How To Create The Perfect Office Space for Your Company
Creating the perfect office space for your company can come with benefits like improving productivity, and sending the right message about your business to visitors, guests, clients, and your employees. Your office speaks volumes about what your business does, your company culture, and what clients and others can expect from you.
When you are creating the perfect office space for your company, the “how to’s” are broken into two categories. “How to” make your office highly functional, and “How To” make your office aesthetically pleasing. We can evaluate both to help you create the space that is going to serve your company the best.
Bare Bones Function
Before you ever get to the design elements of your new office space, like choosing the best office artwork, you will want to make sure that the infrastructure of your office is on point. Taking care of the infrastructure or pushing your landlord to take care of it is important.
For example, if the sewer line is in need of cleaning, you definitely want to get a sewer cleaning service on the job ASAP. There is no way to create a perfect office environment if it smells of sewer gas. Some infrastructure things are more important than others.
Let’s say you have hard water in your office building. You may want to invest in one of the great water softeners on the market, but you do not have to worry about doing that now. Having hard water coming out of the faucets in the office is not going to prevent you from moving forward with our plans. However, having a plumbing problem will.
Commercial plumbing problems definitely stall your plans. Getting them taken care of immediately will ensure that you do not have to deal with long delays getting your office together. Other areas that must be immediately addressed include:
- Climate control problems. If your HVAC is on the fritz get it looked at immediately. You cannot expect to create the perfect office space if everyone is uncomfortable.
- Electrical problems. You should never ignore electrical problems, not only because they are inconvenient but, because there is a real fire danger. Call one of the top-rated local electricians to manage the issue for you.
- Structural aesthetics. This is addressed below.
Starting out with the right bones will make it easier to create an office space that you can feel proud of and that conveys the right message about your business.
Structural Aesthetics
We had to do a special section of structural aesthetics. Once you have all your structural functions taken care of like a fully functioning electrical and plumbing system, you can move on to the aesthetics of the structure.
What are structural aesthetics and how do you improve them? Structural aesthetics are the aesthetics of the parts of your office that are built-in, like windows, doors, woodwork, and even the sheetrock that makes up the wall.
Some of these structural aspects are easy to upgrade on your own, like painting the interior of the space or the exterior of the space. Other things like getting rid of those old worn-out windows that do not open right and replacing them with brand new commercial windows are best left to the pros.
Replacement windows may seem like an extreme move to upgrade an office space, but it is a move that will deliver a great ROI on your energy bills for the office, and that will also make the right impression.
New energy-efficient windows tell clients and visitors alike that your company is committed to doing its part to conserve energy. Of course, they also look great and can add visual interest when you add some window shutters (decorative or fully functional).
New windows and shutters also can improve security for your office. It can be a win-win situation for your company. Fixing up the structural aesthetics of your office will give you the blank canvas you need to get down to the fun parts of creating the perfect office space.
Creating a Productive Space
Once everything is working as it should, you have the paint done and make other structural aesthetic changes it is time to move on to the furnishings. This can be a fun part of creating a great space.
There are a few things to keep in mind when you are choosing furniture for your office:
- Budget. Set a budget for your furniture before you even start looking. The costs can add up quickly if you are not diligent about your budget.
- Comfort and ergonomics. If you want your office to be productive, then you will have to consider everyone’s comfort. Ergonomic office furniture can help to reduce fatigue and prevent health issues. Consider looking for ergonomic office furniture.
- Style. The style of your office furniture should match your company culture. For example, if you want to convey a fun type of culture, you do not want to go with the heavy leather furniture with dark tone woods.
Your office furniture is going to tell clients and visitors a lot about your company. Certain decisions will be made about your company based on the appearance of your office. How is your company set up? Do you encourage teamwork? Do most people have their own specific function or is there a lot of collaboration?
Your answers to the previous questions should direct not only to the furniture that you choose but to how your office is set up. For companies that focus on teamwork and a lot of collaboration, it is important that there is dedicated space for those team members to come together and collaborate.
