Not only should you have the line item in your budget, but if you take a look at what's available early on, you'll have a better feel for how much space will be necessary to lease. If you're working with a space planner or interior designer, the first thing he or she will do is come to you with questions about office furniture. If you're making new space layouts by yourself, don't just count the number of people you expect to have in your office, and start trying to find space with that number of individual offices. It used to be a no-no for consultants and managers to work in an open plan office space, but our ways of working with our clients has changed. Fewer and fewer clients come to an office to do business.
Investors chat with their brokers over the internet.
Homebuyers and sellers expect to have their Realtors email and fax their contracts to them, rather than taking the time to sit through signings. A growing part of the workforce telecommutes, only coming in to the central office occasionally for meetings. Project teams prefer working in the same room so that informal brainstorming sessions can occur when a problem is encountered, rather than waiting for the traditional weekly staff meeting. At the same time, furniture makers have turned workstation panel systems into slightly taller hutches that keep everything you need easily reachable, muffle sound from neighboring cubicles and make it easy to concentrate on your own work when you're at your desk. Before you decide between individual and shared offices, take a look at the solutions available from the big chains and showrooms in your area.