Alternative Cheap Office Space

When it comes to cheap office space, most people tend to look for either reputable office space companies to help them, or contact their local business park or enterprise centre to try and find somewhere suitable to work. Most offices will be based in either a large building solely designated for office space, or will be part of a shared office set-up where you can rent anything from a single desk space to an entire office.

Recently there has been a new addition to the cheap office space market, and this comes with a bit of a twist. Shipping Containers are being transformed into offices, offering unusual and cheap office space to those looking for something a little different. While this may conjour up images of sitting in a dark, dingy metal tin can to most, this in fact couldn’t be further from the reality. One end of the containers are turned into a glass wall with doors that allows huge amounts of natural light to spill in, making them feel light and airy and air conditioning ensures they stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

All the basic needs of a modern office can be installed, so power sockets, broadband and phone lines are part and parcel of a shipping container office. Of course you can decorate the interior as you wish, and add any furniture that you need. These kinds of offices were initially very popular with companies working in areas such as film, media and the arts as their line of business requires very basic office space which specialist equipment can then be brought into to make the office set up perfectly customised for the businesses requirements. Because of the low rent offered, this kind of office space is incredibly popular with start-up businesses as it gives them the chance to have some proper office space without having huge overheads which is something all business start-ups need to avoid where possible.

A great example of this kind of office set up is the Sharp Project which is currently being developed in Manchester. A former warehouse is being used to house 20ft x 8ft shipping containers that are kitted out as offices. With the option to rent either single or double units, or larger should you require, the project is proving very popular so far with low-budget, easily accessible office space being snapped up. If you are looking for cheap office space, then don’t limit your options to traditional office space providers, shopping round might well bring up some excellent alternatives that you may not have previously considered.

When it comes to cheap office space, most people tend to look for either reputable office space

companies to help them, or contact their local business park or enterprise centre to try and

find somewhere suitable to work. Most offices will be based in either a large building solely

designated for office space, or will be part of a shared office set-up where you can rent

aything from a single desk space to an entire office.

Recently there has been a new addition to the cheap office space market, and this comes with a

bit of a twist. Shipping Containers are being transformed into offices, offering unusual and

cheap office space to those looking for something a little different. While this may conjour up

images of sitting in a dark, dingy metal tin can to most, this in fact couldn’t be further from

the reality. One end of the containers are turned into a glass wall with doors that allows huge

amounts of natural light to spill in, making them feel light and airy and air conditioning

ensures they stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

All the basic needs of a modern office can be installed, so power sockets, broadband and phone

lines are part and parcel of a shipping container office. Of course you can decorate the

interior as you wish, and add any furniture that you need. These kinds of offices were initially

very popular with companies working in areas such as film, media and the arts as their line of

business requires very basic office space which specialist equipment can then be brought into to

make the office set up perfectly customised for the businesses requirements. Because of the low

rent offered, this kind of office space is incredibly popular with start-up businesses as it

gives them the chance to have some proper office space without having huge overheads which is

something all business start-ups need to avoid where possible.

A great example of this kind of office set up is the Sharp Project which is currently being

developed in Manchester. A former warehouse is being used to house 20ft x 8ft shipping

containers that are kitted out as offices. With the option to rent either single or double

units, or larger should you require, the project is proving very popular so far with low-budget,

easily accessible office space being snapped up. If you are looking for cheap office space, then

don’t limit your options to traditional office space providers, shopping round might well bring

up some excellent alternatives that you may not have previously considered.

TAGS: office space to rent,rent office space,office space rental,flexible office space,shipping

container office space,Sharp Project

Office Space Advice For The Newly Self Employed

Starting out on the road to self employment can be as terrifying as it is gratifying, particularly when trying to choose an office. There will be many factors to consider when it comes to deciding which office space you want, some of which may be contractual; You may find the perfect office on to have a the landlord make unrealistic or unreasonable demands. So it’s important to not decide on the office you want just because it is in a great location and has great facilities – keep an open mind and decide only when you have sat down with the landlord or agent and gone through the finer details.

Fees

Very often these days you’ll find a lot of add on fees that seem add up, so that monthly fee you had budgeted for your workspace isn’t going to give you the corporate look you had hoped for.  The good news is a lot of these fees can be negotiated down or even negated completely provided your not afraid to make a few demands.

