Serviced Office Space FAQs
We’ve provided answers to a few of the more frequently asked questions relating to serviced offices that should help with your search. If there are any other questions that you have then please email us, we’ll get back to you with an answer and add common questions to the site..
What is a business centre?
What is a serviced office?
What are the advantages of a serviced office?
What is a workstation?
Why are serviced offices priced per workstation?
How is the price per workstation calculated?
A business centre is used to refer to a lot of different set-ups and you may find a ‘business centre’ in an airport, hotel or train station. These are generally business lounges with a desk, plug socket and Internet connection and are designed for a couple of hours use.
When looking at renting serviced offices, a business centre is used to described a shared building made up of many separate serviced office suites (for example The Works Business Centres have approximately 35 serviced offices to rent in Manchester). The centres normally comprise of a communal reception, kitchens, and shared meeting rooms.
What is a serviced office?
A serviced office is normally found within a business centre. Although not completely standardised throughout the industry, you should generally expect the following facilities and charges to be included with your office:
- Furniture
- Rent
- Business rates
- Service charge
- All utilities
- Reception duties, including call answering
- Telecoms cabling and handsets (line rental usually charged separately)
- IT cabling
You will benefit from the shared facilities of a business centre, so will have a reception service and be able to hire meeting rooms.
What are the advantages of a serviced office?
The advantages of serviced offices can be numerous, but they fall into the two broad categories of cost and flexibility
Start-up costs for occupying a serviced office are extremely low. There is no need to purchase furniture, a business-level IT / telecoms infrastructure is already in place, and as it is not a lease you do not need to use a legal team. A deposit of one or two months and the first month up front is the standard cost for occupancy.
Recurring costs, such as Receptionists salaries, are split between all clients. So, if you only occupy 1% of the total space in a business centre, you’ll only be paying 1% of the Receptionists’ salaries – saving you 99% on hiring your own!
The flexibility of a serviced office is also a great advantage and can also save clients money. Agreements generally start from just three months in length, so you can upsize or downsize at regular intervals. Clients only ever pay for the space they need.
Moreover, serviced offices give businesses the chance to occupy small offices in some of the more exclusive buildings around the globe that were previously only available to large occupiers requiring several thousand square feet, including ‘The Gherkin’ and Canary Wharf in London.
With the advantages listed above, they make for great start-up offices, satellite offices, project offices and are ideal where staff numbers vary regularly.
A workstation is used to describe a desk space for one. It will normally come with storage space, telephone and Internet connection.
However, when you ‘pay per workstation’ you are also paying for the rent, rates, reception area and communal facilities, not just the furniture in the office.
Why are serviced offices priced per workstation?
This is the standard method used in the industry and allows for an easy initial comparison of serviced office accommodation in your search area. They can’t just quote a rent as there is so much else included within the price of a workstation and it would inevitably lead to unfair comparisons with more traditional office premises where rent, rates, service charge, utilities, furniture and so on is charged separately.
What companies include in their workstation cost does vary, so you should ask for a comprehensive list. For example, some include an Internet connection and telephone, whereas others don’t.
It is also useful so clients know how much it is going to cost to expand their office. Two extra people = two extra workstations @ X amount each.
How is the price per workstation calculated?
It really is simple, so why more operators don’t make this clear is really beyond us!
They take the total costs of running their business centre, divide that figure by the number of workstations they can fit in the building, add a little profit margin and (basically) that’s the cost per workstation.
Of course, there may be variations and most operators will probably base it on the average number of workstations occupied rather than the total they can accommodate, as achieving 100% occupancy is pretty difficult.
It benefits every client because you all share the costs of expensive IT equipment, kitchens, meeting rooms, Receptionist and so on. For example, if you occupy 1% of the space, you will effectively be paying for 1% of the Receptionist’s salary – you can spend the remaining 99% it would cost to have your own on what you like!
Again, just bear in mind that some operators will include more than others in the price (eg telephones and Internet connections) so just double check when comparing workstation rates.
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