Serviced or Unserviced Office Space: Which One is for You?
Every minute detail and decision of a business startup is an important one. Your office space is your second home for you and your employees. Choosing the right one can be difficult if you’re unsure at what to focus on, besides the final price tag. This, however, could spell problems in the future, though, if you’re not diligent with your research.
To Be or Not to Be: Serviced?
Offices come in two major categories: Serviced and Unserviced. To find out which one is best for you, we need to know what it really means to have a serviced office space, as some descriptions can vary.
A serviced office typically means one that comes complete with furnishings and janitorial service. For most business startups, this is what you want if you are looking to save both time and money before moving into your office.
An unserviced office is not only more customizable, but it practically required for any business dealing with sensitive data or equipment. It is not unusual to find that most traditional office space equipment is inadequate or does not align with the brand you are trying to reflect.
With that said, serviced office space is probably going to be the best value for any small businesses who are looking to squeeze every penny out of their budget and hit the ground running with a quick transition to a bigger and more organized staff working together in an office space.
Office in a Box
The infrastructure is already in-place at a serviced office: everything from internet, electric, water, kitchens and vending machines, and the security that holds it all together. All these individual things must be carefully planned and invested in separately if you’re going for the unserviced office space.
Having the ability to go out, purchase an office space, get a quote on all the intangibles, and paying one flat fee for everything is a huge advantage for any company who just doesn’t have time to add up individual services, which allows for a higher potential of budgeting mishaps. Chances are good that if you go the unserviced office space route, you’ll probably start with a fairly cheap monthly bill, but as time goes on, you’ll find new things you’ll need to install, new staff to hire, and unexpected maintenance bills that begin to pile up and thus put your company over budget very quickly.
Let’s not forget, even though your unserviced office space mean you have the ability to choose your own contractors, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting better services. Security isn’t automatically untrustworthy or terrible if you’re going with an office that is already contracted with someone. Shopping around for a trusted security company can not only be expensive, but it can also be completely irrelevant at the end of the day.
So, serviced or unserviced? It all comes down to how much experience you already have with leasing office space and how flexible your budget is out of the gate. It is highly recommended that new startup companies keep things simple and as least complicated as possible. Don’t take precious time away from the most crucial period of investment into your business to argue over the types chairs and office couches, unless that’s your business sector.
