Moving On Up: Three Office Options for a Start-up Company

[Today’s blog post was written by Peter Ames from Office Genie.]

That all important move into an office space can be a step on the ladder to small business success. There are many reasons to do so. You may find that fewer distractions boost your productivity and your work/life balance can really improve. Additionally, a professional property gives a much better impression than a living room.

Traditional lease

Renting a property from a landlord in the traditional manner is the most popular means of leasing office space. There are a number of reasons why:

• They’re often the cheapest way of renting commercial property (particularly if you already have all of your own furniture.)
• You are secure in the knowledge that you have your own property tied down for a long-term period, and have the peace of mind at the end of the day when you get to lock your own premises.
• It’s yours to customize however you like.

Life for a start-up can be unpredictable, so the long-term nature of leased property can tie you down to an office that could become unsuitable if you want to expand, contract, or simply move location. You’ll also have to manage the property yourself, meaning you have to spend time managing utilities and services as well as maintaining it both inside and out. The costs of these extra expenses can really make leased offices more expensive than they may at first seem.

Shared Offices

A very good option for a start-up is to rent empty desks in another company’s office. More and more businesses are choosing to rent out spare space, so there’s plenty available. They offer many potential benefits:

• Short term (often month-to-month) contracts make these a flexible option.
• All-inclusive packages mean you don’t have to waste your valuable time paying bills and maintaining an office.
• Space is often immediately available; allowing you to just turn up, plug in, and play.

Of course there are downsides to desk rental. Most of these issues arise from sharing space with another company, which means you won’t have any control over the office or your co-workers. You will be sending data through another business’ network, so make sure you are comfortable sending potentially sensitive information in this manner. You also may not get to lock the offices at night, so you’ll have leave valuable technology behind or face carrying it with you every day.

Serviced Offices

These all-inclusive centers are essentially super-sized shared offices; they offer all the benefits of desk-rental plus some or all of the following services (and maybe more):

• Executive meeting rooms
• Post and phone services
• Reception areas for receiving clients

One further reason they can be particularly handy for a startup is that some provide support services specifically intended to help a growing business.

As with shared offices, you’ll probably have little control over your office space and the services provided. However, you may have some ability to customize your work space (e.g. choosing color schemes and adding logos) and you may get to choose from a variety of service packages.

Due to the high level of service that you’ll receive, these are most often the most expensive office option. If you want to have everything taken care of for you then this may be a small price to pay!

Peter Ames is writing on behalf of www.officegenie.co.uk, a UK-based website where you can find thousands of spare desks.