Renting Office Space – Any Handy Tips Please

[10 Yetis]

Hello one and all,

I am after some tips about renting office space, whilst we are a few months away from definitely committing; we are starting to set in place the budget to make the jump.

So far we have identified various properties (via Ash & Co – anyone got any feedback about these?) and in our area we are looking at around £3k p/a for an office space of around 50 Sqm. This does not include business rates.

The areas I am looking for advice on are:
How much is getting broadband installed (I know I could trek around all the providers and ask, but people hear often have the answers quicker)
What are the options and costs associated with getting multiple phone lines set up (i.e. one line in, several out etc, ability to transfer calls).
What are the ballpark costs of water/electricity and any others – per month?
What else (apart from equipment) should we take into account?

Not forgotten insurance, got that covered…

p.s. anyone in the Gloucester/Cheltenham region fancy exploring the opportunity of an office share?

[SDawson]

You may wanto look at Basepoint Business Centre in Tewkesbury (just of J9 of M5). Basepoint provide office space on a two weekly rolling licence agreement which means that you can move out quickly with no penalty. the rents are inclusive of business rates, external repair, insurance, heating, lighting, power etc, waste disposal, service charge and on-site management.

24 hour 7 day access - fax and photocopying, free parking, meeting room, tenant lounge, digital phone system, broadband internet access etc (the last two may be of particular interest).

there are 74 units in total business and studios and workshops. PM me and I will give you a contact name and number.

Hope this helps

Sarah

[Cornish Steve]

In addition to finding a location to open a sizable corporate office once, I've worked from several executive suites. Here are my observations from those times:

1) Get the shortest time commitment you can. You never know what might happen initially, so don't commit to five years, for example.

2) Be sure to find out costs for telephone and data services. Some property owners make most of their profits in this area.

3) Do you have control of heating, air conditioning, and general utilities? Are the toilets close by?

4) How is mail handled? Is there a convenient place for dropping off mail?

5) Is there somewhere close by you can visit for lunch?

6) Is the office and general location a place you would feel comfortable taking customers?

7) Does the building have sufficient parking spaces?

8 ) How noisy are the general environment and the immediate neighbours?

9) Make sure you're not paying for services you don't need (e.g., a shared conference room).

Good luck as you take this major step.

[sherry_d]

My thought too are you may need serviced offices as there are no major contacts to sign. Its on a month by month basis. If you are happy then you can committ to getting your own offices as these tend to be on a long term basis.

With serviced offices rates will be included too and in most cases it is just a case of moving in. No need to worry about buying furniture, installing phone lines or redocarating. All you will need is your computer.

[DuaneJackson]

Serviced Offices are the way to go if you can. Expecially if you willhave clients visiting.

Don't forget about business rates as well as rent. Check if the price you've been given for the 'rent' includes any service charges.

Brodband should cost around £20 a month.

For your phones, give BT a call and ask about something called FeatureLine.

If you fancy being dahn sarf I've got an office here that's empty. I'm sure we can come to some arranngement.

Perhaps you work on our PR 35 hours a week and your other clients the rest of the time? Oh, hang on. That's what you're doing already!

[Cornish Steve]

No need to worry about buying furniture
It's much cheaper to buy and build your own furniture. The pay-back is in months.

[Coding Monkey]

I just signed all the papers for my new office today. They were able to provide me with all of the information related to the office that Steve asked for, yet the main benefit was that I used to work there so knew what was available anyway. My problem isn't how much broadband takes to get installed, but how long it takes. I've had to change providers 3 times now (bad service) and they generally take over a week to connect you.

[Coding Monkey]

It's much cheaper to buy and build your own furniture. The pay-back is in months.

Not if you're me and spend £700 on a chair. ;)

[Cornish Steve]

It's much cheaper to buy and build your own furniture. The pay-back is in months.

Not if you're me and spend £700 on a chair. ;)
Funny you should say that. Whereas I spent the minimum on desks, filing cabinets, etc., I spent more than half my furniture budget on a good chair. That was about eight years ago, and it's still a great chair. Since I knew I was going to be sitting at a desk for thousands of hours, I wanted a really comfortable chair.

Still, I'd buy every time. Who knows how comfortable a rented chair would be.

[Coding Monkey]

Funny you should say that. Whereas I spent the minimum on desks, filing cabinets, etc., I spent more than half my furniture budget on a good chair. That was about eight years ago, and it's still a great chair. Since I knew I was going to be sitting at a desk for thousands of hours, I wanted a really comfortable chair.

Still, I'd buy every time. Who knows how comfortable a rented chair would be.

I'm actually looking into purchasing electronic desks, as they're designed so that your body isn't still all day, and they alter, meaning your posture changes and you're not so susceptible to strains. I don't care about the cabinets etc, but the chairs and desks I consider quite important. I love my Aeron chair. Truly a great purchase.

[KM-Tiger]

If the telephone and broadband connections are vital to your business, make sure they are installed and working before you move.

There is an interesting story here (http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=plusnet&Number=2318117&page=3&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=) about how this can go wrong.

[Coding Monkey]

If the telephone and broadband connections are vital to your business, make sure they are installed and working before you move.

There is an interesting story here (http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=plusnet&Number=2318117&page=3&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=) about how this can go wrong.

That's very true. BT took nearly 3 months (no exaggeration) to connect my current line. I ordered it at the beginning of November, and it was scheduled for around the 20th, only to finally be installed at the end of January. And coincidentally I'm with Plus now, and they do indeed take about 7 days to connect. I think running a web design company without the Internet might not be the best idea.