Whether you are going to purchase a house or want an office renovation in the near future, both are worth planning. If you are buying a house for the first time, it will indeed be a daunting and exciting time. Because it is so compelling that you could risk not making several essential considerations, when it is about it, a home will be the most significant investment you will ever make. There is no returning after you have completed the applying for a loan, signing the purchase agreement, and finally getting the keys. So, to avoid some of these house hunting mistakes, it is imperative to know what they are. Merely avoiding them will also help you avoid a slew of other issues too.

As a small business, your office is your everything. You can think of the office like an incubation center where your business prospers and grows. And there might come a time when you need to shed the old office skin for a new look. When thinking of office renovation in Oakville, it might be essential to include a modern boardroom or even an open area for retail transactions. Whatever your reason is, you want to assure that you build a budget for your office renovation. If you do not, costs could get extremely out of hand. If that happens, you could risk your business in a particularly complicated financial situation.

Clearly Set Goals for your Office Renovation

A great way to get through the chaos of the office or retail store renovation is to make sure that the goals are set from the beginning before engaging any designer or contractor. Most of the delays and significant variation in costs in your office renovation are due to the design deviating from the initial agreed proposal, worst at the later stage of construction. Changes can be inevitable for your office design, but it is good to clearly define your goals to keep these changes low to the minimum. 

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Some Possible Goals for Office Renovation:

For Corporate Rebranding Purpose

The new office design should coherent the new corporate branding, values, and mission to both visitors and employees. It could be the new business focus or offerings to be blended in the rebranding efforts for the workplace design.

For Office Relocation

The commercial office renovation services in Aurora requires to be timely completed for the current office space to be reinstated and returned to your landlord.

To Keep up with Times

The existing office has not been renovated for ages, and the renovation serves to modernize the office to attract new talents and businesses. The first impression counts.

To Boost Team Productivity and Collaboration

The current office setup is filled with cubicles with a high partition. You want to close these barriers and get your team works together more closely in an open office layout.

To Create Better Work Experiences

Workplace surveys have shown that fantastic work experiences lead to enhanced business performance. You want your new workplace design to satisfy the requirements of your team and to empower them to do their best work. It could mean good work has to offer a combination of private space for individual focus work and engaging shared space for team collaboration.

To Make Room for Growth

The current office layout is not optimized, and the project is to make space utilization more efficient to accommodate future business needs like headcount growth or addition of new equipment or shared space. 

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For Environment Sustainability

You might want to embrace your office with more durable, green furniture, or advanced technology like sensor-controlled lighting, LED lighting. The latter helps to lower the office operating cost. Also, to emphasize the company’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

Clearly defining your office renovation goals help you build a realistic office renovation budget and scope of work, making the renovation as cost-efficient as possible.

Improved Employee Morale

As office buildings get old, the environment can become run down, hard to clean, and inefficient. These characteristics make it challenging to be productive, which can affect employee morale. Employees love to feel like they have the resources they require to do their job adequately.

Having adequate space, new equipment, and comfortable conditions makes working faster and easier. It helps staff to feel good about their jobs and can help them feel like they are doing something worthwhile with their time.

Use Space More Efficiently

Businesses often extend their offices without taking the most efficient use of office space. Excessive clutter, cramped working conditions, and lost items can lead to office disputes and lowered productivity. Taking extra time to Store, locate, or retrieve items can slow office workers down.

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Renovating your office can lead to better usage of space. Some businesses convert to an open office layout. In contrast, other offices get creative by adding a few extra floors, making better usage of the outdoor space, and creating more multi-purpose spaces within the building.

For businesses that have grown too huge for their space, creating more room and utilization of the space in a better way than they have is often a preferable alternative to moving, which has its associated expenses.

Attract New Talent

First impressions are very important for prospective employees. The condition of your office building says a lot about your success as a business as well as the financial resources. If your office building is in bad condition, this can send subtle messages to new potential employees about the business’s ability to invest in itself and its growth. Prospective employees might ask themselves: If a business cannot afford to maintain their office space, can it pay employees fairly? Will that business takes good care of your staff?

Potential employees are excited about working for businesses that enjoy success and wealth. Your business can attract talented employees by revamping your office space and portrays an image of success.

Employees can be More Productive

A good remodel can introduce a wide variety of various features that make office workers more productive. For example:

Improved Lighting

Better lighting and a more comprehensive array of lighting choices can make work easier for staff members. More lighting options ensure employees can see their task no matter what they’re working on. It can help make workers faster at their jobs.

Extended Multi-Purpose Workspaces

Multi-purpose workspaces like small conference rooms, additional offices, and break out rooms, make sure that the employees have somewhere to go regardless of what projects they are trying to accomplish. 

