Whether your plumbing operation employs five or 50, its home base — the office — says as much about your business as your trucks. Time and money spent renovating could be a valuable investment.
Like it or not, first impressions stick. An out-of-date facility gives visitors the impression a company doesn’t care about appearances. If potential customers see your office is looking worn, they may assume you don’t care how your business looks and jump to the conclusion that you don’t pay attention to cleanliness and condition of your work either. This is not the image you want to project.
IS IT TIME TO REMODEL?
Updated office space can impress customers who visit occasionally as well as potential employees who are more likely to want to work for a company with clean, contemporary facilities. An office facelift can be a morale boost for longtime employees too.
After spending at least five days a week in the same office, month after month, year after year, you and your co-workers may take the space for granted, but it’s possible your office isn’t working as well as it could. Try to see it with fresh eyes and consider:
- Is there a lack of storage? Is every surface covered and every closet and cabinet cluttered?
- Is there a shortage of workspace? Are workers practically on top of each other? Is it easy to get around or could traffic flow use some improvement?
- Does the office give visitors a negative impression of your business? Is the décor dated? Is the furniture mismatched and worn? Does the color scheme scream 1990? Or are you screaming, “what color scheme?”
- Is your office too hot in summer, too cold in winter, or frequently too hot and too cold on the same day? Does it sometimes feel damp?
- Is the lighting too dim or too harsh? Is there little natural light coming in?
- Are there places for employees to collaborate as well as have privacy when necessary?
- Are your office energy bills too high?
- Overall, could the people who work in your office space be more comfortable, happy and productive on the job?
Answering yes to any or all of these questions means your office could do with some sprucing up. Whether that means a thorough cleaning, some rearranging and a fresh coat of paint, or a complete remodel with all new furniture, fixtures and floor coverings depends on your needs and budget.
WHAT DOES YOUR OFFICE NEED?
Begin by looking at your office with a critical eye and then by getting input from all employees and customers. It’s a waste of money to remodel without input from those who actually use the space daily, because you may miss opportunities to fix problems. There may be issues you’re not even aware of.
Once you’ve gotten input, divide suggestions into “must have” items, “would be nice” items and “no way” items. This will help you with budgeting. For example, if an employee notes that loose carpet in an area of the office is becoming a tripping hazard, new flooring is a “must have.” If an employee would like a $5,000 massaging desk chair, scale back on this “no way” item with a compromise “would be nice” item.
This is also the optimum time to contact your utility and schedule an energy audit. Including energy-efficient lighting, efficient heating and cooling, increased insulation, ENERGY STAR appliances, and insulated windows in a remodel can have a return on investment that makes them wise investments. Also, a utility representative can tell you if there are rebates available when purchasing energy-efficient equipment.
Improving insulation and updating your heating and cooling systems may not be glamorous improvements, but the ability to maintain a consistent, comfortable temperature year-round will be greatly appreciated by employees, and could save on utility costs.
Once you know what you want in a remodel, it’s time to find out what you can afford. Talk to several contractors and get their design and construction ideas, input and estimates.
MODERN OFFICE TRENDS
As you think about remodeling, you may want to consider some of the current trends in office design that experts say will help you get the most out of your space and your workers. While it might just seem like simple paint and lightbulbs to you, there are lots of people analyzing office design in order to determine which paint, lightbulbs and other design factors increase worker happiness and productivity.
Wide-open spaces. Knocking down walls will make your space look and feel larger. Gone are the days of floor-to-ceiling walls dividing desks. Individual cubicles have given way to corrals or clusters of desks. The private corner office for top brass that few workers ever enter has given way to managers being out amongst the people.
New types of seating. Office desk options have increased in recent years. Alternatives to the standard office desk and chair include high tables, standing desks, treadmill desks and adjustable-height desks. If you’ve been on a college campus lately, you’ve seen that students are provided a wide range of places to work both independently and collaboratively in student centers and college libraries. As those students enter the workforce, they may want to continue that style of working where they take their laptop from their traditional workstation to a sunny window one day, or to a comfy couch in a secluded corner the next.
Collaborative spaces. Having one large windowless conference room is out. Having multiple smaller meeting rooms is in. Community tables out in the open where a number of employees can sit and confer, or one or two have ample room to spread out and work collaboratively on a project are also becoming popular.
Include areas for privacy. Office space designers understand that everyone needs to make a private call or just be undisturbed with their own thoughts occasionally, so as popular as open-concept office spaces are, it’s still necessary to have a few places with doors where employees can shut themselves off.
Go au natural. To help relieve stress in the workplace, designers go back to nature. Natural surfaces like wood and stone are popular, and the calming colors found in nature are frequently used in decorating.
Let there be light. Just as the colors of nature are soothing, so is looking at nature itself. Adding skylights, increasing window size, and getting rid of heavy, darkening window treatments lets the light shine in, which can cut down on utility costs too.
Writing on the wall. In collaborative seating areas, covering walls with chalkboard paint or dry-erase paint encourages impromptu brainstorming.
Hide the cords. Offices designed and built before technology took over the workplace often have tangles of cables and cords everywhere. Wireless technology as well as innovative solutions for hiding wires and cords will cut the cluttered look.
Make it easy to be green. Incorporate green technologies in your remodel, from energy-efficient lighting to low-flow toilets and water-efficient faucets. In the kitchen area, include bins for sorting recyclables.
Flexible spaces. Be sure your office design isn’t so stringent that there’s no room to add more employees or rearrange things if staffing decreases.
GETTING IT DONE
Remodeling is stressful. You probably don’t have the luxury of shutting down for a couple weeks to do a big office renovation all at once. To decrease business interruption as much as possible, plan any remodel for your least busy time of the year. Encourage employees to take the vacation time they’ve got coming during the remodel or allow people to work at home if possible. Then work with your contractor to find ways to keep the business running smoothly through the renovation. Maybe this means moving everyone to half the facility while the other half is being worked on and then moving to the finished half while the project is completed.
Remodeling will be a bit of a hassle while the work is being done. But once it’s completed you’ll have a company headquarters you can be proud to invite potential clients to visit and a happier, more productive staff.
