What should you consider when renting an office?

Knowing what you should be looking for when you are looking at renting an office can be quite a challenge.

Many new companies begin life from a spare bedroom at home or the kitchen table and before you know it you are visiting a cafe a few times a week and then you start thinking about having your own space to work.

Perhaps you are looking to bring on some staff or you are just wanting a dedicated working space that is away from your general life so you have a better work-life balance.

Finding an office couldn’t be easy these days with there being so many online resources available such as Click Offices London Guide, Regus or even RightMove.

If you decide that having a dedicated office is the way to go then what are the sort of things you should be considering to make sure it’s a wise investment?

Do you REALLY need one?

Ok so this question might be counter intuitive but with the sheer number of co-working spaces available in most major cities it may be that a permanent base may not be what you actually need. A lot of these spaces are either free to use or cost very little per month and are ideal for one man band type companies.

Location Location Location

Like buying a house, location can be everything when it comes to your offices. While it may be cheaper to rent office space outside the city is that really the most practical if most of your staff don’t live near by, or there are no good transport links to it for potential clients to come and visit you?

Account for the extras

Paying rent of one part of this puzzle. It’s easy for new tenants to think that once they hand over that cash each month that everything is covered but this is more often than not the case. What about voice and data? Utilities or even the security of the building itself, all these things will need to be considered!

Repairs

Speaking of additional costs it’s very important to make sure you are clear on who needs to pay for what from the onset. If it’s the management company then timescales will be important so much sure to set your expectations out from the start.

Think about how the office will be perceived

It’s very easy to look at potential offices and solely think about the people working in it but what about the clients and potential customers that will be visiting it? If you choose a building that looks run down on the outside but you’ve got for a great cheap price then anyone from the outside is going to more than likely think that your business is struggling due to the state of the building.

Consider lease length

It’s all too easy as a fairly new business to focus on nothing but price and that can mean that you end up signing up to a long term lease. Which won’t be good if the worst happens and your business folds are you are left paying for the offices. To avoid that from happening, make sure you are able to break the lease should the worst happen!

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