Is your office space holding your business back? It might be time to break up with your landlord.

The decision to move office spaces is a big one. Moving is expensive and stressful, and it disrupts both clients and employees. When it comes time to decide whether you should renew your lease or opt for a new space, it’s not an easy call.

Your office is not just a home base for your employees; it’s a public reflection of your business. Just like any first impression, your space needs project confidence and professionalism, in line with your business’s brand image.

Is your office—and the building its located in—dingy and falling apart? If so, you might be sending the wrong signals to your customers and employees (and the right signals to your competitors).

Also, when it comes to being a home base for your employees, studies show that morale and productivity increase in offices that are modern and focused on collaboration.

If your office doesn’t meet the needs of your clients or your employees, it may be time to say goodbye. However, before hopping on MLS, you have to weigh all of the pros and cons regarding moving or renewing.

Things To Consider

Do you actually need to move?

Is it possible to reconfigure your existing space to make it more usable and refreshed? If so, consider hiring a professional space planner to review your existing and future needs based on your growth expectations. It may just be that you need to take a wall down and install new carpeting in your existing space rather than relocating entirely. Small upgrades can be done over a few weekends, causing minimal disruption to your day-to-day operations.

Are you currently getting a great deal on rent?

Perhaps you negotiated a great rental rate when you first moved in, and don’t want to rock the boat—totally understandable! However, spend some time reviewing the market for comparable spaces to ensure your rental payments are in line with the market (meaning—make sure you’re actually getting a great deal on rent).

If you are indeed paying a fair price, it's possible your landlord will be happy to continue with minimal increases going forward. If this is the case, it may be best to stay in your current space and invest in some small improvements or negotiate a deal with your landlord for some upgrades to the common areas of the buildings such as hallways and lobbies.

Does your building project confidence and professionalism?

Think of your rent as part of your advertising budget—especially if you have public facing space in your office. Don’t you want to put your best foot forward when dealing with new and existing clients?

In order to objectively gauge your office’s image, do a ‘sidewalk experience’ audit. That is, think of the experience when walking from the sidewalk all the way up to your office space.

What’s the streetscape like?

What’s it like to walk through the lobby and ride up the elevator?

If the building is in a challenged neighbourhood, and the common areas including elevators, lobby, and hallways are in rough shape, this can have a huge impact on the image of your business.

You may have the most luxurious office space, but if the sidewalk experience and building’s common areas are not aligned with your brand, you have a problem.

Upgrades to common areas of large office buildings are very expensive and banking on ‘upcoming’ renovations can be a risky business if the landlord doesn't prioritize it or agree to complete it by a certain date.

If your building and neighbourhood is not cohesive with your brand and the image of your company that you want to present to your clients, it might be time to start packing up.

I’m not leaving!

OK, So You’ve Decided to Renew Your Lease…

If you’ve considered the points above and decided you’re paying the right price, your common areas are good or will be worked on, and your space presents the image you want… then renewal is probably the right way to go.

Once you’ve decided to renew your lease you need to prepare for renewal negotiations with your Landlord. The more knowledge you have of the local market the better. this will give you great leverage when discussing rental rates.

Think about any potential upgrades or renovations of your space you might want to be done before you start the conversation with your landlord. Now is the time to ask for a new carpet and a fresh coat of paint if your space needs it. Once the renewal is signed it is a lot more difficult to ask for these things.

I’m outta here!

OK, So You’ve Decided to Move…

Office relocations happen for a number of reasons, from company expansion to moving cities, and regardless of the reason, it can be an exciting and invigorating experience— it’s not always stress, financial strain, and pitfalls. From changing your office’s interior design to implementing innovative ways of working, relocations can be the catalyst for giving your entire company a make-over (and not just an aesthetic one!)

Moving offices can kick-start a company into assessing the way it operates; it can motivate and encourage performance; alter the public, employee and customer perception of the business; and open up ways in which you can cut back on costs.

