Commercial Office Space

rileypool

rileypool

paper clique fiend
Mar 8, 2007
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Tulsa, OK
rileypool.com
I know some of you guys here have your own office space outside of your home.

As someone who is just now looking around town at renting a small office, what are some things I should know or look out for when checking out these properties?
 


I have a 12x16 office that i rent for dirt cheap.The lease is pretty straightforward i.e. rent stays the same for first 2 years and after the first year it goes month to month. The actual office itself is pretty nice, the building is a little rougher about 20 or so years old.

Just know you can always negotiate better terms than they tell you upfront. It's also a good idea if you can to talk to someone who is renting in the building. See if they like it and if they've had any issues with the owner, electric, other tenants, etc. basically anything.
 
In my opinion, if you are looking for something small - obviously check craigslist. A lot of landlords will throw in included phone and internet on the price (in our first office it took verizon over 2 months to get us correctly set up), so it was a waste of time and money. windows are something i need, however, they will (for whatever reason) bump up the price. Also, try to ask your landlord a shit ton of questions, it may annoy them but it will be good to see what their personality is (a dick, or nice).

And for the love of god do not rent an office in someones house, my friend did this for whatever reason... not really much to explain here.
 
Also interested in this.

Checked out one place the other week and it was basically 12 individuals with 20x20 offices and a central sitting area with a shared secretary.

You all had to pay a fee to pay for the bitch though. Not sure I'm down with that when I have no real need for it. Cool idea though.

Make sure to ask about parking too, if the cars need to be moved, where the overflow is, if the office doors are open 24/7, what extra fees are included, who has priority parking, back up generators - if the power goes out and you're working on something big, where internet/phone spots are, etc.

EDIT: Make sure to drive by the spot a few times. I looked at the spot on a Sunday and it seemed to be in a great area, right on the river (though I didn't have a view), etc but then when I drove my Dad to see it on Tuesday there was like 5 homeless guys chillin' on the sidewalk right outside the main entrance begging for money.

I've driven by a few times since and it seems like most times the same dudes are relaxing there which isn't a big deal. But when you check out the spot a few times you can pick up on stuff like that.
 
TFLNetwork said:
And for the love of god do not rent an office in someones house, my friend did this for whatever reason... not really much to explain here.
Click to expand...

What the fuck? People rent out their home offices? This is the most mindfuck thing I've heard on hear.

Edit: never mind, I take that back. The Wagenheim thread is way more mindfuck, but still.
 
Refrozen said:
What the fuck? People rent out their home offices? This is the most mindfuck thing I've heard on hear.

Edit: never mind, I take that back. The Wagenheim thread is way more mindfuck, but still.
Click to expand...

Wagglehymen would probably rent you an office in his house if you ran a businesses doing after-school tutoring for elementary school students.
 
Make sure the office has decent connectivity.
The last thing you want to do is setup, and then have to wait a month to get cable installed because the previous tenant was still using the ISDN left behind by the tenant before them and "it's never been an issue before" according to the building owner.

Also, be sure to check what bills you're paying.
I've found offices that seemed dirt cheap, and the fine print would have had me paying for waste disposal from a 3rd rate company, water, gas, electricity, insurance, council rates, new light bulbs, etc.
If you're paying rent, make sure you're not the one paying for all the extra shit on top, because it quickly gets more expensive than a "more expensive" place.
 
Security, Connectivity, Comfort, Cost.

That's what I'm looking for at least. Kind of suprised more haven't mentioned security.
 
d00723 said:
Kind of suprised more haven't mentioned security.
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I was just about to. I would put this above connectivity as having your gear stolen in the middle of the night will put a bigger a damper on productivity than not having an internet connection.

This is a huge problem in Vancouver. Small start ups were getting broken into all over Yaletown when I was there. Even middle of the day smash and grabs weren't uncommon while people stepped out for coffee or lunch. They would also sneak in through back stairwell doors to offices or in the front door while reception was on a break and grab whatever they could, usually a laptop or something equally as easy to walk away with.

Warehouse offices with other businesses in them that stayed open past regular working hours were easy pickings. In our building there was a Pilates studio on the ground floor that was open til 9pm, with 4 more floors of offices above that. In my girlfriend's building just down the street there were cafes and restaurants open late that had their washrooms in the lobby. I was working late on night and a fellow walked right in to our office, looked around and headed for the kitchen. I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and confronted him and he bolted. The boss and I chased him down the stairs.

Method of choice for late night break and enters into these kind of offices? Not through the main door or floor to ceiling windows in the halls like you might think... nope. Straight through the walls in the hallways. Drywall is easy as fuck to go through. Just smash though it and you are inside the office. The owners of our company put in 12 foot high chainlink fencing all along perimeter walls that had hallways on the other side of them. The thinking was that if they didn't come with cutting tools, this would most likely stop them if they had kicked their way through the wall.

We had the security system call our mobiles along with the security company if it ever went off at night, as 4 of us all lived within 2 blocks of the office and we could most likely get there before the police would ever show up.

So, security is my first choice.

Second, close to home. Commuting is utter shit. My apt was within 200 meters of our office. My girlfriend worked in the same block at a different company. All my jobs in Vancouver were walking distance from home.
 
I looked into this a while back. The only problem is the price of NYC real estate is insane.
 
Make sure it's soundproof. Our first office wasn't at all, so having to deal with hearing constant phone calls from next door was a nightmare.
 
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