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!