Choosing an office space for your business is not only a huge decision, since the place where you conduct everyday affairs leaves a strong impression, but it’s also complicated. You’ll need to take into consideration proximity to transportation, what your budget will accommodate for rent, and what size space you’ll require. However, if you remain focused on the essentials and don’t become overwhelmed, you’ll be sure to find an office space that suits your needs perfectly. Here are some of the main factors to deliberate when you’re moving to an office space.
The Basics for Employees
The first thing you should consider when you’re searching for office space isn’t necessarily price, but proximity to things like public transportation or highways that will allow your staff to commute. To get started, hop on Property Guru for resale HDB to see what’s available on the market. Each listing will come replete with a map showing the surrounding area and what’s accessible. This is something you should pay close attention to before proceeding. If an office is too far away from any type of access point, your employees may have a problem getting into work. Even worse would be a situation where you’re ready to make a new hire, but the talent pool is substantially reduced because it’s difficult to get to your office.
Plan Based Around Finances
Rents and purchase prices go up and down in the real estate industry, and that’s the same for residential property as well as office space. However, now is a prime opportunity for small businesses to start looking for office space. Reuters reports that business rents are set to drop due to problems with the Singaporean economy. While this is unfortunate overall, this also means that there are bright spots that may work to your advantage. This is all part of the philosophy of planning based on fluctuations in the real estate market, and signing a lease or mortgage agreement at the right time. While at one point in the year you may find that real estate for prime areas is far too high for your budget, at times when vacancies are on the rise, a particular space you may have coveted before could be available. It all depends on timing, so don’t jump on the first promising space you see.
Be Open to Innovation
Choose an office space that’s open to growth for you and your company. Innovation is extremely important, as is allowing yourself physical space in which to develop. For example, Channel News Asia reports that a space called Trehaus that supports family co-working space has opened, and is the first of its kind. The space is designed to allow parents in the business world drop off their children for classes or care while they conduct their professional lives in the same space. It also increases networking opportunities for other individuals in the same situation. This is the type of forward thinking that not only gets industry professionals to view you as a leader in your field, but it can also lead to benefits you may have not even predicted. Try not to limit yourself by squeezing into a space that’s too small or too specific, should you ever want to change things up.
Planning for Size
One of the most obvious, yet often overlooked, aspects of choosing office space is how much space you’ll actually need. When you walk into an office space for rent or sale, you may think upon first glance it’s more than large enough. Don’t ever rely on this logic, because if you’re wrong, you’re stuck with a nonfunctional space you’re paying for. Therefore, what you want to do is go into the office space you’re considering with a tape measure, and a list of your office furniture that you know you’ll be using. For example, have a look at individual offices and see how your own desk would fit. Measure the main floor if you have a cubicle layout for more than a few employees, and see how they’d fit. The key is to be thorough about the exact needs of your space, rather than estimating.
Always be precise.
Choosing the space where you conduct all of your business transactions and do your work is not only important in terms of cost, but also simply in atmosphere. You’ll want to find a space that fosters productivity and a pleasant environment to get work done, which should be balanced with rental price. If you’re looking to hire new team members, remember that you may be missing out on talent if you choose an office too far away from mass transit or that’s not readily accessible via public road. These are all elements that will factor into where you decide to finally settle your desk. You just need to determine which ones are the most important, and go from there. With so many office spaces available on the market right now, though, you’ll have a wide selection to choose from.
