How to Set Up an Office: The Complete Guide

Setting up an office requires a lot of time and dedication, especially for new business owners as they have to be extra careful towards budgeting and finalizing a location. It might seem a difficult task at first, however, careful planning and processing things step by step is the real key to a stress-free office setup.

In this article, we will be guiding you on how you can start setting up your office by following a few simple steps. This guide will elaborate on things you need to give priority while you are setting up your office and what things can elevate this experience for you as well.

Our guide will help you understand the basics and the important additions that you can introduce to your new office setup.  Our guide is based on 4 simple and easy steps for you to follow, You can apply or eliminate any step based on your preference or based on your business type.

Steps for Setting Up an Office

We have compiled these 4 steps to guide you better in choosing the best for your office and employees in the longer run. These steps will also tell you about the trends that are happening in the corporate sector to allow you to make a sound choice for your workspace.

Here we have listed all the important and functional steps for you to follow to have your office established.

1. An Initial Brainstorming Session

This is a step in which you will think about all your business needs and all the things you should prefer. In a brainstorming session, a business owner will think about all the possibilities and strategies that he wants to add to his new office setup.

This brainstorming can start with the types of equipment that you will be needing in your offices, such as computers, tables, chairs, mouses, keyboards, etc. All of those things can be important to complete a task and to keep the working environment running.  Research these types of equipment to make quality and affordable purchases for your new office.

Moving on to the services you might want to incorporate into your new office setups, such as call answering services, security services, food services, and office supplies. All these services should be a part of your planning when you want to plan out a new office set up to facilitate your employees and yourself.

Such detailed planning can always save tons of money and effort when you are moving to a new location or planning a new office setup.

2. Designing the Office Floor

Before you buy your furniture or any other accessories it is advised to choose a design for your office floor. Most of the time it depends on what type of floor design you prefer or what suits your business the most. Try choosing a minimalistic layout to have a professional and polished floor design. Furthermore, many business owners prefer 3 basic office layouts for their office space.

Three basic layouts are described,

• Open Layout

In an open layout setting, we usually see large desks in an open environment with chairs placed on both sides of the desks to offer employees a shared workstation. It is mostly used by startups to utilize space for collaboration and performance.

Besides being a good layout to boost productivity, it has a major con which is its open aesthetics that gives less privacy to employees working in such an environment.

• Closed Layout

In a closed layout setting, the workspace is designed in a cubicle shape, allowing each employee to have individual desks. These individual desks have individual partition walls around them. It promotes independent workstations, along with promoting concentration and performance.

Each partitioned cell has maximum personal storage capacity with elevated privacy. The only bad side of this layout is that it takes up a lot of space and offers less room for collaborations.  

• Modular Layout

In a Modular layout setting, clusters of group desks in a versatile environment offer a combination of both open and closed layouts. Owners can add multiple dividers to keep the desks open which allows employees to have privacy, their own space, and working space. It allows you to have a customizable sitting plan.  

3. Setting Up Communications

Now in this phase, you will be planning to put the communicational accessories in your office space. Try to plan things according to your employees and what they will be using such as mobile phones and landlines etc.

Start accessorizing your workplace with internet services so that you can avail the rest of the services with ease without even leaving the office building. Try to find a reliable source for your internet service, as it will help you in having better connectivity.

Moving on to the other parts of installing a communicational framework, try adding landlines, and other communicational devices. Try to adopt modern ways of communication to have better connectivity and collaboration at the office.

Other than these you will need your IT requirements such as cables, servers, and multiple power supplies to provide energy throughout your office. Each one of these will have its level of adjustment and will need specific care such as upgrading from time to time.

You will also need stationery or office supplies to get you going such as papers, printing ink, etc. These are some of the most important supplies as they will be utilized by your workers. For these, you will need to have proper storage boxes throughout the office for your employees to provide accessories to complete their daily tasks.

4. Equipment and Furniture for Office

After all of the above steps, it's time that you go furniture shopping on your way to a new office. Choose professional, minimalistic, and adjustable furniture that can be modified according to your budget and office space.

Try adding furniture that can be easy to move from place to place in need of a sudden shift.  Start with good office chairs that are ergonomics certified so that you and your employees can have comfort and productivity at the office. Next comes the office desks that can offer adjustable features such as sitting and standing features for on-desk exercise facilities for employees.

In furniture, office storage boxes are also included in many cases and many offices include them as a part of their furniture requirements. You will be wanting to add some paper storage boxes, some bins, and some other storage accessories.

Bottom line

Moving from one workspace to another can take a lot of time and effort, however, with the right planning and strategies you can score big in this game. Try to consult with your employees and experts to give you decent advice while you are planning to move to another location.

You should make a proper checklist of what you should be adding as a new item to your moving list and what you should be avoiding at your new office. Try for discounted prices on things such as floorplans or furniture like chairs and desks.

You can also search for multiple options online to see what suits your needs the best and in which layout your office will perform more. Add things that offer you benefits in the long run and avoid things that have a shorter benefit for your brand or your office environment.