How Companies Find the Perfect Office Space for Their Needs

Choosing an office space isn’t just about finding a building with enough desks. It’s one of those decisions that impacts nearly every aspect of a business from day-to-day functioning to long-term viability. And most companies only make this choice once every few years; there aren’t many practice runs to get it right.

Yet what’s good for one company is terrible for another. A tech startup with twenty employees needs something completely different than an accounting firm with fifty employees. This is before even considering budgetary requirements, location decisions or public perception efforts to woo certain clients.

The Space You Actually Need

Most companies start by determining how much space they actually need. The original rule of thumb was about 100-150 square feet per employee, but that’s an antiquated piece of advice. While offices require less personal desk space, they may require larger collaborative spaces, meeting rooms and breakout areas.

It’s helpful to consider how your team actively works. Do they have their heads down all day? Then more private spaces are needed. Do they collaborate the entire time? Open spaces with solid acoustic design are preferred. Do clients come in frequently? The need for reception and meeting facilities becomes imperative.

The best option is to map out a typical week and see where the bottlenecks occur. Are there too many people vying for meeting rooms? Is there no quiet space for phone calls? These patterns illuminate more than any calculation of square footage can provide.

Location Is Key

Wherever an office is located is more important than almost anything else. It shapes recruitment potential (people will not drive more than 30 minutes on average), client perceptions and even what potential partners can be found in a close radius.

But location itself is determined in different ways. Companies now look at available public transportation routes, parking options, amenities that employees do use and whether the area has a brand personality for the company. For example, a creative agency could thrive in an up-and-coming warehouse district. A law firm may need something more traditional.

When searching for office space rental Singapore and similar markets, businesses weigh proximity to commercial centers against price, while others feel being slightly outside of the main business district gives better facilities at the same price; it’s a decision that changes based on where employees live and where clients expect them to be.

Design/Layout Flexibility

The physical layout of a space will determine if it’s good for you and your team or forces everyone to go crazy within the first six months. Some spaces come blank canvased. While that allows for maximum flexibility, it also incurs a need for fit-out options. Others come furnished which means lower start-up costs but less control over the space themselves.

Savvy companies assess current conditions and assess what can be done with them, too. Are walls movable when the team structure inevitably changes? Is there room to add meeting spaces if necessary? Are the data/electrical outlets far apart, meaning all potential wiring will have to be redone or are they conveniently located?

Natural light deserves its own consideration as well. There are less artificial lights needed when windows allow natural light in and people work better with more windows than closed-off walls. Therefore, if you compare two identical spaces and one has better windows, it tends to trump even a slight additional cost brought on by that improvement over the other comparable space.

The Actual Cost Picture

Base rent is just the tip of the iceberg. Most spaces come with commercial leases and service charges related to building upkeep – maintenance staff, security presence, common area maintenance – and then utilities, internet, insurance and whatever fit-out is necessary to make the space suitable for the actual business.

Where businesses sometimes fail is that they go in with a budget based on rent and then find that occupancy costs overall run roughly 30% higher once everything else is calculated in. By asking for specifics on everything that will make up the costs beforehand saves any surprises further down the line.

Some spaces offer more “all-inclusive” setups where everything comes under one monthly payment as opposed to piecemeal, which makes for easier accounting but also means paying for that convenience in higher overall rates with everything included at the start.

Lease Terms That Matter

Length of leases is one of the first things negotiated but it isn’t the only thing that matters. Break clauses, renewal options, rent review clauses and who is responsible for repairs shape whether or not a lease is good for the long haul.

Those companies who know they will grow quickly negotiate expansion rights, essentially first refusal on available adjacent space if it opens up – this allows for expansions without burdening any successful hiring process with relocation woes after every hire. On the flip side of that coin, companies who are unsure of growth patterns may want flexibility at a slightly higher square footage price instead of locking themselves into something they can get out of if they pay more per foot.

Finding out what is able to be changed in a space is also imperative; some landlords are lax about renovations; others require permission just to hang a picture. If a company has specific requirements for the space, it’s better to identify them ahead of time than be subjected to woes after signing in good faith.

Building Quality/Amenities Matter Too

The building itself counts as much as your floor/suite within it does; what’s the HVAC situation like? Are there enough restrooms to accommodate everyone? What’s the elevator situation like at rush hour? These things might seem trivial until they’re observed as problematic.

Onsite amenities add to interest as well as management have positioned themselves successfully to allow companies to hire/retain talent better nowadays. Gyms in buildings, cafes or grab-and-go lunches, bike storage or showers all appeal to employees even if rent is slightly higher because retention and recruitment outweigh costs since they’re providing benefits that most people would have to seek independently otherwise (or be swayed completely by inferior competition).

It’s just as important to assess management responsiveness; buildings with poor management create frustrations no matter how beautiful space exists inside of them; responsive property management teams quickly resolve issues and keep common spaces livable without hassle.

Making The Decision

Once multiple spaces have been explored and options compared on paper, it sometimes comes down to feel just as much as spreadsheets justify accounting estimates. Can you picture employees thriving here? Is this how you want the company presented? Will this be an eventual growth accommodation or restrictive downsizer?

Making informed decisions with proper transparency about expectations will help fulfill compromises made along the way – from budgeting requirements that represent reality over fantasy to location non-negotiables that force compromise elsewhere; trying to hit every checkbox means compromising on everything across the board in response ultimately.

Finally, make sure a choice accommodates a non-immediate future as well; oftentimes companies choose spaces that will work for their current needs without consideration of where they want the company to go down the road making this real estate option a strategic one instead of an independent choice based purely on space.