• By Steve Coughlin
• In Tips

Lease or Purchase?

A space planning exercise can help determine if you are using your space efficiently. Do sales reps that spend most of the time on the road have their own workstations? If the reps only spend a few days a month in the office, you may want to consider having them share a workstation. Shared workstations can also help the sales reps stay organized since they will need to be able to access their data regardless of their location. Many companies have removed cubicles and installed long, open tables like these. These tables take up less space, provide a cleaner design, and can increase employee communication.

WHAT TO DO?

You have a few options when you have more space than necessary. Your commercial real estate broker can help you determine if your neighbors may need additional space. Be sure to read your lease to ensure that you are not restricted in subleasing the space. Know any entrepreneurs that could use space? Consider renting out excess rooms to ambitious individuals to provide them with an office environment to grow their company. You can help the entrepreneur have an office, and the entrepreneur can provide you with rent for your unused space.

Another option is to discuss a new lease with the landlord. If you are happy with your current building, work with the landlord to decrease your space and increase the time left on your lease. Even though your square footage will shrink, the landlord may prefer the increased stability of a long-term lease. This provides a win-win situation for everyone involved.

A third option is to look for new space. A commercial real estate broker can help show you the savings of moving to a new location with a smaller footprint. We recently helped a company move from 9,297 SF to 5,087 SF. In this example, the company was able to save around $390,000 by right-sizing their space.

Take a proactive approach and be sure you are not wasting money with unused space. The savings from right-sizing your space can be used to grow other areas of your business. If you believe you have too much space contact us for a free space planning exercise.

This post originally appeared on foundadvisors.com