[Mrs Nicholls]

this is something i've been thinking about since we became quite busy, if we gain customers as we have been, i'm going to outgrown my office area of my bedroom.

is it a good idea to move into an office? does anyone else have an office, or is it something people don't want to waste money on?

[Lesley J]

we have a very tiny office in our village, central location for staff and clients, it works very well, I can also store all paperwork and the odd vac cleaner, and when I shut the door on it, at night to go home I can switch off.

[Mrs Nicholls]

hi
how big is your client base, if you dont mind me asking.
did you get an office right away or did you wait until you reached a certain figure of clients or income?

[handyali]

i'd suggest you really do your homework before getting an office - i can understand it is great to switch off when you go home but the overheads can be HUGE . hope i haven't dampened your enthusiasm but thats from personal experience 

[Mrs Nicholls]

i'm not overly enthusiastic either way. Cant have an office in my bedroom for much longer, and don't want to fork out for expensive office space either.

are services office spaces cheaper?

[Jake]

Lisa

My brother rents an office in a local council run block, it is reasonably priced and secure, you might have similar facilities near you, it is worth checking out.


                           Regards.......Jake

[stains-away]

If youve got room how about an office down the garden, for a coulpe of grand you can buy what is basicaly a glorified summer house and work from that, Andy

[Mrs Nicholls]

 
don't think my parent would appreciate that.

(i moved back to save some pennies)

[stains-away]

Easy then, take over their bedroom and let them sleep on the couch

[Cinders]

Hi Lisa,

Im in the same position...although I dont think I have the income to cover office space just yet Im sick of having files and papers everywhere! For now I store my cleaning equipment in my dads shed but I have to share this with his array of gardening tools (which he never uses might I add!)

It is an extra expense and I suppose I have to weigh up whether it would bring me any extra clients?

I also run ironing collection and delivery alongside my cleaning and Im afraid the conservatory is just not suffice anymore!

I would also be grateful for any advice too!

 

[Fox]

Hi

I wouldn't have started my business without office space!  I have an office in a business centre - it's not a bad price about 300.00 per month, we also carry out the communal cleaning for the land lords for this centre and another so it pays to have the office!

I am sure you will find your own pros and cons but I had to have an office for some of the following reasons:

I didn't want staff to come to my home address
Storage
Separation of work/home life
Professionalism (not that your not if you work from home but the type of clients I aim for would expect an office address)
Mess!
Somewhere to get away from the rest of the family! LOL
Concentration - I know I would end up cleaning the house rather than doing the accounts!

Hope this helps when sorting out your dilemma but from my point of view office space is a must and money well spent.

Fox

[dustycorner]

Hi Lisa,

Iwould get an office, yes you will incur extra expense but your home and work are 2 separate entities and needs to be treated has such.

Also the majority of people are not disciplined enough to work from home either straying off for too many coffee breaks or continually working to the detriment of family, social life etc.

Having an office also sends out message about your business to staff and clients, it more professional ( just my opinion there ).

Cheers Mark.

[Trevor Knight]

I started in my spare room many years ago.

It was great, if ever I got bored I would play the playstation, watch TV, sit in the garden, basically do anything apart from work.

Did this for 2 years and my business grew about 3%

A friend of mine had a big office/warehouse and he asked me if I was interested in renting out a small office in his building. £100 p/month.

I took him up and over the next five years I had no TV, no playstation, no garden. All I have was a computer, telephone and fax. The upside was I concentrated solely on my business and grew it year on year by 25%

Now we have our own offices and things couldn't be better.

Just food for thought?

Best wishes,

Trev

[Paul Kettless]

Just to throw a spanner in the works, we work from home, and i do not believe for one second that having an office away from my house would help us expand our business at this time.  I have self employed friends who are builders, carpet fitters, plumbers and none of them have offices, and earn a very good living, so why should the cleaning industry be any different.

However, surely common sense tells us all that you must be disciplined, and make sure that you are not distracted.  We do have a room dedicated to the business, with a seperate phone line from domestic and buiness calls.  The answerphone is switched on at 5.30pm, and all weekend, it is never checked until the start of business the following day.  At the end of each days business, the door is closed, and very rarely do we go in the room.  When the kids are at home they even knock on the door before entering as they know that we are busy.

I suppose at some time in the future we may be hard pushed for storage space for equipment, supplies etc, but I have managed to source a local guys that rents out secured containers for a fraction of the price of a lock up.

In the end the choice is yours, but working from home works for us at the moment.

Kind regards

Paul

[Cinders]

Hi 'complete cleaning'

I appreciate what you are saying as I would much prefer to benefit from the money rather than spend it out on rent but its just much harder when you are living with your parents and trying to run a business as my bedroom is far too small and as i offer an ironing service this is getting tougher to store and hang all the clothes!

Maybe instead of rent an office i should buy my own house?! now there's a thought!! 

[Trevor Knight]

I understand what you mean Paul, not syaing it is a "must do" to grow your business.

I guess the bottom line is you are very disciplined to work from home, I guess I am not. I would want to answer the phone if I heard it ring,  just in case it was that "big one" that we all wait for.

I also had a problem in my second year with my Tax audit, the amount that was proportioned to my allowance for a home office was not calculated correctly and the thought of having to pay corporation tax when I sell my house was not much fun either.

Like ya said, what works for some won't for others.

Best wishes,

Trev

[handyali]

Guess at the end of the day if you can get somewhere for £100 a month you're laughing but dont forget to take into account all other overheads eg business rates grrrhhhh!! I know youre not stoopid just consider it thoroughly. Good luck in whatever you decide 

[Kingfisher-CCS]

I'm just starting out too, and live w/ parents (I'm 23), I've got my desk and shelves etc. even had a new phone line put in, all at the end of my bed.

At the mo, I'm running up n down stairs as PC is down stairs and paperwork upstairs.

I am planning to rent a small (as small as possible!) office as soon as I can afford it.

I am disciplined, but my parents don't seem to understand that I need to concentrate and they are either asking me stupid questions or arguing amongst themselves!

Then there's the factor of looking as proffesional as possible, I don't think clients would like me to say I live at home and work out how much to charge etc. in my little bedroom.

[andy roberts]

In my view, its all about how big you want to grow your business. If your a one man operation and are going to stay that way then renting office/storage space is one overhead too far. Working from home is the answer. On the over hand, if your intentions are to expand and employ staff, then the office route is the way to go for obvious reasons. Having a business address also portrays a feel that your dealing with a high profile corporate company as opposed to the one man operation. There are pros and cons for both.

Personally, I work from home out of a chalet in garden for office, plus I have a very large storage shed. Why pay £0000's in rent, rates, electric etc etc when you dont have to!? Rather spend the money on my new boat.

Regards,  Andy 

[Cinders]

Could i use your boat as my office??