10 Questions for your Office Space Viewing
Short list of offices to view? Check, Viewings booked? Check, Directions and map? Check, Questions to ask at the viewing? Erm…no!
Ah, it was all going so well until then. But seriously, unless you plan what you are going to ask once you actually get to the viewing you will not get the best out of your viewing. With this in mind officebroker.com have put together a list of 10 questions to get you started so you will get all the info you need from your office space viewing!
Some of the best questions to ask include:
1. Do you have many offices available in this size? Can I see a few different options to gauge which is best?
Business Centres tend to be able to configure any sized office through the use of temporary partitions/stunt walls so that they can cater for any size requirement.
This helps in 2 ways:
Firstly, you can suss out networking opportunities that could be available on your doorstep.
Secondly, if 90% of the businesses in the building are in the same industry sector as yours, you can decide if it is a good business move to be surrounded by your competitors.
3. What is included in the monthly license fee?
Write this down if it helps so you know exactly what you are getting for your money.
4. How many meeting/conference rooms do you have and what sizes are they?
This will help you gauge if there is enough to cover the amount of businesses within the building who may want to use them and also the varying rental costs if they are available by the hour / day / half day.
5. Do you have a menu of additional services that I can pay for on an ad hoc basis?
These can include admin support, photocopying, faxing – ask for the whole list so you can pick and choose what could be useful to you.
6. What is the minimum and maximum license agreement available and what notice do I have to give?
Understand you maximum commitment to the office space right from the outset.
7. Are there any special offers or incentives available to me?
Most office providers will negotiate their initial quotation with you once you view – find out if there is a discount for signing a longer deal or signing quickly.
8. Is there parking available? If so is it allocated or first come-first served?
It is always useful to know how available parking is split between tenants, especially if parking is at a premium.
9. Do you have multi-office locations?
A great one to ask if you travel to meet clients. Office providers with multi-locations frequently allow their tenants to use facilities such as meeting rooms at other buildings when they are on the road meeting clients.
10. What are your occupancy levels? What is your ideal occupancy level?
Most office providers like to keep to 80% occupancy, so that the remaining 20% can be used by existing tenants who wish to expand. If you have expansion plans this could be an important one for you.