Need a New Business Location? Read This First

If your home-based business has seen enough success, or the employees in your current office are starting to literally rub shoulders a little too often, then it may be time to think about moving to a new business location. The fact that business is going so well that you need a new office space is great – but it can also be a bit of a curse if you’re not properly prepared.
We’re going to take a quick look at the tricky business of finding a new business premises. There are a lot of mistakes you can make when on the hunt for an office, so take heed of the advice we’re about to share with you!
Do you really need a new office?
Let’s say you’re currently running a business from home. Things have been going really well; you’ve been making a bit of profit that you’ve been able to invest by hiring some employees. Does this mean you have to get an office space for everyone? Not necessarily. Owning a business that employs several people doesn’t require you to have everyone in the same space. While that may seem ideal, it also means making a huge investment that your business might not be quite ready for yet. Consider spending a bit more time working from home and taking advantage of online collaboration technology such as Skype and Google Drive. While you may worry that this doesn’t feel all that professional, there are ways around some of the problems you might be worried about facing.
Location
It should go without saying that the location of the office you’re considering is going to have a massive influence on the price – and the increase in costs that you’ll experience by getting an office in the city might not always be worth it. Let’s say you own a business in England, somewhere on the outskirts of London. You want to move right into the heart of the city; somewhere like Soho, or Waterloo, or Euston.
While those areas come with a certain amount of prestige and can certainly open you up to new business possibilities, those offices are also going to cost a lot of money. Can that additional cost really be justified? If your business doesn’t deal face-to-face with clients or customers in that area almost exclusively, you may want to think twice before signing any leases there. If you really do want the prestige that comes with a “hot location”, you can look into virtual addresses, which lets you use a city address for business correspondence without the expense of having to actually be there!
 
Renting vs buying
A lot of people make the argument that renting is for chumps. And there’s a fairly salient argument to be made there. Why put money into a landlord’s pocket when you could instead have those payments going towards full ownership of a place? Of course, most individuals aren’t going to have the money to buy a business location outright, which is the primary reason why most businesses will end up renting. But you should take care to explore all your options when it comes to finance.
If you feel that this is going to be the best option for you – and you really need to be sure that you’re going to remain in that location for a long time – you’ll want to work with a property finance broker if you want to ensure you can afford such a purchase. You shouldn’t be scared off of renting, however – there are a lot of positives to renting, and it can certainly be the best option for businesses that are still “in their youth”. Just make sure you review the lease very carefully; the place needs to be able to accommodate your business needs, and you don’t want there to be any legal misunderstandings in the future.
The right use of your current building
So let’s say that you already have an office in a commercial property. Most business owners relocate because they feel that they’ve run out of room at their current location. But a lot of people simply don’t use the room that they do have in their current office to its fullest potential. Of course, there’s a difference between using that potential and simply cramming everyone and everything in as tightly as possible. Instead of a move – which, as you may already know, is an expensive and exhausting process that causes a lot of disruption to business – you may want to reconsider your current office design. Maybe desks need to be reshuffled, or even replaced with slightly smaller ones.
If you do definitely need “more office”, then you could consider seeing if there are any available offices in the building you’re already in. Some business owners find themselves lucky enough to be able to starting renting the office next door, or even the one on the floor above. This may complicate certain areas of communication, but this is actually how many multi-floor businesses start their expansions. Paying for two offices might end up working out cheaper than getting a bigger office in a new location – but you will have to research all of your options carefully.
 
Sharing
So this suggestion is going to seem like quite the 180 from the previous suggestion. We just explored the possibility of renting two offices – but what about renting half an office? This isn’t something that a lot of business owners consider, but you might find that this works out a lot better than you’d think. When small businesses get their first office, they often end up with something a bit bigger than they really need. In fact, there’s every chance that you could have shared the office with another small business. This is actually a more common arrangement than you might think.
Sure, it can come with some unique complications, but this can be offset with the use of partitions. Not all owners of commercial property will allow for this, however, so make sure you discuss details in full with both the business you plan to share space with as well as any prospective landlords.