When starting out as a new business or moving premises, choosing the perfect layout and ideal office design for your workspace can be baffling. Selecting the right company to carry out the work can be equally as difficult. Here, the experts at JBH Refurbishments have answered a few questions to help you make those all important decisions.
How Do I Decide What Premises Will Best Suit My Business?
If your business depends on passing trade, then a central location is key. Make sure you do lots of research into your target customer before signing a lease to ensure they are the passing trade for that area. Even if your location is perfect, make sure there are no direct competitors nearby, or due to set-up around the same time as you, as this could absolutely kill a business.
For office-based businesses, there are several options available in towns, industrial estates, business parks and in rural barn conversions. While a central location may not be necessary, it’s still vital that you can be easily found and preferably near to a motorway for deliveries. If your business requires regular deliveries make sure an HGV can access you safely.
Once you’ve found an area where you want to set-up your base, look for a premises that has enough parking for a growing business and room to expand. Natural light and sufficient storage space may also be something that you need to consider.
What If There are No Properties Available Where I Want My Business to Operate From?
Ask the existing businesses in the area if they have plans to renew their lease, you may be in luck, as expanding businesses often have to move premises to accommodate addition staff and equipment.
You can also approach businesses to see if they have an underutilised area within their premises that you could occupy. Be open-minded, as you can create an office space within the eves of a tall building or in an awkward position. We’ve done it and it paid off for us.
How Can I Make the Office Layout Work for My Business?
If you’re a new business, it’s important to think ahead. If you’re planning to take on extra staff, you will need an area for private conversations and meetings, so at least one partitioned room would be essential.
To encourage a team environment where quick discussions can take place its best to have a central workstation, where the team face into one another, rather than looking at a wall.
Having sufficient storage is important. Storage walls offer floor to ceiling storage and are a great way of utilising the space available.
If visitors are a regular occurrence in your business, clear signage is a must. When they walk in the door; is it clear where they go to meet the first point of contact? Do you need a waiting area?
To help define a clear pathway for visitors use a combination of wooden flooring and carpet to steer them in the right direction.
How Do I Decorate My Office to Suit my Business?
When it comes to office design there are many aspects that you need to take into consideration.
Think about the use of colours. Perhaps use colours from your logo for the best impact. This will make you appear more professional and inject colour into your office.
If you want to be more adventurous, there is some incredible wall art available and it can be made bespoke to you. Photographs can be printed on a large scale to showcase your work to visitors. Failing that simply framed large photographs will also do the trick. You can also use vinyl graphics, inspirational wording or the company’s strap-line to uplift a bland room.
Lighting is a great way to decorate your business without even picking up a paint brush. Use recessed coloured LED lighting within furniture, such as a reception desk, floating ceilings and integrated into the wall. This is a striking look that will also compensate for lack of natural light.
Flooring and furniture is a great way of bringing colour to room. We have built bespoke reception desks for businesses, who really want to make an impact on their visitors when they first walk in.
Who Can I Trust to Carry Out The Work?
Base your decision on genuine references from recent clients. This is the only way to truly feel confident in your decision. We make a point of asking our clients for testimonials on their own headed paper, which we show clients when we provide a quote. All of our testimonials are completely genuine, but there are companies that will make them up themselves. If they have a testimonial from a company on their website, call that business and ask them how they found their work.
All too often we have been asked to finish the work that an inadequate refurbishment company has not completed and have had to take out court proceedings. Don’t be one of these businesses – a reputable company will not have a problem with providing details of their previous clients.
Also, look for a company that employs its own workmen or at least some of them. A company that only outsources its workforce will not be consistent in its finish. A project manager should also be assigned to your project and provide you with a main point of contact for any questions or concerns you may have.
If the answers to your office refurbishment or fit out questions have not been answered here, call the team at JBH Refurbishments on 0333 207 0339 for more helpful advice or use our contact form to get in touch.
