So, you’re starting your own business and looking to build your own office from scratch and not operate under a lease with an expiration date. Congratulations on becoming your own boss! But when constructing an office space, it’s important to have a good plan about how your business is going to develop. In a best-case scenario, your company will quickly outgrow the existing office space. In the worst case, your business won’t grow so rapidly and you’ll be left with the maintenance costs for a space that’s too large for your needs.
Luckily, your choice doesn’t have to be a permanent decision. Today, many businesses turn to modular construction as a way to create flexible office spaces that can be reconfigured and rearranged according to demand. This means that instead of settling for a permanent office building, a modular workspace comes with an adaptable layout consisting of modules which you can arrange and change to create a space that meets your changing needs. In other words, if a department grows – the space can be quickly and easily expanded. And best of all, your employees can continue with their day without any loud construction process going on.
But perhaps the greatest advantage that modular commercial spaces have over traditional “stick-built” ones is the ability to relocate anywhere at any time. Say you have a retail business and your location doesn’t seem to help you increase your sales – with a portable display suite you can relocate to a more attractive part of the country without any additional construction expenses. What’s more, your business won’t even have to experience much downtime as a portable display suite can be installed in a few days. There will only be some expenses regarding transportation and installation labour. On the other hand, leaving a stick-built building behind in order to relocate to a different site can be a significant loss of investment.
By now we have established that modular offices are more flexible, but doesn’t that also make them more expensive? Not necessarily. While a square meter of a modular building is certainly more expensive than a stick-built one, when you take into account the additional costs, it makes for a more cost-efficient choice. For one, stick-built buildings require more time and are more labour intensive. The prolonged construction process means that you need to spend a lot of money on construction workers. Plus, you need to account for the transportation costs of materials.
On the other hand, modular construction takes place in a controlled factory setting, with no delays due to bad weather and no labour costs. Once completed, the modules that will make up the building can be shipped in a single day, and put together in a few days. This accelerated building process eliminates the need for a lot of middlemen, enabling you to save up more money.
