With any large project, planning is the key to being successful. But a plan is only as good as the questions answered by it. Here is a guide put together by the knowledge staff at Premiere Works that covers the major sections of an office renovation plan that will help you save time and money.
Be Clear on Your Goals
What do you want to achieve with the renovation? Do you want to stay in the space another 10 years or be out in two? Are the changes for you or for your clients? Discuss and agree upon your goals. Get them down on paper. Don’t resist changing them along the way, but don’t start until you’re comfortable with the direction of the renovation. A false start can be an expensive one.
Identify the Reasons for the Renovation
What is the driving force behind the renovation? Facilities renovations, technology upgrades, cosmetic refreshes and functional space changes all have their unique costs. Identify the primary reasons for the renovation so your budget estimates will match. Budgeting for drywall, paint and carpet when you need to run new fiber optic network cabling will give you an unrealistic budget.
Put a Team Together
No one wants to be on yet another committee, but you do need a team to collaborate on the renovation. Even something as simple as replacing the office chairs requires some thought and research. The risk is reduced of missing something with more minds working on the project. It can be exciting to order that new conference room table until someone on the team remembers to measure the doorways and discovers that it won’t fit through. A good team can catch such details.
Determine Your Starting Point
What do you have to start with? Is the building and office itself sound? Are all of the facilities, electrical and HVAC adequate and up to code? Part way through a renovation is a bad time to discover asbestos in the ceiling or a coat of lead paint on the walls. Even a new office building can have insufficient power or heating and cooling to meet your renovation goals.
Deciding on What You Want Versus What You Need
You may have seen $1,000 desk chairs that guarantee you’ll feel like you’re sitting on a cloud. But the fact is once those chairs roll off of the truck into your office space, they might be worth half that. Future growth or merger plans may necessitate a renovation to accommodate your current needs but not wants. Even more risky is a renovation targeted at giving a struggling company a face-lift to entice more clients to walk through the door. When identifying your goals, decide on what will make your renovation a long-term success and not just a short-term fix.
Budget High and Trim Back Slowly
The best planners still anticipate things to come up and affect the timeline and budget. Create a contingency of at least 10 percent for unforeseen expenses. Discovering that a drain pipe must be relocated to accommodate your new built-in projection screen will increase your expenses quickly.
Create a Realistic Schedule
Ideally, your renovation should happen during a lull so as not to impact company business more than necessary. The schedule should factor in such things as:
- Seasonal business fluctuations
- Availability of contractors
- Major project timelines
Stagger the Renovation
If possible, don’t do everything at once for a major renovation. Staggering out the work for several months helps spread out the impact on business operations.
Think About Your Exit Strategy
Will the planned renovations make the office space more or less marketable in the near future? If you outgrow the spacein two years, how much of the renovation costs can you recoup? Are you making changes that make the space more or less attractive to future lease holders?
Consider a Green Investment
What areas of the renovation can you put a “green” touch to? Energy efficient windows? LED lighting instead of fluorescent? Creating a green office could entice future buyers. It also adds points to a company’s reputation to be able to say they function out of a sustainable and ecologically friendly office.