For many organizations, the decision to relocate your business to a new office environment, or renovate your existing space is a very difficult one – and for good reason. There are many factors to consider when deciding whether to jump ship, or to stick to your roots and make your current location work for you.

Both options are similar in scope; realizing that contemporizing your working environment is key to boosting efficiency, productivity, workplace satisfaction, and a sense of pride is often at the root of all organizational relocation/renovation debates. But that’s where the similarities often end.

Modern and successful office designs are able to integrate location, flexibility, space requirements, privacy, collaboration, and transparency – while also addressing issues of eco-efficiency, sustainability, and technological competence. Moving to an office that offers these finer points already complete, in some fashion, can be an attractive selling point – but coaxing water from a stone, as they say, makes renovation of your current location a very rewarding experience that can bring about its own version of company culture, employee satisfaction, and pride.

The trouble is often in deciding what the ideal option is for both your business, and your employees.

 

Find the Focus

When choosing to renovate your office space rather than relocate, it’s very important to weigh the pros and cons of your current situation. Ask whether or not your current location serves your company well; would a new location be of benefit? What’s the desired outcome of this renovation? What questions lie at the centre of your decision to pursue a renovation, and does renovation answer those questions?

The crux of office renovation is usually a positive change to everyday scenery and modifying the ambiance of the organization’s’ HQ – but can also include more straight-forward objective changes – like expected employee growth, the affordability of downtime, and whether or not the current space will allow for future growth. Finding the focus of your need for renovation is a great way to decide whether it’s the right choice for your business before considering bigger contributing factors.

Pros of Renovation

Cost is a routine concern for every business decision. Both renovation and relocation can take up considerable funds, so the decision to renovate offers considerable bonus points when considering that a renovation can be broken up into smaller, more manageable portions. A reno that aims to focus directly on workflow and energy efficiency could choose to tackle a pre-plan custom office layout design to maximize open space, new windows to maximize an influx of natural light and minimize heat loss, before tackling a major structural renovation to develop additional office space.

Effectively, an office renovation can yield appreciable cost savings when businesses consider that they always have options. While an all-encompassing renovation takes care of all environmental concerns in one foul swoop, there’s no rule book that says a renovation must be completed at once.

Making renovation decisions that address smaller primary concerns are not only be easier on a bank account, but can also generate a prolonged moral boost in employee satisfaction over time; seeing constant changes being made within the company sphere can translate to a sense that change is coming, encouraging a sense of occupational pride.

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The requirements of modern workspaces are always evolving – and sometimes that means realizing that an existing office can’t be fixed or suited to an adapting business world; and that’s OK. Relocating your business is a viable alternative to renovating because it not only offers more freedom to choose the ideal environment for your employees, but it can help to instill a sense of freshness and of new beginnings, which may just be the ticket for a business that needs a considerable jump start, or a refresh.

Pros of Relocation

Entrepreneur tells us that costs involve more than simple living/working expenses like rental fees and lease agreements. Many companies find themselves in a tight spot: caught in between staying close to their target market, and situating the company in a low-cost facility that lends itself well to cost effectiveness.

For example, a company may find that relocation makes sense monetarily because the building they currently occupy has accumulated value over the course of the company’s tenure there. This means that a company could choose to sell their current building that’s outgrown its usefulness to invest in a cost-effective building that allows for future growth and a stronger bottom line – not to mention a larger renovation budget to play with once a move has been finalized.

The evolution of the modern office can also dictate that large spaces will inevitably be harder and harder to justify in many industries. More and more, modern office design can be centered around a collective space to plug in a laptop, thanks to the effectiveness of the internet and a continually mobile workforce. When employees can be effective and work from anywhere in the world, downsizing your office footprint is another cost effective route to consider, as a smaller spot reduces operating costs.

Speed

One of the pitfalls of a renovation is the timeframe required to execute and construct a proper interior office design. This makes relocation an easy decision for companies that face long and drawn-out renovation times that ultimately can affect productivity, staff effectiveness, and morale – an open construction zone is no place to expect your staff to maintain an efficient, top-tier effort – it can be loud and distracting for staff.

An office move can be tough to organize with a busy staff and demanding clients – the fortunate part being, a move is only a move and may only offset your staff by a few days. In the event that you anticipate a lengthy move-in process, have your essentials like internet connectivity, network connections, and ensure access to mobile workstations to help bridge the gap between old and new addresses.

Speed and efficiency are also a benefiting factor for relocation when you consider that a new office address can be tailored and updated to your company’s specifications while your team finishes large projects at the old location, disrupting the interruption of moving.

Location Matters

A new location can help your staff to feel energized and excited about the company they work for. A new office environment is an effective way to invigorate work performance. A contemporary, modern office is an incredible way to showcase your brand, your company, and the new style of your business.

When you choose an up-and-coming neighbourhood that’s at the forefront of your city’s most engaging scene, you’re effectively putting your business into a stream of thought that wasn’t able to be had prior. This is an advantage that renovation can’t always compete with.

Location is also important to consider when looking to make a statement with your brand – an office can say a lot about its occupants, and a transformation of physical space and identity via interior design can shift opinion of your organization to new heights. A new location can also stimulate interest from new employees and top-talent. Employee retention is heavily relatable to the massive migration of people from city-centres to the suburbs, in search of a better quality of life. Relocating your business can spell an advanced workforce that brings prosperity and opportunity.

Best of Both Worlds

Expansion of a company can present a unique opportunity to businesses that explore the pros of both relocation and renovation. Moving alone is one way to expand, wherein a company chooses to put its entire staff into a larger, more accommodating space – but absorbing adjacent space of your current office location can help limit the interruption of an all-out move while garnering the additional space required to ensure company growth.

What’s better, expansion can also mean breaking up your organization’s structural workflow to encompass two locations to be closer to a broader target market of clientele – or alternatively, can make an effective case for distributing departments of your company to new and different locations to give each team – say distribution and sales – space to make a larger impact.

Expansion can also put your company into that new trendy neighbourhood, while also staying close to its roots, placing emphasis on its loyalty to the city, neighbourhood or environment that gave it its start.

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The pros and cons to relocation and renovation are vast – and while no one answer will suffice for most companies toying with the idea of a new office, a combination of these points may help influence your decision. Whichever route your business should end up choosing, Aura Office can help make your new – or old – office feel like home, stimulating productivity, freshness, and character, while looking to the future.

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