After staff salaries, the largest cost to most businesses is their office space.
The type of space you procure, and your ability to scale it up and down, for the good times and the bad, presents a critical business decision, particularly with the range of office choices now available.
Below we take a look at some of the differences between traditional and flexible office space:
Traditional lease space: While the security of a long-term lease and the ability to fully customise your office space is appealing (and may well be the best option for some companies), without robust budgeting, the hidden costs of occupancy can add up. | Flexible office space: For individuals and smaller businesses and projects, flexible solutions such as serviced office space and co-working options provide a more financially secure and sensible home to work from in the short to mid-term. |
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Managing the property | From the things you probably have thought of (utilities, cleaning, security, IT facilities, FM etc.) to the things you might not have (cost of printer ink, who’s going to look after and replace those office plants or take care of general upgrades). It is again clear to see how your bottom line can be impacted and your cash flow analysis becomes more complicated. | Unless you work for a large company the chances are you don’t have a property team that has the experience or the time dedicated to managing your office space. With traditional space this means an added responsibility for existing employees, or new staff need to be hired. A key advantage of flexible office space is that the monthly fee is a total occupancy cost. |
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Property procurement costs | Securing a leased space can be a costly and time-consuming process. You will need to source lawyers, a fit-out company and agents to name just a few. Not to mention the time required for senior management involved in the process of viewings, design configurations and negotiations with the various suppliers. Learn how our parent company The Instant Group can help with procuring your new office space. | With the help of Instant Offices it is quick and easy to procure flexible office space for your business. And better yet, the process of procurement doesn’t cost a penny. With no lawyers’ fees to worry about, a fit-out that is already taken care of, a signed agreement that fits on a page of A4 and immediate occupancy it is an attractive option to a wide range of businesses. |
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Unused space | Finding the optimal space for the long-term is an inexact science. Firms grow and contract – that is the nature of business. With leased spaces, there is not the luxury of flexing space up and down. Empty desks are not only a cost to the business but they can affect team morale. | Unused space, what unused space! With flexible office providers you only pay for space that you need. So whether that seasonal rush means you need to bring in a number of temporary staff that need a desk to work from for a couple of months, or you need to downsize, flexible solutions allow you do this quickly and easily without harming your cash flow. This type of office space expands or contracts just as your business does. |
So where do you actually save money?
With a traditional lease the rent actually only makes up around 40% of the cost of your office space in London (UK regions are even less than this). Below is a breakdown of just some of the costs associated with traditional office space that you can avoid when taking flexible office space as an alternative.
Fit out and furniture | Clearly this depends on specification and the level of work required but you will typically be looking at between £20 and £40 per sq. ft. |
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Business rates | Business rates can vary dramatically depending on the size of your business and location. The vast majority of serviced offices will include your business rates in the monthly rental price. To find out how much that can save you take a look at this business rates calculator (UK). |
Service charge | According to JLL’s 2015 OSCAR reports, the average service charge cost for a UK air conditioned office is £7.46 per sq. ft. (£6.59 per sq. ft. for non-air conditioned). Broadly speaking, the major contributors to this charge are the following, M&E services (22.8% of total charge), security (18.9%), electricity (13.5%) cleaning (13.1%), site management resources (9.4%) and management fees (8.5%). For more see: http://www.jll.co.uk/united-kingdom/en-gb/Documents/OSCAR/Office/jll-uk-OSCAR-Office-2015.pdf |
IT and telecoms | Many serviced offices pride themselves on providing top-quality IT and telecoms but if you go it alone you will be looking at an approximate monthly rental cost of £1,500 for 100Mb Fibre & 10 Mb Copper. |
On top of these major outlays you will also need to spend time negotiating individual contracts to take care of services including (but by no means limited to) cleaning, maintenance and dilapidations, recycling and confidential waste, finder fees and property negotiation.
Our best in class property team are aware as to the trends in the market and how to negotiate the best property deal. Furthermore we are aligned in our objectives to finding you the right solution that fits individual business needs so whatever type of office space you feel is right for you get in touch with us first.
Find the right solution for your business and discover the types of office space we offer, including:
– Leases, sublets and workshop units.