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One of the things business owners often fail to consider is how efficient their offices are. After all, it’s easier to just leave everything as-is than to make any changes. The problem is that your office could actually be wasting your business’s money, and even months of small, unnecessary expenses can add up over time. Here are three of the most common ways that your business’s office could be wasting money.

It’s Bigger Than Necessary

You need all your employees to have large enough workstations because they’ll be much more productive than they would in cramped quarters. It’s important, however, to avoid getting more office than you need, because, in many areas, the extra square footage doesn’t come cheap. If you have tons of space, you could save quite a bit every month by downsizing. If you’re locked into a lease, consider an office-sharing arrangement with another business. Considering that employees like being able to telecommute nowadays, big offices are becoming things of the past.

Aside from the cost of the extra square footage, if your business is in a building that is too large, you are likely spending much more than you need to on electricity, gas, water, and maintenance costs. In the winter, for example, your heating system may be running constantly if there is too much room for the heat to dissipate. You may also find that you’re spending a lot of time and money on cleaning areas that aren’t used. This can be fixed by moving to a smaller building. Be careful, though, because a too-small building can come with its own set of costly problems.

It Isn’t Energy Efficient

There are all kinds of ways that your office can waste energy, leading to a larger power bill. You could have single-pane windows that don’t provide much insulation, in which case an upgrade to double-pane windows would make a huge difference. Your appliances and other machines may not be performing as efficiently as they could be. That’s an area where hiring an industrial electrician to take a look at your entire setup could help.

If you do hire an electrician to overhaul your building, you should also see if they can check to see if your building would be compatible with solar power. Installing solar panels is relatively simple, but integrating the wiring into an existing system isn’t always possible. If your building could use an upgrade anyway, it might be worth it to take it a step further and go green. Using solar power can be good for your public image in addition to saving you money on operational costs.

It Goes through too Many Supplies

Supplies are another area where it’s easy to spend money without considering whether you could be spending less. If your office is the type to print all kinds of documents on a daily basis, then you’ll save quite a bit on ink cartridges and printer paper if you switch to a more digital approach. Offices that send out quite a few packages sometimes end up using boxes that are too large, which leads to more required postage and packing supplies. Do an audit of your usual supply costs each month to see if there’s anywhere you can trim the fat.

You’re probably not going to see a sudden, drastic change in your business’s financial situation from one or two office improvements. Each improvement is a little less your business needs to spend, though, and that money will come in handy over the long term.