Office Service Fees To Look Out For

With serviced offices cleaning fees are generally included in the rent but did you know that many office hire companies such as Regus charge a cleaning fee after you vacate the office you were renting from them. This fee may be justified by repainting the office for the new tenant but if you have rented for a a short time  maybe three months it may not be necessary and therefore you shouldn’t have to pay for work done. Try discussing this with the agent to see if they will reduce this fee perhaps by agreeing to inspect the office after you have vacated and to see if repainting is necessary.

Another fee that can be negotiated are connection fees.  Telephone connection and broadband connection are both chargeable one off fees that you can get reduced or wiped with some careful negotiation: ‘Everyone has phones in their workplace, that’s a given and I will pay rental fees and call charges every month, so why should I pay for the connection’. Broadband connection fees in serviced office are also open to discussion:”You press a couple of buttons to connect my computer to your network and I have to pay how much?!”.

Go Direct

Going directly to a serviced office company often will cut out the middle man – agents and affiliates, that is, that get a cut of your rent or a one off payment. If you can factor that cost reduction into your bargaining you can save yourself some money.

These tips will hopefully help you on your endeavour to find low cost office space and secure a perfect functioning working environment no matter what size office you are hiring, so good luck and go get ‘em!

Cheap office space

There is a growing availability of cheap office space. The global financial recession has not resulted in inevitable and subsequent financial gloom for all businesses. In fact, there has been a reported 36.5 percent increase in availability in London which has come over the past year alone, with companies in most cases forced to consolidate their already existing spaces and relocate. This has provided for not only a wider choice of location and customized facility, but also an increase in affordable pricing.
Similar figures from a leading property consultant show that as much as 14 million square meters have been vacated since the same time last year in the English capital. The market is poised to be utilized by aspiring businesses looking for cheap office rental, or established companies hoping to acclimatize to the slow global recovery by cutting costs in the area of office hire.
What is now of most interest to companies is the fact that the largest number on offers are located in the Docklands and the City – both situated in the heart of London’s financial district.
Not only is previously unattainable property now very much tangible for new businesses, but it could also transform their fortunes. One example is the growing policy of many landlords to offer rent-free contracts for at least two to businesses planning to agree a minimum contract of ten years.
This is an extremely attractive offer for places renowned for their sophisticated facilities, and the new strategies being employed by landlords to persuade businesses to move in do not stop there.
Other incentives include an average fee drop of 20 percent over the past two years for top grade locations.
The supply of cheap office space is far outweighing the demand in today’s climate, meaning that the time has quite literally never been better to invest in a prime business location in the centre of London, whether you are looking for cheap office rental or you wish to buy.

Renting Office Space in the West End

When starting a new business, you will need to have an office to operate in. Why rent office space when you can buy small office space in London’s west end? There are lots of offices to choose from in this area and you can get the location that is best for your business.
If you already have a place of business but have outgrown it, you would need to find a new place. For those looking for office space in London, it is advised to search online for available places for rent, lease or for sale. Before you sign a contract, you need to make sure that everything you need is met by the said space. Asking for office space quotes is also recommended so that you can compare prices.
Shopping for a place of business entails a lot of work. This means you have to make a list of the things you would like your office to have. For example, if you see office space rental in High Wycombe, do not jump into signing the contract until you have determined that it is the right office for you and your employees.
When looking for the right office you are not only advised to take a look of the space itself but would need to checkout the surrounding areas as well. Does it have ample parking for all your staff? Does it have a bathroom in the office? Does it have a lounge area for your employees and a waiting area for your clients? Questions like these should be answered first before you get a new office.
Although many firms get a space in a mall, it is ideal for you to rent in office buildings because this boosts your reputation. Try to determine the location of your building whether it is too far, from where most of your employees live or not because this usually affects productivity at work.
If you are in retail, the best place to rent is at the mall. This also makes sure that there are customers all throughout the day. Having a shop or a store in the outskirts of the city may not do well.
Another thing to consider when looking for an office to rent is your budget. Make sure that you can afford it before giving it a go.

Office Space in London

Living in London definitely has its rewards and setting up your business here is a smart move. With an enormous workforce to choose from, a host of commercial services and aids and the necessary infrastructure set in place to suit any business, the chances of success are higher with the right strategies. One key point to think about is where you will be based and this is where your permanent or temporary office in space London comes into play.

