When you decide to rent an office space for your business, the first thing you need to ask yourself is how much office space do you need? Determining how much office space you need will help you to decide on what office is best for you, your team and your business. 

But, how do you figure out how much space you need?

Within this article we are going to talk you through how to determine how much space you need so you can come to a definitive answer to how much office space you need. 

Understanding Office Space Requirements

When it comes to understanding your office space requirements, you have to have an understanding of the difference between usable square feet and rentable square feet.

Usable Square Feet is the space a tenant can use. This is measured as the floor area within the perimeter walls. It is the amount of space the tenant has legal possession of and can use which is why it is called usable square footage. 

Rentable Square Feet is the usable square feet plus all the common areas such as corridors, stairs, lifts, public bathrooms and reception areas.The portion of common space attributed to a specific tenant is calculated by taking their pro-rata share of the building’s total square footage. For example, if a tenant leases 10,000 square feet in a 100,000-square-foot building, 10% of the building’s common space will be attributed to that tenant.

It is important to understand the difference between the two because it is the rentable, not the usable, that is used to calculate your annual rent expense and, as the rentbale is often higher than the usable, it is imperative that you use the correct measurement when evaluating your budget.

Standard Office Space Benchmarks 

With this in mind, it is now important to think about the size of your team and how much space you will need to allow them to work, comfortably and productively. 

To calculate how much space you will need, is to decide on how much space you need per person. To decide this, you need to take into account a number of factors such as the amount of equipment and amenities you need, the floor plan for your business that is right for your business and your growth projections and budget. 

The recommended amount is no less than 50 square feet per person but you must take into consideration your business and whether you allow employees to work from or to do hybrid working. This could lead you to needing less space within your office space. 

What Affects How Much Office Space You Need?

The amount of offices you need will be affected by the type of work your business does and factors such as whether you require a lot of equipment or things like meeting rooms. If your business is call or sales oriented, this could require less space as people will just need a desk and a phone. It is still important to make sure that your employees feel happy and comfortable to work in the environment.

Businesses such as creative agencies or tech companies will usually require more space for meeting rooms, collaborative areas and private offices. If your business is in this area, you should consider an office with 100-200 square feet per person. 

Larger offices, 200-500 square feet, are often used by law firms and financial service companies because they need to have access to free rooms and large private offices.

How much office space you need is entirely dependent on what type of business you have and it is something that you really need to take into consideration.  

Making the Most Out of Your Office Space

You will also want to think about design strategies that will work best for your business. 

Would it be a good idea for you to have flexible workspaces or multi-use areas?

Do you team work best in a more open plan arrangement or would it be a good idea to have private office spaces? 

Technology can really help you to make the most of your office space as you will be able to take advantage of things such as hot-desking, which allows employees to work from whatever computer they want to. This is great if many of your employees work in a hybrid way, only coming into the office a couple of times a week. 

Before You Sign That Lease…

Before you sign your lease you will want to make sure that you go and view each of the offices that you are considering. 

Once you have narrowed it down, you will want to read the lease agreement thoroughly. After reading it you may wish to negotiate some of the terms, such as adding in break clauses in case you need to leave the office before your lease is up. You will also want to discuss repair obligations. This will be particularly important if you go for a traditional office space. If you want to add your own branding or personal touch to the office, you will need to ask about your right to alter the property.

You must discuss all of this and make sure you and the landlord or company are all on the same page. Make sure that any terms you manage to successfully negotiate are put in writing and, before signing the rental agreement, you read it through thoroughly. 

How Much Office Space Do You Need?

When it comes to answering the question – how much office do you need? – the answer is entirely based on the type of business you have and how many employees you have. This is how you will assess how much space you need and come to a good decision. Before you sign any kind of lease agreement, make sure to visit the office space first and to read the lease agreement thoroughly.

At some of our stores, we have offices available to rent. Please click here to see if your local store has any offices available.