Your company needs a home, but buying a commercial property isn’t quite the same as purchasing a house.
There are a few similarities between buying a modern office building and a new home. You want decent plumbing, solid construction, and a great price, just like any other owner. Commercial properties require that and so much more.
You need a property that benefits your company’s production, morale, innovation, and reputation!
Before you grab the first available office building on the market, remember these ten crucial elements.
1. Natural Light
Oppressive fluorescent lights are a thing of the past. Your modern office building should leverage the power of natural lighting.
Studies show that natural light improves mood, boosts productivity, and provides employees with a healthy dose of vitamin D. Natural light can help prevent seasonal depression and insomnia, which benefits employee health and sales.
To start, look for buildings in sunny locations. Buildings with large windows and interior glass offices are also a plus. If you’re adding a new roof, consider including skylights to increase natural sunlight in your building.
2. Productive and Inspiring Paint Colors
Notice how your favorite fast-food chains often use red and yellow in their branding? It’s no coincidence. Studies show that red and yellow combinations make people more hungry.
This trend speaks to the power of color psychology on human behavior. Just like McDonald’s and Carl’s Jr, you too can leverage color to encourage positive results.
Instead of making your employees hungry, you want to inspire productivity and innovation. Look for buildings that have blue, green, and purple wall colors. You could also keep the white walls and add splashes of color.
3. Welcoming Lobby
Every modern office building needs a welcoming lobby and reception area. Make sure your lobby is large enough to accommodate a front desk, comfy seating, tables, and a coffee cart comfortably.
Like the rest of your building, ensure natural light is flooding into the lobby area. Sunlight will put both employees and clients in a better mood.
4. Office Courtyard
If possible, buy an office building with an accompanying courtyard. An office courtyard can facilitate collaborative work, boost morale, increase innovation, and improve employee wellness.
Fresh air is essential for physical and mental wellbeing. If you can’t purchase a building with a courtyard, convert balconies into outdoor break spaces for employees. You could also include indoor gardens to circulate oxygen throughout the building.
5. Modern Office Building Layout
Today’s office buildings don’t look like the set of ‘Mad Men’ anymore. Instead of lining offices around the inside perimeter of a building, modern office design brings everything to the center. This plan is called an interior office layout.
Interior offices are placed in the center of an office layout. This layout also leverages natural light, which makes it welcoming, productive, and less isolating for employees.
6. Casual Conference Rooms
Conference rooms are a familiar element in every office building, but they’ve changed shape over the years. Today’s meeting rooms don’t have that stuffy, “closed-door” vibe. 21st-century conference rooms are welcoming, casual, and productive.
More companies are trading the term “conference room” for “huddle room” to inspire productive, collaborative work. The sterile meeting rooms of the past have been a drain on resources and inspiration.
You want your huddle rooms to be extra appealing to employees. Look for huddle rooms with glass interiors and splashes of color. Great views can also stimulate ideas!
7. Break Rooms
Conference rooms bring collaborators together, but break rooms give employees that much-needed chill time. Work breaks are mandated by law, but their importance is so much more than that. Breaks decrease employee stress, boost creativity, reduces ergonomic problems, and improves focus.
Look for buildings with spacious break rooms for employees. You need an area that’s large enough for ping-pong tables, water coolers, refrigerators, snack tables, and comfy chairs.
8. Modern Decorative Elements
Architecture and infrastructure are critical but don’t forget about the importance of interior design and decoration.
You already learned the secret behind color psychology. Interior design leverages color psychology, shape, and balance to inspire productivity.
You can implement an interior design plan after you purchase your commercial property. However, some properties are better apt for productive interior design than others.
For example, you need enough wall space to hang community message boards and wall sconces for soft lighting. You also need a fluid office plan and mixed design elements to inspire innovation.
Look for a commercial building that can accommodate your big ideas!
9. Wellness
You know the phrase, “happy employees make good employees?” It turns out, it’s true!
Company wellness areas have never been more popular. CEOs are seeing a direct benefit for employee morale, productivity, and revenue.
Like break rooms, wellness centers decrease stress and improve focus. However, these centers go the extra mile by providing exercise equipment, healthy meal options, and even yoga classes to employees.
Mental and physical health go hand in hand, and more companies are starting to see the importance of that.
10. Location, Location, Location!
Last but not least, location matters. Ideally, you want a location surrounded by local amenities like cafes, parks, benches, stores, parking spaces, and public transportation. If it’s hard to get to your office building, that’s a problem!
Consider buying an office building with an accompanying parking lot. Ample parking has become even more critical as cities become more crowded. If you can’t buy a building with a parking lot, look for a building with available public parking spaces.
Discover Your Dream Office
Don’t settle for an office that drains your employees’ productivity. Look for a modern office building that inspires big ideas, hard work, and a great attitude.
Remember these ten crucial tips as you hunt for that perfect office. For more resources, check back often for the latest trends in commercial buildings, business plans, marketing, and more.
|