How much office space do I need? This is a major question that
faces most business owners once they have decided to move
premises.

In many cases this is because of business expansion... hooray -
your business is growing so you need more staff. Sometimes it can
be for other reasons such as you have decided to relocate to a
different area,  your current lease is up so you have to move,
 or that you are taking the first step from working at home to
having an office and employing extra people.

Funnily enough, it doesn't really matter how experienced you are
in business, this question of office space is always hard to
evaluate.

In general, the customary range for office space is usually
between 150-350 square feet per person employed but of course it
all depends on the type of space that you need and the type of
staff you need to employ.

Some advice is to calculate 250 square feet per person at the
planning stage and then adjust this figure accordingly.  If
your business requires private rooms for senior staff for example,
this will take up more floor space than an open plan office such as
a call centre or sale office. If you need additional rooms such as
a showroom or packing room, the area space will have to be factored
into the equation as well.

An important consideration is extra staff. As your business
grows so you will need to take on more people and it can be
difficult to judge.

You don't want to sign a lease on a property that is much larger
than your current needs require , but obviously you don't want to
outgrow your office space within a short period of time either.
Changing mid lease is going to be expensive but paying for
unnecessary space for too long is also going to be a waste of
money. The key here is realistic forward planning and that way you
should be able to find the correct amount of space for your
needs.

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