Increase in Collaborative Workspaces

Collaborative workspaces, like an open office layout, bring employees together, encourage employee interaction, and gives employees a chance to work in small groups. It contributes to creative thinking and productivity in the office.

They Improved Storage Capacity

Renovating your office can make sure that your business has a proper storage area for its requirements, so your employees can find whatever they need and when they need it. It helps employees stay productive throughout the workday.

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Safety

When renovating, contractors often check to assure that the building is up to mark. If it is found that the building does not code compliant, the contractor will let you know about changes that can be made to make your business safer for your employees.

Fixing safety problems can protect the business by lowering the likelihood of an accident occurring on site. Fixing safety problems can also help make visits from local code officials and OSHA officials go more smooth, thus saving the business money and preventing slow productivity downs. General code compliance and safety updates include:

• Updates to the fire protection systems.
• Structural updates.
• Accessibility updates.
• Energy code updates.
• Often making updates can help improve the business safety record and make the business a better place for customers as well as staff.

Set an Office Renovation Budget for Your Requirement

Doing your office renovation is not the same as buying a commodity item where the lowest bid will win. It is essential to communicate and set the office renovation budget upfront to the shortlisted designers or contractors. Without communicating the renovation budget, the cost proposals submitted could differ tremendously in terms of the quality, materials, look, and feel of the office design. It will make it very difficult for fair tender evaluation.

According to the stats, office and home renovation have increased by 5.5% since 2010. Office renovation not only enhances the personality of the office, but it also motivates your employees, creates functionality in the workspace, attracts new potential clients, and puts value to the property. However, the first step for beginning your office-remodeling project is to make a budget.

Office Renovation: Consider the Costs of Flooring

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Flooring clearly defines the personality of any office. Tiled or wooden flooring is ideal for a workspace. However, it is a must that the flooring is comfortable to walk. Various types of floorings have various costs, ranging from $475 to $1320. Visit the market with the contractor to find out the most suitable flooring for your office space. If you have a low budget, then replace the flooring of most used spaces only, including passages, doorways, and stairs.

Office Renovation: Painting and Wall Art

Ideally, wall art builds a dramatic look and personality to your office. However, choosing a good color for your office paint is an economical way. You can also use various types of wall designs and paints to save the cost of wallpaper, along with adding motivation to your workplace. The price of professional paint costs around $255 to $700.

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Office Renovation: Improve the Lighting

The comfort and productivity of the employees and clients hugely depend on the lighting. Too much bright or dim light can cause discomfort. Professional lights like energy-efficient bulbs are better for the offices than wall lamps. You can also install wall lamps and small chandeliers in the meeting room to add confidence and royalty. The cost of lighting varies between $90 to $355 for small offices. Consider energy-efficient bulbs to save the cost of bills in the longer run.

Office Renovation: Make Windows More Functional

Replacement of windows is of advantage only if you keep them more functional. Energy-efficient windows lower the electricity bills by up to 35% per year. Tinted energy-efficient windows reflect the dangerous UV light but let healthy sunlight to enter your workspace. These windows also enhance the brightness in the rooms and lower the need for artificial light. Installation of the simple windows costs around $340 to $800. Installing an energy-efficient window is a little more e expensive than simple windows, but it is also a one-time investment and ranges from $600 to $1500.

Furnishings and Renovation Items

The cost of renovation items and furnishings completely depends on your own choice. You can cut this cost up to almost 100%. However, decoration, furnishing, and renovation items are important to make your workplace a livable and more functional space. Average sized shelves cost from $200 and more. The desks cost from $400 and above.

Budgeting According to the Room Size

Renovating the entire office space is important for a professional touch. However, you can lower the costs by renovating the important spaces only. An office from 200-300 sq-ft space needs at least $850 or more for renovating. A 400-500 sqft office needs at least $1,500, and a 500 sq-ft office needs at least $2000 for renovating.

1. Measure the total space of the office and divide it into high-priority and less-priority spaces.
2. Note down the needed items of the renovation along with their costs.
3. Calculate the total estimated cost of renovation.
4. Compare the cost with your estimated budget. If the total cost of renovation is higher than the estimated budget, then re-check the needs of remodeling and cancel out the less-needed items.
5. Calculate again to estimate the overall cost of renovation.

When preparing the budget, keep in mind to add at least 35% extra cost as a backup of your project. Remember that office renovation is an occasional project, and cutting out less-prioritized items might make you suffer a loss to some extent. Therefore, always prepare your budget carefully and re-check it as many times as possible to finalize a foolproof budget plan.

ASASA Construction is offering sleek commercial renovation and construction services in Toronto. The designs that will blow your mind.

If you are looking to hire a Bathroom Remodeling Contractor in Toronto, must-read “Bathroom Remodeling – 6 Research Tips for Finding a Best Contractor“.