How to Find Office Space Deals
Setting up an office space isn’t cheap. One of the biggest expenses is renting out the space that will become the future home of your business. Thankfully, there are some excellent commercial real estate tips that you can use to get a better deal on that dream office space. Here’s what we’ve compiled for you.
1. Considering sharing office space: if you have your sights set on a massive office space that you really want to rent (but can’t afford the whole rent), here’s what you do:
Make sure that you have enough cash to cover one year of rent. Put out a ‘shared office space available’ ad. Find another business to share your office space with.
Sharing an office space isn’t unheard of, and it’s a great way to get the space you’ve always wanted without paying full price. But, do make sure that you have enough funds to cover one year of rent – just in case you can’t find someone to share your space right away.
2. Look for sublets: in our last post about moving your office, we talked about understanding your lease. Those that didn’t take the time to read through a lease completely may now be subletting office space. Ask your real estate agent if there are any sublet spaces for rent in your area.
3. Downsize: sure, a massive office with ceiling-high windows looks great, but do you really need that much space? A lot of businesses start off with much less space and make it big. Think about how much you really need – maybe that 600 square foot space isn’t so bad after all.
4. Consider outsourcing: maybe you can outsource a job or two. A ton of competent people work from home offices, and that means less space that you’ll have to create. Another idea is to allow some of your employees to work from home on certain days, so that you can share desk or floor space.
5. Look for towns seeking companies: a lot of town and cities want businesses to set up shop. Sometimes, you can get great discounts just for moving to a town or city that needs new business.
6. Don’t overlook odd spaces: okay, so that cheap rental space was once a car wash. Can you make it work? If you can get the space at a really good rate, think about what a great decorator and some paint can do. Many startups (like Apple) were built on much less.
7. Think about part-time space: some companies don’t need to rent out an office space full-time. Is there a company that you can work out a schedule with? Think along the lines of a timeshare here.
Creativity Helps
Some business owners take a designer along to look at office spaces. Why? It takes a lot of imagination to think about a space in creative terms. If you aren’t the imaginative type, that’s okay. Hire someone to look at spaces with you, give an opinion on the space (can it be transformed?), and offer up some helpful design tips. Maybe you can turn a really ugly space into something amazing – and cheap.
While all businesses would love to have an office out of Mad Men, the likelihood of that happening isn’t so huge at the start of a new business. As profits grow, you can weigh the pros and cons of spending more on office space, but you can really turn any small space into a great office space with just a bit of creativity. Keep your eye on the price of a space before negating a space due to the way that it looks. That’s the key to finding an office space on the cheap.
Getting Ready to Move
When you do find the best space for your business, you’ll need some help setting it all up. That’s where Exodus Moving and Storage comes in. We offer full service moving solutions for all of your office moving needs. We also have ample storage space in both Fort Collins and in Denver, so you can store anything that you can’t move. If you need help packing, we can do that too.
As soon as you see the right office space, you’ll know it – it’s kind of like walking into a home that you just know you are going to love! Keep the above tips in mind, and give us a call for a free moving estimates or storage rental space prices.
