Office space selection guide
helps you find your or your team's next office →
We created an office space guide to help you navigate the jungle of different office solutions when you're looking for a new office for you or your business.
Still not sure what kind of office space would best serve your business? Don't worry. At Boffice, we've had thousands of conversations with entrepreneurs and managers looking for office space. This page is the place where we've summarised our understanding of the concerns and questions you may have about choosing an office space.
If you can't find the answers to your questions about choosing an office space, you can contact us. We will be happy to help you through the process.
Check out the most common selection criteria for office space and the most important questions related to them below. You will also find withdrawals to our free markets.
1.What kind of office space is available?
There is no official classification of various office solutions. The constantly changing needs of office space users and new service providers keep the office space market constantly changing. In addition, the increased amount of remote work has increased the need for flexible space use solutions. The following classification of office space will help you understand what kind of solutions are available in general:
Commercial and office space in the brick-and-mortar building
Office premises in large properties owned and managed by one landlord (building completed for office use)
An office hotel or coworking office space (usually one floor of office space where one company rents out smaller office spaces and offices) such as Boffice
Virtual operators that provide access to office space managed by operators in list 1-3. For example, Spacent.
2. Determine the size of the team that uses office space regularly and occasionally
Companies and teams that support full teleworking need to consider issues such as the following when choosing office space in relation to the size of the team/company.
Let's use as an example an expert company with 8 employees, of which six people live in the Helsinki metropolitan area and 2 people outside the Helsinki metropolitan area.
How many of the team use the office on a daily basis? Is it enough to have workstations for four people, for example?
How many internal meetings are held daily? On average, how many people from the office attend these meetings? Are there meeting rooms available for meetings?
Whether it is possible to temporarily and/or permanently expand the available office space according to the changing needs of the team. (Often the actual need for space is not specified until the office space has been used by the team for a few months)
How much does the location of the office space affect how comfortable and easy it is for the team to come to the office every day?
3. Location of office space is key to success
In consumer sales and marketing, three factors are considered more important than others. These are: location, location and location. These same three factors should also be carefully considered when choosing an office space.
One way of thinking about it is that modern office space can be seen as a service to employees, who can now do their work from almost anywhere. In this case, the location of the office space becomes a key criterion through the employee experience. If the office is difficult to reach or very far away, it is difficult to optimise the employee experience.
Office location isn't everything, but we encourage you to consider the importance of location through the experiences and insights of different team members.
Free office space for rent
Since you've decided to read this office space guide, you might also be interested in our selection of available office space. If you are not yet at that stage in your office search process, feel free to continue reading this guide.
4. Teleworking and choosing office space
The amount of remote work the team does on a weekly basis and the choice of office space are fundamentally related in a few different ways. The choice of office space can directly and indirectly affect the amount of work performed in the office and at home.
A fairly common situation in established companies is that increased teleworking has left many offices underutilised. In this case, the choice of a smaller office is a response to the changed working environment.
It is also worth trying to understand how the location of the office or other factors may influence the decision of employees to work remotely more often.
In our experience, these issues should be weighed and discussed with the team before the final choice of office space.
5. Additional services for office space
When choosing an office space, it is also worth stopping to consider the additional services offered by the landlord. The need for these will vary depending on the size of the company, the industry and team preferences. One example of ancillary services is a lobby service. In most office buildings, coworking spaces and office hotels, lobby service is included in the office rent.
The most typical clients of Boffice hotels are teams of 1-4 people who, on average, do not require lobby services. They are therefore excluded from our services and therefore from our prices. Find out more about the additional services available for Boffice offices here.
6. Pricing and contract models in office leases
Broadly speaking, the types of contract can be divided into three categories:
Commercial and office space on the ground floor of a building is usually rented on a fixed-term lease for one year, after which the lease continues indefinitely.
Office space in a large property owned and managed by a single landlord is usually leased for a year or years in advance.
In office hotels and coworking spaces, office space can be rented on one or two months' notice.
The above is not an official classification, but you should always carefully study the rental terms and lease agreements when renting office space.
Available office space in Helsinki
Since you've read this office space guide all the way to here, you might be interested in the office space in Helsinki that Boffice has to offer . If you are not yet at that stage in your office search process, feel free to continue reading this guide. Perhaps you will find your way back to our website or our office space when the time is right!
7. Office or workspace for receiving clients or for quiet work
When we talk to small businesses in particular about their choice of office, sometimes the office seeker stops to re-analyse their primary need for office space through the following questions:
Is there a need to receive customers?
Do you need to find a suitable space for concentrated work?
Or is the need possibly a combination of these?
We recommend that you consider this priority need in combination with the other factors outlined on this page in relation to the choice of office space.
8. The form and level of customer service provided by your office space partner
In general, it is quite difficult to find out the level of customer service from the landlord before you have rented an office space and have to sort out some problem situation with the landlord or the property management and maintenance party.
When choosing an office space, we recommend that you consider what level of customer service you expect from the landlord:
Do you expect to always receive personal, face-to-face service?
Or is it enough that customer service is quickly available, and that the matter is dealt with as quickly as possible?
Free office space in Espoo
Since you've read this office space guide all the way to here, you might be interested in the office space in Espoo that Boffice has to offer . If you are not yet at that stage in your office search process, feel free to continue reading this guide. Perhaps you will find your way back to our website or our office space when the time is right!
9. Prepare your office move carefully
Whether you're moving into your first office space or changing offices, it's a good idea to allow enough time for the move.
The best way to avoid forgetting and surprises when moving office space is to create a checklist for the move. At the very least, you should keep the following things in mind:
Packaging and protection of office supplies
Transfers and transport
Installation work
Furniture (discarded, recyclable, new)
Closing/opening of telecommunications connections
Updating contact details (website, other digital services)