Moving from home to office?

Moving from the comfort or possibly discomfort of your home to a commercial location can be a daunting experience. Luckily Choregus is here to help you on your way…

There is no getting away from it, moving office, especially from a home to commercial premises is going to, in the short term, cause you increased stress and expense. You should plan carefully and make sure you have enough money to tie you over in the interim period. If you work at home your expenses are low so a poor month for your business will not impact you as much as when you are responsible for overheads.

One thing to consider before you start is do you actually need commercial premises. Will it increase revenue enough to cover the costs of the office? If yes, how long will this take? You may be in a position however where you are crying out for office space as business is increasing rapidly and you are managing staff from their homes. And of course it is not always appropriate or effect to continuously use conference calls and email exchange.

Perhaps you don’t need a physical location, just the image of an office with someone to take your calls? If this is the case, then a virtual office could be the solution.

You should incorporate all of this into a business plan. Make sure you have a decent understanding of how much you think your business will grow in the next few months. Will the office space you lease be enough in three or four month’s time. Similarly if you were to lose major contracts or clients would you be stuck paying for an office you cannot afford. Serviced office space contracts have become highly flexible; with shorter and shorter leases being offered. You can even get office space by the day, so the industry is adapting fast to the needs of newly formed businesses.

We recommend that, before you sign any contract for office space, you should have a minimum of four month operating cost. The new costs involved with office rental will clearly eat into your current profit margin. Unless you can immediately boost revenue it is safer to have plenty put aside to cover you. Luckily serviced offices tend to charge, with exception of a few extras, one single payment for all overheads. This can be not only easier to manage but often cheaper for your business. You may loose revenue in the moving process as you will be setting up a new office so having money aside will help cushion this.

So if you are to take the plunge think what you need most from a new location. If you need all your staff to work with each other then lease commercial space that will accommodate them all. But if all you require is a professional appearance, somewhere to meet clients etc, you could rent an executive suite. This costs less and offers you an office, a business address, conference room facilities plus photocopying facilities, reception, secretary that you can pay to use as and when you need them. However, if you are certain of your businesses future expansion then a complete serviced office solution could be what your business needs.

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