7 Things To Know Before Your Next Office Move
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Your organization is outgrowing your current office space, so much so that an office move into a 2000sqft to 25000sqft office space is very possible. If this describes your organization, then there are a few things you should know before you plan your next office move.
- An office move should not be treated like a Do-it-Yourself project. Compared to a residential move, an office move can be more involving in terms of getting your equipment, computer and communications systems up and running so that your business can function optimally. Thus, it would be wise to consider seeking the help of a professional office move management company that can help take care of such details for you.
- A successful office move is one that is planned two years in advanced.
- An office move represents change and could add significant disruption and stress to your staff of five or more, so empower your staff by implementing an organizational communications plan.
- Having your staff be responsible for packing up the office up will not save you any money. If you compare the total of your staff’s daily wages to the cost of utilizing a professional office move company for a day, you will find that using your staff to pack up your office actually costs you more money than using a professional moving company to do the same.
- If your original office furniture was purchased from IKEA, it may not make it through an office move. Consider purchasing industrial-grade office furniture for your new office space.
- The planning of your new office space needs to be based on the actual (not assumed) measurements of both the office space and your office furniture.
- The smallest details in an office move such as informing the postal service of your new address and effective move date, could have the biggest impact on your business operations.
I’ll share some real stories related to the above in upcoming blogs. In the meantime, if an office move into a 2000sqft to 25000sqft office space is in your short-term future, why not contact us to arrange a 20-minute no-obligation meeting. We’ll be able to advise you on what to expect, what to budget and how we can help. Call us at 416-239-1931, email us at [email protected] or submit your queries on our Contact Form.
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2000 – 25,000sqft office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
Good Project Managers Sweat the Details
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Have you ever looked at your office space and thought, “I think the kitchen/kitchenette area would look better and serve our staff more conveniently if it was shifted over a few feet”? Or maybe, “it should only take a few days to move into our brand new office space and be fully operational by Monday”? If you have, then you need a good project manager take care of the details and make it happen.
What is a good project manager”? Well for an office move, renovation or reconfiguration, a good project manager is one that looks at a project and thinks about all the details that no one else would think of to get from the project’s starting point to its desired end.
For example, my client that wanted the office’s kitchen area moved over approximately 50ft was surprised when I quoted her the estimated cost of $50,000 and responded, “Can’t you just unplug the kitchen unit from here, cut an outlet and plug it back into the new spot?” What she didn’t realize is that her request would require some extensive reconstruction and rewiring behind the wall before a new outlet could be created and her kitchen area successfully moved over the 50ft.
A good project manager sweats the details so that neither you nor your staff has to. In an office move, for example, a good project manager would call in, coordinate and manage all the necessary engineers and construction professionals to
- wire or rewire the electrical to PEng standards to better suit your business needs,
- build new offices or take down walls to create an open office space,
- install and test phone and data lines to accommodate complex phone systems, computer servers and connections to and from each planned work station,
- activate utilities
- dismantle and reassemble workstations
- pack and move furniture
- check and change all florescent light fixtures
- paint
- clean, shampoo the carpets, polish the floors, and wash the windows
- ensure office temperature is optimal for your staff and equipment
So, if an office move or reconstruction of your 2000 – 25,000sqft office space is a remote consideration, don’t sweat it. Instead let an office move/office reconstruction project manager sweat the details for you.
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2000 – 25,000sqft office space is a remote consideration, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
5 Cost Effective Tips on How to Bring Spring Into Your Office Space
Spring is finally here! But if your office space only allows you or your employees to enjoy spring when outside the office, then there needs to be a change. Here are a few tips on how your office space can be transformed into a spring paradise:
Tip #1: Take a cue from nature and accent your office space with spring colours. The spring colour trend for 2015 leans towards more subtle pastels, understated bright colours and nature-like neutrals. Changing your office accents such vases, pen/pencil holders, accent pillows in a seating area, or even an area rug with these current spring colours could be an easy cost-efficient way of bringing spring into your office space. Of course you should make sure that the colours you choose compliment your main office colour theme.
Tip #2: Change your wall hangings or photos to reflect the spring theme. Whether it is a painting or digital photo wall hanging, an abstract or actual scene, a picture that shows a spring scene or spring colours will help bring a visual sense of spring being in the air.
Tip #3: Change things around. Not sure if you have the right pictures to act on Tip #2? Then take the wall hangings you have and change where they placed. Similarly, you may want to change where your office furniture is place in certain areas of the office. Such simple changes can provide a fresh view of the office and send a message to your staff that there is a change in the season.
Tip #4: Add plants and/or trees. Spring is all about nature coming to life. So, adding nature to your office space in the form of living plants and trees is a great way to bring spring into your office space. They not only bring the look of spring, but they also help to maintain a healthy air quality. Of course, if allergies are a problem, then artificial plants and trees can be effective in at least bringing the look of spring into your office space.
Tip #5: Turn one of your employee common areas into a spring sanctuary. This idea culminates the above tips and more. If your office space allows, select one area or room within the space that can have the spring colours, a garden of natural plants, and a bench or seating area that your employees can feel free to go to when they need a few minutes of respite from their regular work routine to unwind, and rejuvenate before going back to their desks. If the area is in an open space, you can create the look and feel of it being a closed in space by surrounding it with many trees and plants. If the area is within a closed-in space, you may want to consider adding soft music or a nature-sound track to the room so that those entering can hear the sounds of spring as well see it when they walk in.
