Looking for office space to rent or buy? There’s more to consider than the way the office looks. Below are five important factors to weigh up when choosing the right office space.
Cost
Office space can be a big expense. It’s essential that you can comfortably afford the lease or mortgage. You should also consider energy bills and any taxes that may come with the office space.
To save money on the cost, you should first consider the location. Avoid trendy commercial areas where the rates are likely to be sky-high (if you’re not going to have customers visiting your office regularly, a trendy location isn’t likely to matter anyway). Look for buildings that are well insulated to avoid high heating costs in winter.
Accessibility
Your office building needs to also be in an accessible location. If you have customers that will be visiting your office or employees that will be working there, it’s essential that these people can easily reach your office. When they arrive, you should also consider aspects such as parking and disabled access.
Always look into local road networks and public transport links. It’s possible that there may be improvements that you can make to the property to make it more accessible for when people arrive – you can click here to look into parking lot paving services. You may also be able to build wheelchair ramps or add lifts.
Size
Your office needs to be big enough to accommodate you, your employees and any equipment and resources you may need to store there. You should also consider your future goals and whether you will need space to grow in the near future.
You’ll get more space for your money by similarly considering the location. Buying an office might give you some freedom to expand in the future if necessary.
Design
The design of the office is important too. There are lots of things to consider when it comes to design such as the layout, the number of electrical outlets, the amount of natural light flooding into the building and the types of material used.
Modern office buildings tend to be better designed for today’s office needs (they can also be a lot cheaper than older offices). That said you may have unique needs that an older building is better suited to (if you’d prefer to have lots of separate closed off rooms to an open plan layout, an older building might be better).
Security
Your business needs to be secure from burglars and vandals. When considering the design of the building, look into security features such as security lighting and burglar alarms. On top of this, consider how secure the area is and whether there is a high crime rate.
You can research an area’s crime rate online to help determine whether location is likely to be at risk of being burgled. When considering security design features on the building, bear in mind that you may be able to make your own improvements such as installing CCTV or adding reinforced windows.