Keeping your staff productive throughout the day starts with designing your office, and choosing the right furniture to make it easy to be productive. Of course, space limitations can pose some obstacles, but there is always a way around obstacles.
Defining your company’s culture is the best possible place to start when your goal is creating a great office space for your company. Do these things:
- Get input from employees. Talk to the people who will share the office space with you to find out their thoughts. It is always easier to make decisions when you have other opinions. You never know what great idea will arise when you talk to people.
- Do your research into the latest trends. Office space trends often change with the times. See what is happening with the rest of the business world and take away some ideas for your space.
- Consider getting professional design help. If you are stumped, it is okay to reach out and get some professional design help. It is an investment that can save you tons of stress.
Making your office into the perfect space for work can be a challenge, but with a little effort, you can create the perfect space for your staff to enjoy and stay productive.
Aesthetics
While function is of course, a very important part of creating the perfect office space, aesthetics is also very important. Filling your office space with the best office artwork that represents your company culture can be an easy way to create a great space.
Art can be a powerful tool in creating a great space not just for appearance, but can also assist with the function of the space. For example, the best office artwork will snake in a bit of branding for your company without being obvious.
Let’s say your business is in finance. The best office artwork will prove to be a reminder about how important it is to take care of your finances. It can be a visual reminder of why clients are in your office in the first place.
Of course, the best office artwork is not limited to what you hang on the walls. Art can be highly functional as well. For example, premier lighting fixtures can be art forms as well as providing the perfect lighting in your office space.
Getting creative with the pieces that you add to your space can be inexpensive and speak volumes about your business. For example, an antique framed United States Flag can add the perfect artistic touch to a space, and support your company’s patriotic culture.
The best office artwork will be versatile. For example, instead of just adding a great aesthetic, the best office artwork will double as furnishing, lighting, or even a cover for the unsightly ductwork from HVAC installation.
The best office artwork will decorate, define a space, and provide unexpected functionality for your space. Furniture can be artistic, bookcases, and more all can add that artistic touch, and support your company culture.
One of the easiest ways to really ramp up the aesthetic of your office is by incorporating the best office artwork. It is a worthy investment on all accounts.
Managing Small Spaces
One of the biggest challenges companies face when trying to create the perfect office space is the size of the space. The best office artwork can decorate any sized space, great furniture is made to accommodate small spaces, but storage is an entirely different story.
Even today when electronic files are king, there are still so many things in an office that can steal your floor space. This can be a tremendous problem for those office spaces that have a small footprint, but there are ways around it.
Adopt lean practices. Lean practices mean you are not generating any documents that you absolutely do not need to. It also means keeping low stocks of everything until you absolutely need to replenish them.
Lean practices are not only good space savers but they are good for your budget as well. You will find that operating costs start to go down once you adopt lean practices. Of course, there are other ways to make the most out of small spaces, including:
- Use vertical storage space. Even the smallest of spaces have wall space where low-profile shelving can be hung. Look up for storage solutions instead of looking at the footprint.
- Consider modular office solutions. Modular office walls come with ready built-in storage. It can be an easy solution for creating a great office space in a small space.
- Minimalize everything. Use smaller furniture, choose the best office artwork made for small spaces, and use visual cues to make the space look larger.
Working with a small space does not exclude you from creating a perfect space for your needs, sometimes, you have to just be creative to pull it all together. There are plenty of tools out there that you can use to give the illusion that your space is larger.
For example, strategically placed mirrors can make space look much larger. Some of the best office artwork can also had the feeling of more space. A tall slim piece of artwork will force the eye to look up instead of notice that there is not a lot of floor space.
Careful choices of the best office artwork will add visual interest to smaller spaces and draw the eye away from the lack of space. If you get creative you can make the best of any space. Do not let a small space stop you from having the perfect office for your company.
Final Words
Creating the perfect office space for your company is important for so many reasons. It helps to brand your business, keep your staff productive and just feels good to come to everyday. It is worth the effort to create the perfect office space for your company.
There are a ton of benefits to have a great office space. Making the right first impression with potential clients is essential to growing your business, and easy to accomplish when you have the right office space.
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