Tips When Doing An Office Renovation

There comes a time in any business where the office you reside in, isn’t providing the same necessities that you may need as an organization and therefore, an office renovation may be needed. So here are some top tips when doing an office renovation.

Figure Out A Budget

Budgets are always important, especially when it comes to a business. It might be a tight budget where there’s no flexibility, or you may have plenty of money going spare to spend. It’s a good idea to figure out a budget for the office renovation and making sure this all gets signed off by the relevant individuals. You don’t want to be securing construction companies or purchasing materials before getting the go-ahead of a budget from those in charge. When calculating a budget, always estimate at the top end of costs. Make sure you factor in the work itself and everything in between, including finding temporary space and an extra emergency fund if initial finish dates are pushed back or something unexpected and costly happens.

Know What Is Required

As well as fixing a budget, you also want to know what is required in terms of the building work. Sit down with senior management or anyone that’s relevant to providing an input and find out what needs to happen. This is crucial because in order to get accurate quotes, you need to know the specifics of the job in question. If you’re replacing the windows, then how many need replacing exactly? If you’re extending the office, are you building upwards and if so by how many stories? All this information is worth knowing so that you can amend any budgets before approaching the relevant companies needed to do the work.

Research Construction Companies

As with any type of construction work, whether it’s personal or business-related, you’re putting a lot of trust in the company who’ll take charge of the work. So it’s important that you do your research well when it comes to finding the right construction companies for the job. It’s worth knowing what equipment will be required, for example, if crane hire is needed. Once you’ve found the companies who have everything you need, look at who they’ve worked with previously and find examples of their work. Set up a meeting where you can look at their portfolio in full. Don’t rush into choosing your first option, make sure to shop around, and compare quotes. Companies will also probably have wiggle room so don’t be afraid to haggle where necessary and also play on the fact that you’ve been looking elsewhere.

Have A Plan For A Temporary Office

It’s all well and good that you’ve got the chance to change up your space, however, what’s going to happen to your staff while the work is being done? It might be an option to have as many staff working remotely from home as possible. Those who definitely need to be within a shared space can do so by the company hiring out an office space for a temporary length of time while the work is being done. Thankfully a lot of these shared office spaces are cropping up all over the place, so there’s certainly temporary space available. Just make sure this is all in place before going ahead with any work.

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Let Your Area Know Of Work Taking Place

If you work within a city or within a location where there are next door neighbors, it’s good to let them know that the required work is taking place. This is necessary to make sure that there are no issues with it happening and that if any scaffolding or access of vehicles needs to be made that could obstruct the path of your neighbors, they might have some objections. It’s not so much needed if the renovation work is taking place inside, but even then if there’s going to be loud noise going on for an extended period of time, a courtesy call will be expected in some way, shape or form.

Keep On Top Of Time Management

As construction work takes place, there’s always going to be unexpected issues that may crop up along the way. This can halt work or delay it in some way, and that can end up costing you more money and wasting more time. So to avoid this from happening, it’s good to have someone within the business having direct contact with the builders and making sure that they are keeping to the timings of the work. There’s nothing stopping them from slacking and adding on a few extra days if no one pays attention. At least then if something does go wrong, you’ve got prior knowledge of the problem and that way, you can prepare for it.

Use It As An Opportunity To Do Extra Work

There might be a number of other building jobs, in terms of interior design that might need doing. And while the office is likely to be out of action, it’s a good idea to do this at the same time so that you can effectively kill two birds with one stone. Update any furnishings and make your space more brand relevant in regards to color and overall design. Don’t forget about your property’s curb appeal. Maybe there’s something worth doing there also. Take advantage of having an empty building and give your staff something to be surprised at when they come back.

Office renovations can be quite the challenge, so it’s wise to have all the planning down from the get-go. Figure out the budget and make sure you stick to it and not overspend where you don’t have to. Make sure you know what it is you want specifically done with the office renovation and get this all signed off before moving forward. Research construction companies, plan your temporary space whilr it’s out of action and ensure that you let your locals know what’s happening and what disruptions will occur during the time of the renovation.