by: Strutra Costruzi
Choosing a right building for your business.
When it comes to a new building for your business, you want to put a lot of thought and care into your decision. It's a major expense, after all, and you want a building that will both meet your needs now and still allow for future growth. You also want a building that is safe, structurally sound and workflow-friendly. It also needs to be ascetically pleasing to your employees and clients. In choosing a building for your business, you want to consider the lobby. The lobby of a building is where your clients and prospective clients will get their first impression of your business. You want the lobby of your building to be inviting, with directories displayed well and have room for a receptionist if you so desire. You will also want to consider if you're going to have security in the lobby of your building and allow enough space for any necessary equipment and/or personnel.
First of all, consider the lobby, which creates the first impression of your business on the minds of your clients and prospective clients. Your lobby should be inviting and spacious enough to display directories and accommodate a receptionist, if there is one. There should also be provision for security in the lobby of your building. So, provide for enough space to accommodate necessary equipment or personnel.
An important factor while choosing a building is the shape and structure of the building. The nature of your business is an important determinant in choosing the type of building. If you have 5 separate businesses, you can spread them out on 5 different floors. However, if they are interlinked it makes sense to house them all on the same floor, as this would increase efficiency and lead to more gains. In case the employees are required to scout for stuff from different offices situated on different floors, that would be a sheer wastage of the work, time as well as creative energies of the employees, which can be surely used in other important pursuits.
It is important for you to have the building inspected by the building inspector, a third party. More often than not, the building inspectors have their interests looked after by the contractors. This might lead to ignorance of certain imperfections leading to the building structure to be not safe and sound which might amount to be of bigger consequence later, especially after a lapse of a long time. Hence, it is important to get the building inspected by a third party inspector, who you are sure of not having his vested interests in order to be very sure of what the deal you are getting.
Other building aspects like floors, ceilings, acoustics, lighting, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, electrical service, toilets and water should also be considered. Of course, there are some aspects about which you really can't do much. For instance, the greatest single cause of friction in a workplace is caused by heating and air conditioning. Some people feel too cold, others too hot, and it's not possible to please everyone. Still, when buying or leasing a building, it's good to have a heating and air conditioning system in place that works well for the majority of your employees. This will increase employees' productivity. Instead of rushing to turn the thermostat up or down and cribbing about the temperature they will, perhaps, concentrate on work.