At some point, your business’ growth will outstrip your current space. You will have more employees, more equipment, and more customers than you can handle. Unfortunately, you probably won’t want to move until you have to do so. Below are three signs that it’s time to start packing up.
You’re Holding Meetings Off-Site
Where do you hold your staff meetings? If you’ve got enough space, the answer should be that you hold it somewhere in your building. If you don’t have enough space, you’re probably holding it off-site. You might make all of your employees drive to another location or you might have to rent out a bigger space just so you can talk to everyone. Not only are you wasting time and money in these situations, but you are proving to yourself that your current space just doesn’t work for your business. If you can’t conduct business in your current space, you need to move.
Unusual Work Spaces
Do you have an employee who has had to turn a closet into an office? Is someone currently sharing a desk with another worker? Have you started to make use of conference rooms as project space? If so, you’re probably running into a size crunch. Your office layout should provide all of the work space your employees need. If they are starting to convert other spaces into their work areas, you’ve run out of the space you need. Consider having a building custom built so that your employees are able to get their jobs done without having to become creative with their space.
On the other side of things, you have to ask if your office space is too generic or conventional for your business. If you have frequent need for communication and collaboration on projects throughout the work day, you may opt for an office that has more open spaces and fewer separated offices and conference rooms. You may also find yourself somewhere in the middle. The important thing is to find a space that is large enough to accommodate you while providing the type of layout that helps your business function more efficiently.
Customer Comments
Perhaps the easiest way to figure out that you need a new building happens when your customers start to make comments. If they notice that things look cramped or wonder how you get anything done in your space, you’re probably dealing with something much worse than you thought. Most customers won’t question how you get the job done, so those that actually bring up concerns are looking at something serious. If your customers have noticed that you need a bigger space, you can rest assured that your employees have long been thinking the same thing.
Space issues are especially critical if you are a customer facing company. While you can get away with doing backend work for clients in a small space with poor aesthetics, your company will look really bad if that’s what customers see when they visit. So, for retail spaces, consulting, etc. you absolutely must make sure you’re putting your best foot forward when they enter your space.
If your customers notice that you need more space, your workers are finding creative solutions to squeeze into their jobs or you can’t even find a space to have a meeting, you need to move your business to a new location or have a building built for you by a local firm like Jeffrey Hills and Associates. While it can be tough and pricey to do so, in the end you’ll be able to get more out of your current business.