Of course there are other ways to bring spring into your office space but those I would only recommend if your office is being fully renovated and you want the spring theme to be a more permanent year-round theme in the office.
For now, take the more cost effective, time effective approach to bringing spring into your office space. In time, it could prove to be productivity effective because as you take care of your employees’ well-being, they will take care of your company’s well-being.
Walls Coverings Go Digital!
Walls. They can be used as boundaries or limitations or, as mentioned in my last blog, they can be used to encourage big idea generation, creativity and innovation. But have you ever thought of your walls literally speaking for your business?
As outrageous as that may seem, it is very possible to give your walls a voice, so to speak, through the use of digital walls and digital wall coverings.
What are digital walls?
Simply put, digital walls are specialized wall coverings onto which digital images and/or videos from a projector, for example, are played. With the use of digital technology, your walls can visually and audibly inform employees and visitors about your company, its products and services; sing a company slogan; or provide an active or interactive décor pattern to set a particular corporate ambiance.
Some digital walls, however, can also be static. A static digital wall, better referred to as a digital wall covering, is a printable wall material which has a digital photo printed on it as its main design. The wall covering is usually made up of a textured material such as vinyl, polyester, Terralon or even grass cloth. The photo could be generic as a nature scene which could augment your current office design, or could be as specific as your corporate logo—you choose. With a digital wallcovering, your digital picture can “speak” a thousand words about your company.
Applied using typical wallpaper techniques, both digital walls and digital wall coverings can either augment your current office design or fully engage an onlooker into your corporate world in a way that no regular wallpaper can.
So, if you are wanting to scream that your company is more creative, more innovative than your competitors and is paving the way to the future, then let your walls do the talking. Give them a voice with use of digital walls and/or digital wall coverings.
Walls and Wall Coverings That Can Expand Your Company’s Horizons
If creative thinking, big-idea generation and collaboration are strong elements you wish to introduce or enhance within your organization’s corporate culture, don’t allow yourself or your collaborative team to hit a wall. Instead let them write on it!
Designers have recently developed wall coverings that will allow your team to write on your walls without compromising the professional image of your business.
Introducing the dry erase wall.
Already existing in newer, trendier conference rooms and hotels, the dry erase wall can be created in one of two ways. One is with the application of specially engineered gloss paint, available in a variety of colours, which dries into a hard surface, so hard that dry erase markers and erasers can be used on it. The second is a dry erase vinyl wall covering which is applied to your existing wall much like a peel and stick wallpaper. Both applications are fairly economical.
If dry erase walls don’t fit your corporate image or culture, then you can consider turning your walls into chalkboard walls.
Similar to the dry erase wall, the chalkboard wall can be applied either in paint form or as a vinyl peel and stick wall covering. The paint is more of a specially engineered flat paint that when dry allows one to use a variety of chalks and chalk erasers on it. Both the paint and vinyl applications are available in black or green.
Both types of walls have their advantages.
For one, they are limitless and flexible in size and colour. Your dry erase or chalkboard walls can be as high, wide and long as your existing walls. They are available in a variety of colours so they can easily blend in with your corporate colours. These wall coverings can also be applied on multiple walls, which could encourage your team the think big enough to fill your walls with new, creative and innovative ideas anytime the inspiration hits and anywhere the wall coverings are applied.
In addition, both types of wall coverings can be specially engineered to have multiple uses. Both the dry erase and chalkboard paint and vinyl wall coverings also come in magnetic form. This means that when applied, the walls not only can be written on, but magnet objects can also be applied to the walls to help emphasize and idea or concept. Furthermore, dry erase walls in lower gloss forms can also serve as projection screens, taking presentations to a whole new level.
So, take creativity and idea generation to a new horizon. Consider adding dry erase or chalkboard wall coverings to your office design.
REITs’ Fight to Reduce Office Space Vacancies
Target is exiting. Blackberry has downsized. And with the office space vacancy rate being the highest it has been in several years, office REITS are getting desperately creative.
In some ways, it is no surprise that, despite public and media expectations, REITS are making every effort to attract potential tenants to their available and soon-to-be available office spaces without making any drastic changes to the spaces themselves or their lease rates. Instead, they are getting creative in promoting their available office spaces by simply advertising the added value or “perks” of the office spaces themselves. The most common added value cards they pull out are the “transportation” and “flexible office space” cards.
For example, REITS with office spaces in the Toronto’s Airport Corporate Centre area, which is where Target’s Canadian offices are currently located, promote easy access to and from the airport and other public transportation through shuttle services. Other office spaces located in Oakville and even Kitchener-Waterloo would promote close proximity and easy access to major highways. The promise of new inner-city rail systems, such as the light rail transit system (LRT) scheduled to be active in 2017 in the Waterloo region and the one currently under construction in Mississauga are also big features put out by the REITs to get those office spaces filled. Other office space locations that may or may not pull the “Transportation” card are advertised as open spaces which will allow tenants to easily create the office environment that best serves their corporate image and needs.
Is it working? Well, according to some REITS, the strategies are generating interest in their vacant office spaces, and newer spaces are filling up, but sealing the deals will be based primarily on what potential tenants actually want out of an office space and what they see as the best bang for their buck.
Will lease rates eventually be reduced? I think that given the tenacity of the REITs, that option would be the absolute last resort for them to consider.
Corporate Space Planning & Relocation Advice 