Obviously, there is a wide range of choices here and the right tools can certainly help make things less complicated. Not only can you browse your local paper to find places for let, you can also peruse the wide number of websites catering for businesspeople trying to find a place to set up shop within this fine city. Finding the perfect office space to rent London is not very difficult through the wide range of online adverts at your fingertips. While looking through these postings, keep in mind your requirements for any future commercial establishments you wish to set up. How large does it have to be? Do you want to rent a place near the Tube? What about the number of rooms and floors? Using your business plan, you should have a good idea of what a potential office space to rent will look like and can choose one accordingly.

Aside from the layout and general features of your future premises, you should also take notice of the conditions of the contract. Make sure you note down aspects such as the length of the lease, what activities are forbidden inside the building and what types of renovations you are allowed to undertake. An honest rental advertisement will display all of these things so that you know what you will be getting into. On the other hand, if you do have any questions, there should be a contact number of the landlord or real estate agent on each notice. In this way, you can find a great UK office space to let which suits all of your needs and which does not have any hidden snags. Get the perfect start to your business by making sure that the location is more than suitable and that the building has everything that you need it to have.

Considerations when renting office space

When you are choosing your cheap office space there are of course a few things you should consider carefully. While price will of course be a very important factor, there is no point selling yourself and your business short for the sake of the cheapest office space going.

Make sure that there will be capacity for you to take further office space should you need to as your business grows, finding that you have to uproot your entire company because you need an extra office or two is not a position you want to find yourself in. Most good quality office rental companies will always have some spare space should you need it.

Take into consideration the location of the building. If you are going to have customers coming to visit, you don’t want them to have to walk through an industrial estate, or down an alley to reach your offices, likewise you don’t want your staff to feel like they are working in the back end of no-where, especially if you want to keep moral high, or ask people to work late to get things done.  This point goes hand in hand with the next really – the appearance of the reception area. First impressions count, and if you have clients walking into a dark, dingy unkempt reception area it isn’t going to give them a good impression of your business, even if they are aware that you are operating out of rented office space. It will give the impression that you are not particularly fussy about the standard of your surroundings and this could easily be translated into not being fussy about the standard of work you carry out.

Be sure that your staff have enough space. Of course keeping costs to a minimum is important, but squashing four people into a two person office is going to do nothing for moral and work rates except send them plummeting through the floor. This also goes with making sure you have enough room, and adequate facilities for any storage you might need, every business has files and papers that need to be kept but you don’t want them around on a daily basis,  so you will need some kind of separate storage to be provided.

Why use cheap office space?

It is a popular misconception that renting office space can be expensive. Renting office space can actually save a lot of time and money when researched properly. It is possible to get very good packages that includes things such as high speed broadband, networked PCs, telephones with a personal answering service and even access to boardroom style meeting rooms with tea and coffee on request. These may seem like small, even silly things, but they are all time consuming to arrange, especially the IT side of things.

Having someone else to deal with the nitty gritty setting up of your office frees you up to get on with more important things, and if anything goes wrong, it isn’t your problem, there is someone there to fix it for you.  All the benefits of office space without any of the worry.

Just because you are renting cheap office space doesn’t mean you have to share it with other companies or people. You can have designated offices, either single or a larger open plan office or even a complex of individual offices, whatever suits your needs, so it feels as if you are in your very own office building. You may have to share some communal facilities such as the kitchen or toilets, depending on how much space you are renting, but these areas will always be maintained by the company you are renting your office space from and can be a good way to meet other people that are also renting in the same building as you – especially if you are a lone renter – it can get a bit lonely sitting on your own day in day out!

Cheap office space gives you all the benefits of high quality office space without any of the responsibility. Of course you will have to sign up to a contract, but this will only be for a period of time such as 6 months, whereas if you were to lease an entire building you could be looking at 6 years or more.  Having the day to day running of your office taken care of for you is something that can be invaluable, especially if you are a start-up business where every second is precious. Running around trying to get internet and phones connected is the last thing you want to be doing, and not having access to the internet or phone is not an option. Why not sit back and let someone else provide it all for you so you can get on with the more important things.

Advantages of cheap office space

When starting out on a new business venture, finding a premises to conduct your business from can turn out to be an expensive exercise. This is where cheap office space comes into it’s own, offering a flexible alternative to renting an entire building or floor of a building for yourself.

