of days to coordinate signatures. Execution is the milestone that earns you the first half of your commission, so it matters for cash flow as well as for the deal.
Here is the part brokers underestimate. A signed lease is not an occupied space. The build-out, the tenant improvement work, has to happen before the tenant can move in, and it runs for months on anything beyond a simple space. Occupancy, and the second half of your commission, waits on it. Build-out timing varies enormously by asset class and scope, which is covered in the asset class guide and in the guide on TI allowance and commission timing.
If a deal is taking longer than expected, it is usually stuck in one of a few predictable places: an indecisive tenant dragging the tour phase, a wide gap on LOI terms, a slow legal back-and-forth in lease negotiation, or a build-out that has slipped. Knowing which phase a deal is in tells you both how much longer it likely needs and what, if anything, you can do to move it.
The practical lesson for a broker is that the gap between starting a deal and being fully paid on it is long, often the better part of a year once build-out is included. That is why leasing income is lumpy and why forecasting and reserves matter, both covered in the cash flow guides. And it is why, when an earned commission is finally stuck behind the occupancy phase, an advance can convert it to cash rather than waiting out the build-out.
From first tour to signed lease commonly runs weeks to several months, depending on the tenant, the market, and the complexity of negotiation. Occupancy, and the second half of your commission, then waits on the build-out, which adds months more.
The tour and requirement phase varies most, and lease negotiation is where deals most often bog down. After signing, the build-out is usually the longest single stretch before occupancy.
Because the space has to be built out before the tenant can move in, and tenant improvement work runs for months on anything beyond a simple space. Occupancy, and your second commission payment, waits on that build-out.
This guide is general information for commercial real estate brokers. Timelines are typical ranges, not guarantees, and vary by deal and market.
