Moving To A New Office? Here’s What You Need To Consider

There are lots of reasons why you might be thinking about relocating your business. You might be on the hunt for new demand, or you may want to be closer to your suppliers, saving on a business expense. You might even be thinking about downscaling if you’re trying to save on costs, or upscaling if you’re looking to expand. But, you shouldn’t rush the move. There are a lot of things to think about and some advice we are eager to give you. However, the first thing we want you to consider is this.

Do You Need An Office?

Your immediate reaction might be, of course, I need an office. As the owner of a business, I need an office for my employees as well as meeting and impressing new clients. Well, this isn’t strictly true. A lot of businesses, yours might be one of them, work almost entirely online these days. If all your business is completed online, there is no need for you to pay a lot of money for an expensive office. You can still communicate with your employees on a network and if you set up a cloud server, easily share all the necessary information.

You might then be thinking about where to store your archives and stock. Rather than renting an office, you could instead use a self storage facility. This is a lot cheaper than an office and is secure enough for all your important files and any equipment you haven’t sold. Some storage companies even offer the service of a virtual office. You can use this as a place to meet your clients as well as a postage address rather than using your home.

You will save on expense if you use this route of running your business. Of course, many companies do still need office space, and this is the advice we suggest you take on board.

Choose Your New Location Carefully

We suggest you consider your new office location and think about all the requirements you need. It should be near good transport links such as an easy access road and rail. This will make it easier for clients to reach your business as well as your own employees. Also, you may want to consider levels of traffic in the area. If it’s a nightmare to get there in the morning your business is not going to be attractive to new, highly skilled employees.

You then need to consider the level of demand in your chosen area. For instance, if you are in the oil industry, you do need an office somewhere like Aberdeen, not the midlands. This is a rather extreme example, but the point should be clear. Check the demand is there before you relocate and find your business struggling for clients.

Assess The Building

When you look at different office buildings, don’t opt for the cheapest. Instead, look for the one that is most suitable for you. Ideally you want a business that already has excellent security features such as CCTV. But, you can add these types of features on later, and we will discuss this further down. You should also be searching for a building that has good facilities such as an excellent internet connection. It’s important that your business has access to the fastest internet connection possible. If your new premises doesn’t have this capability, then look elsewhere.

You also don’t have to look for a building that is already furnished. You can hire an interior designer to fix the building up for you and bring it into the 21st century.

Paying For The Office

When you buy the office, you should not be taking out a loan to pay for it. If you are selling an old premises, you should have enough money in your business funds. If you can’t afford it without a loan, you should not be moving. A loan can be detrimental to a business particularly when it is for something expensive such as property. All it takes is one bad sales year, and you will find yourself struggling to pay it back.

Of course, if your reason for relocating is to expand, you should be looking for new investors to pay for the move. We recommend that you attend a tradeshow and present your plans. Remember, you will have to show how your expansion could benefit them if they do decide to invest in your business.

Making The Move

Once you have bought the office, you’re going to have to start the relocation process. As absurd as it sounds, it has been known for employers to use employees to relocate rather than a removal team. They do this to save on costs, but there is one fatal flaw with this logic. There is a good chance your employees are not trained to lift heavy items and equipment. If they are injured, they will be within their right to sue you, and you can bet the bill is going to be a big one. It’s better to play it safe, pay the extra cost and shop around for a removal team.

As well as this, you should make sure the necessary tech facilities are set up before you move in. At a certain point, you will probably be working out of two offices at the same time with your workforce divided. You should make sure the new office has working internet and servers running if you are setting them up.

Additional Security

Don’t forget, if your new premises did not have the latest security features, you should shell out the cash to buy them. You do want the basics like CCTV and alarms. But you may want to consider buying more advanced pieces of equipment such as ID scanners. Keeping your business protected and secure is in your best interest. In effect, you will be protecting your business reputation before anyone can damage it.

We hope you have found this advice useful. One last tip is to consider an office redesign. Remember you are selling a brand to potential new clients. Your office premise is a part of that brand, so you want it to look spectacular.