One of the main advantages of renting office space is that you can choose the amount of space you actually need, rather than having to take a space that is too big, or even too small and making do with what you can afford. Companies offering office space to rent understand that sometimes all that is needed is one or two offices, or even just a workstation to start with, with the option to expand on this as your business grows.

Another advantage is that the rental price will include things such as electricity, cleaning, business rates and sometimes even a phone answering service is included, meaning you don’t have to worry about lots of different outgoings to lots of different companies. It is easy to have broadband connected to your office or workstation at an extra cost, and this will nearly always be a top-quality high speed connection which you don’t have to worry about or wait to have installed.  All these little things can add up to a big worry, and when you are trying to focus on getting your business off the ground you really don’t have the time or energy to spare on running around trying to get all these different aspects of a working office set up and functioning properly.

Many cheap office space rental companies will also provide you with a direct contact, a business manager, who will deal with you from the start and handle any concerns, needs, complaints and questions you may have, this gives you peace of mind of having one person to deal with for everything you may need, someone who understands your needs and can help you every step of the way. It is also good to be able to build a relationship with your business manager as if and when it comes time to upgrade the amount of office space you need, you have someone you can negotiate a great deal with directly.

Cheap Office Space in and Around the M25

Over the last twenty years there hasn’t been a better time to find cheaper office space in and around London. A recent report produced by Knight Frank has stated that prices of office space in the south east has fallen by around 15% and will continue falling until the end of 2010. Reuters News Agency reports that empty office space in London has risen by approximately 10% at the beginning of 2009 which converts to about 10 million square feet!

Office rental prices are not expected to bounce back until sometime in 2012, allowing businesses to cost cut their rental overheads. Due to a large oversupply in the areas around the M25 and the M4 corridor, competition amongst landlords is higher than ever, much to the potential tenant’s advantage. We are seeing rent free periods extending over the longest periods ever, as landlords compete to grab tenants.With prices between £19 and £25 around the M25  and £29 in parts of  London such as  Hammersmith there are great deals out there. As such many landlords are discounting the rent of their current tenants in order to entice them to stay and avoid their real estate lying empty.

With the large amount of redundancies being made at the moment, many companies who are seeing their office space go to waste are now advertising to share  there now empty cubicles to help cover building costs.  A good place to look for these available office shares is to start by searching on the internet. Many companies will self advertise in directories such as  thegumtree.com, which carries many adverts in this area. Otherwise contact some office rental agents and tell them you’re interested in any sub-letting opportunities to get an idea of what’s out there. Alternatively, it may be wise to use the services of an office aquisition agent, as they will have current knowledge of prime locations and current price levels. An office aquisition agent should be well informed of the locations you are interested in an be able to negotiate on your behalf.

Find Cheap Office Space In London

To find cheap office space in London is getting easier and easier due to the economic slowdown that seems to be occurring at the moment. Empty offices are building up all over the capital as firms cease to trade or downsize their office space as they downsize their workforce. This has an impact throughout the office supply chain, not only the commercial real estate landlords but the specialised office letting agents also. If you take on the services of a office finder letting agent, it is with all likelihood that you will be able to negotiate very favourable terms, as without placing tenants these agencies cannot bring in the revenue. The first step to finding cheap office space is to decide which area you are interested. Carry out a search on a reputable search engine and select a page or advert to click on. In all likelihood you will go straight through to an office broker who acts as the middleman or agent between you the potential office you will hire. They get a commission for each office they let. It is rare for the person or company who hires the office to pay any commission or charges to the office broker, as usualy it’s the company that owns the office who will pay the broker. Anyway, the office broker generally will provide you with the list of offices they have available to rent to you, within the set amount you require. Here’s where it can get tricky, due to hidden costs. Some big office space chains will try and charge you a moving in fee, usually about the price of one month’s rent. This can usually be negotiated away, sespecially in the current economic climate, so don’t pay it. They are there to service you afterall. You must also enquire as to the other hiden charges that can pile up, telephone connection fees are one example, where the office provider charges you to hire a phone line from them, they try to charge you an admin fee just for them pressing a few buttons to connect you. Other fes to be wary of are cleaning fees. Generally they’re included, but make sure.