Moving your office can help you propel your business to the next level.

Whether it’s for the reasons stated above, or because you’ve moved to a more central location, or because you’re in a better neighbourhood with more desirable clientele— an office move can breathe life back into your business.

A move is a chance to ensure your team is equipped with the facilities they need for years to come, so consider your options wisely. Here are some ideas of what to consider when looking for new office space:

Consider Your Growth

An important factor to consider when taking the plunge into moving offices is your company’s plans for growth. Ideally, you won’t have to move every 5 years. Determine how much you plan to grow over the next 5-10 years, and look for a space that will suit your future and current business.

Prepare An Executive Summary

When shopping for spaces, prepare a short “executive summary” of your business to provide to prospective landlords if they want to know more about you. It’s important that landlords know who they are leasing to, and that your business is on stable financial footing. In addition to the numbers, the story behind your business will help during your negotiations with the landlord by bringing more emotional connection into the mix.

Hire A Space Planner

Consider hiring a space planner. A space planner will help you determine how much space you actually need, and can even help determine the number of offices, kitchens, bathrooms, meeting rooms, etc., that you may need. Hiring a space planner before you start evaluating spaces can save you time and money, by helping to narrow down your search.

Start The Search

Once you have a general idea of the type of space you need, start looking for it! The best way to experience a space is by actually walking through it— you can only get so much by looking online. Set up a few tours to get a sense of what’s out there; if you haven’t engaged a qualified real estate broker, now is the time.

Offers & Negotiations

When you’re ready to negotiate and put an offer in on a space, be sure to be prepared with your negotiating points (your Realtor can help you with this). These can include things such as what your offering rents will be, what you’d like the landlord to do to prepare the space, and what clauses you are willing and unwilling to accept.

Moving Day!

Moving can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are some ideas to improve your move, and ensure a smooth transition for your employees and clients alike:

Start planning as early as possible: There’s no such thing as “winging it” when you’re moving office spaces. In order to make everything as easy as possible, you have to start the planning early— divvying up who will be doing what, how they’ll be doing it, and when it will be getting done. Otherwise, you may find yourself scrambling at the last minute (and nobody wants to be in the office all night throwing supplies in a box or trying to get a dozen printers ready for transport). And don’t forget to plan ahead for your moving budget— it’s important to know how much you have to spend.
Appoint a move manager: Even if you’re divvying up the tasks prior to the move, ensuring you have someone who is actually responsible for the overview of these tasks is equally important. Usually, the best person for this is an administrative assistant, but you may also choose to appoint someone who has past experience with commercial relocations.
Don’t Forget IT: One of the major, time-consuming tasks that people forget about is disconnecting and reconnecting all of the office techs. As soon as you know the date of your move, have your IT department draft a plan for transferring all of the technical equipment. This includes computers, servers, and phones, and your telephone/internet lines as well. This is a big job, and something you can’t outsource to the movers, so it’s critical that you handle it as soon as possible.
Celebrate Your New Space: An office relocation is stressful on everyone, including your employees. As a “thank you” for everyone’s cooperation in making it happen and as a way to celebrate your new space, budget in a small party for after the move. You don’t have to be completely set up yet, and it doesn’t have to be anything major—even a mid-day celebration luncheon sometime in the first week after moving will show your staff how much you appreciate their help and welcome in exciting things at the new office.

Overall, the decision to move is a big one. Whether you renew or go brand new, make sure that your space reflects the image of your business and the level of professionalism you’re looking to convey.

Are you still feeling a bit stuck in deciding whether you should stay or go? Let’s chat! I’d love to help you determine your best option.

Evan J. Apostol, Broker at Blair Blanchard Stapleton Limited

Evan is a commercial real estate broker specializing in retail, office, and industrial sales and leasing within Niagara, Hamilton and Halton, Ontario.

Renew or Brand New? When To Move To A New Office Space