Why You Should Build Your Own Office Building And How To Do It
When your business is expanding and you find that the office is getting cramped, it’s time for an upgrade. Most businesses tend to just lease an office space but that isn’t always the best thing to do. There are a lot of benefits to owning your own office space so even though it’ll cost you a lot of money, it’s worth it. Firstly, you’ll be your own landlord which means you aren’t at risk of being caught out by sudden price hikes. You’ll also end up saving money in the long run because, once you’ve paid back all of the money you borrowed to build it, you won’t be paying monthly payments. If you’re leasing, you’ll be paying rent indefinitely. The other major benefit is that your own office building is a great asset for the company which offers you a lot more security in the future. On top of all of that, you have complete freedom over the building so you can design it in a way that is perfectly suited for your business. You’re also able to make any changes that you see fit in the future.
If you’re convinced by that and you think that building your own office is the best thing for you, there are some things you need to know.
Choosing The Perfect Location
Location is one of the most important things when you’re building your own office because you have to consider both your employees and your clients. If you build somewhere that’s far away from your existing office and your employees will struggle to get there, you’ll end up losing some of your best people. It’s equally important that you think about the location of your clients. If they’re going to have to go out of their way to come to your office, they might think about taking their business elsewhere. When you’re trying to find somewhere to build your own office, make sure it’s near to where you are now.
As well as finding somewhere that’s easily accessible for clients and employees, you need to remember that you’re going to get deliveries to the office. If your new office is in the middle of nowhere and it’s a pain to get to, you’ll end up with missed deliveries and potentially higher delivery fees.
Once you’ve found a location that fills all of those criteria, it’s time to start building.
Find The Right Contractors
Building an office is no easy feat and you’ll need a lot of contractors to do it. You’ll have to find a good builder, an electrician, a plumber and an earthmoving company to clean up all of the debris afterwards. If you don’t choose wisely when finding contractors, you could end up paying a lot more than you need to for a poor quality office building fraught with problems. The easiest way to know whether a contractor is good or not is to look at personal testimonies from past customers. You can ask people that you know but make sure you’re looking into contractors that specialize in office buildings rather than residential properties. Ask anybody else in the industry that has built their own offices and see who they used. Beyond that, you can check websites and see if there are any reviews on there. If there aren’t any reviews on the site at all, that should ring alarm bells. After all, the only reason they would want to hide reviews is if they’re bad.
It’s important that you don’t just go with the first or the cheapest contractor that you find. You need to find a lot of different possibilities and get them to quote the job for you. Make sure you’re getting a breakdown of all of the materials and labor costs so you can see exactly what you’re getting charged for and why some quotes are more than others. Once you’ve got all of your quotes in, you can compare and work out the best one. If you let the contractors know that you’ve got a better price elsewhere, you might be able to get a discount. Always remember that you need to find a balance between quality and price rather than just going for the cheapest quote regardless.
Health And Safety
Any new office building needs to abide by health and safety regulation and if yours doesn’t, you’ll find yourself in a lot of trouble. In terms of the building itself, it’s down to your contractors to ensure it’s up to code. Make sure that you’re getting all of the relevant paperwork to prove that everything is above board. When you’re designing and furnishing the inside of the building, it’s down to you to create a safe working environment. Always read up on the health and safety codes for an office and make sure that you’re abiding by them. That means having enough fire extinguishers, well signposted fire exits etc to deal with emergency situations. If you’re caught on the wrong side of regulations, you’ll end up with a hefty fine.
Create A Flexible Workspace
Recent studies into working practices and productivity found that the traditional office setup is not conducive to good work. Putting people in cubicles to work on their own all day isn’t the way to get the best out of them. The truth is, there’s no one way to get people to be productive because everybody works effectively in their own way. That’s why it’s important that you create a flexible workspace that caters to everybody’s needs. You should include some traditional desk setups where people can get on with their day to day tasks, but don’t use the entire space for that. You should also put some group work spaces for employees to brainstorm together and work on projects. When you’re decorating it, it’s important that you don’t just paint all of the walls in a dull color and fill the place with gray furniture. Boring decor doesn’t inspire a good work ethic so change it up a bit and put a few plants around the place.
Follow these instructions and you’ll be able to build the perfect office building that encourages your employees to work hard.
