The right kind of office space will take you far in the business world. Your workers can focus better, and clients will be impressed by the amount of thought and planning behind it.
Needless to say, you must also find one that’s affordable for you and provides you with everything necessary.
So, let’s find out ways to make your dreams come true!
Source: smallbiztrends.com
Contents
Create a checklist with numbers
Before you start the rental office chase, figure out how many of each thing you want. For example, settle on how many cubicles or work desks, departments, or toilets you need.
Next, assess how much area each of these must cover. For the reception and waiting area, how many seats do you plan to fit?
If you want a presentation room, break room, kitchen, and smoking area, assess how much space you will allocate to each. If you want cabins, then how many and how big?
Lastly, figure out how much you can invest every month for rent, by what time you want to seal the deal, and how long you want to stay.
This may feel like an extremely daunting task, but it will eventually help you simplify the overall hunt.
Choose a desired layout for your office
Next, focus on the layout of the office you want. Different types promote different office cultures and have different pros. Some of them are:
- Cellular: This one divides the entire floor into separate rooms. Everyone is isolated, and this is the best for law firms for confidentiality maintenance. It also helps employees focus better.
- Traditional: This type works best if you want multiple individual closed office rooms along with a waiting space for clients.
- Open-plan: Here, the desks are laid out in an open space without any barrier or partition. It encourages open communication whenever necessary. According to one statistic, 77% of workers admitted that this layout helps their productivity.
- Cubicles: This is much like the open-plan layout but has partitions on three sides.
There are many more such choices, so think about your and your employee needs first!
Source: yarooms.com
Talk to the right realtor
To get a suitable office space for rent, you must next seek the right realtor. Choose a realtor that carefully focuses on your needs and budgets and only then suggests options for you.
Moreover, working with a realtor is much better than aimlessly hunting for available office spaces. Most commercial space landlords register their property in their listings, so you will save a lot of time in looking for the right place.
If you have more conditions on your mind, clearly communicate about it. Don’t wait for them to ask you. You can also get a printed list of things you want in the rental space to pick the pace.
They will dial down to a range of properties based on your needs and save you the hassle of checking every option out there.
Communicate with the landlord about amenities
Once you shortlist a few of the properties, plan a face-to-face meeting with the landlord. Some landlords rent their space with major essential amenities. This might include a variety of things as follows:
- Printers and/or photocopy machines
- Furnished conference rooms
- Furnished workspace
- Fiber internet
- Water filtration services
- Coffee or tea machine
- Parking places
If the landlord provides those, know how much of the rent goes for those. Check if the amenities are of good quality because you don’t want to pay for faulty things.
Source: rackspace.com
Explore the area alone
During office hours, travel to the prospective office location by the most used commute by your employees. Understand how easily your employees can reach the office and whether it’s easy to navigate if they have their own commute.
Check if the people coming via several public commutes have a safe route to reach the location.
Moreover, you must also check for restaurants, convenience stores, stationery, electricians, technicians, and other repairmen and resources available in the vicinity.
After all, if anything goes wrong in the office, you need immediate support!
Know about the landlord
Throughout the time you rent the place, you will deal with the landlord regularly. So, it’s better to find out more about their personality ahead of time.
You may not find much about them directly because they probably won’t show flaws easily. So, while you explore the area, find out about their reputation.
While you may depend on the realtor for this, it doesn’t hurt to be extra cautious. If you find any suspicious or fraudulent history about them, don’t take that place.
Source: microsoft.com
Find out what’s customizable
Of course, unless you build your own office, you can’t really find your dream office space. You will always need to make some or the other changes.
So, speak to the landlord about what you’re allowed to change and not.
For instance, learn if you’re allowed to design the office with new wall paint or furnish it with plants and new lights. Learn about all the rules and adhere to those if you’ll do major renovations.
Check for security features
The safety of your employees and business is of utmost priority. So, discuss this both with the realtor and landlord. Know whether the building has surveillance cameras. Know if they have keycard access to the building.
Ask what measures they take for mechanical and technical faults. For instance, if a filled elevator stops working, what’s their first action?
Get a clear idea beforehand and sign the lease only if you feel secure.
Source: medium.com
Take a legal advisor’s help
Before you sign the lease, let a lawyer study it on your behalf and explain everything in simple terms. Make sure that there’s no sneaky extra cost or extra condition hidden in the papers. Also, check if insurance, taxes, and maintenance are included.
Specifically, check the lease period, the beginning, the end, and renewal options. Learn how much security deposit rules, like what must be done to gain it at the end of the lease.
Learn what happens in case you want to end the term earlier than the lease period. Find out about the penalty and whether their policy works for you.
Over to you
If you follow the above tips, you will definitely find the perfect office for your business. But along with those, you can also seek opinions from fellow business owners to ensure you get the best deal!
