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Making the Right Impression: 6 Key Points to Consider When Organizing Your Business Premises

When you are considering purchasing or renting a building for your business, choose it carefully with use and location in mind. Once you have the building, organize it to the best advantage for your business and customer impressions. Make sure to organize the building for good traffic flow and with adequate space for each function including manufacturing, storage, shipping department, offices, reception area, retail area, parking, and other functions

Choose the Correct Building

At the beginning of the business location process, take the time to find the correct area for the building considering shipping, customer base, and convenience for employees, suppliers, and customers. The buildings in the preferred location must be the right size for the business, have adequate parking for customers in the front and company equipment and vehicles in the back. There must be a well-designed and accessible loading dock if one is needed, and adequate utilities available for your business needs. The building must be able to accommodate your type of business.

Customize The Building To Your Business Model

Even if you searched for the perfect building and found a building close to the business’s needs, it will still need to be customized to better serve the individual business. There are specific needs for every business such as office space, storage, manufacturing, waste treatment storage, and more. Companies such as clsmith.com handle waste and other commercial building needs. There are contractors and businesses to contact for many services, building renovation, and maintenance products.
When planning a building renovation to customize a building to meet your business needs consider these 6 key points:

  1. Determine the needs of the business and the different departments that will need space. Make a list of the amenities and functions that need to be addressed. In other words, what are your facility’s requirements? How many toilet facilities are required? Will space be required for storage, shipping, offices, conferences, manufacturing, meeting with clients, retail space, IT space, kitchen, laboratory, and more. Hiring the correct general contractor to help plan the renovation is essential. Don’t forget the parking needed for employees. They can’t get to work on time if they can’t find nearby parking.
  2. Take care of the paperwork, city codes, and more. Before signing on the dotted line for a property, check the certificate of occupancy to make sure your business can be located in that building. Changing a CO is time-consuming and expensive. Check the CO for limitations and what you can legally use the property for. Check for existing violations of the CO or other city codes. Do this by walking through the building with your general contractor, engineer, or architect. Determine if the cost of bringing the building up to code is an acceptable expense. Discover what building permits are required and obtain them.
  3. Before money is spent on interior renovations, check the building’s envelope. The envelope of a building is the exterior including roof, walls, windows, doors, foundation, and accessibility for the disabled. Historic buildings might have restrictions on what can be changed on the building facade. The building must be secure and waterproof to protect the interior spaces.
  4. Get professional help to inspect the building’s structural components, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. Can this building handle the weight of the business? Can the floors support the weight of the equipment you plan to move in? If you want to remove walls, they must not be load-bearing. Are the mechanical, plumbing, and electric systems up to code and will they be adequate for your business. Can these systems be updated to meet your needs?
  5. Hire a commercial designer, architect, engineer, or General contractor as needed who have experience working with your type of business to draw project plans that result in a building that best meets your company needs within the given budget and codes. These professionals coordinate with each other and the business owner to define the project scope and details and to oversee the renovation process. Even if the company is already located in the building, use professionals to help make changes to improve the building organization.
  6. Once the building renovation is complete and it is time to move the business into the building, move each department or unit into the designated space. Have a moving plan to avoid moving day chaos and confusion. Consider appointing a move manager for each department, Consider hiring a commercial moving company when moving an existing company to a new building.

The Move

Have everyone pack their own desks and label everything. Labeling every box with contents and the room or area it needs to go to is essential for moving day. Don’t forget to measure all equipment and furniture to make sure it will fit through doors and into the designated space. If possible, save on moving company costs by moving some items yourself. Things such as office supplies, plants, and personal items are possibilities.
IT deserves special attention. The equipment is fragile and vital to any company and must be protected. The IT department head should supervise qualified people to pack and move computers, printers, and other electronics. This department should be moved and set up at the beginning of the move so they are available to hook up each department as they move in. A company’s communications are important to business health.
In advance of the move get keys to the building for everyone who needs them. Examine the parking area and assign parking spots to all employees. Hiring a company to mark out parking spaces on concrete or asphalt paved parking areas is a good investment. If renting space in part of a building, identify your allotted spaces in advance. Hire a security company to keep everything safe during the move and when the business is up and running again.
Hire a signage company to manufacture and install building signage before the move. Time will be required for the company to get local approval for signage, manufacture it, and install it. The signage will help employees, vendors, and customers find the new building. If the company is renting part of a building, get the building rules in advance of the move and reserve a freight elevator for move-in day. Walk through every department and space to make sure it is properly set up and all the moving mess is removed.
When the reorganizing or renovation and move-in are complete, have a small “thank you” and “thank God the move is completed” party. Now the new, improved building and business organization can begin to reap benefits for your company.