Whether you are a business owner, executive assistant helping your boss, or Director of X who has been suddenly put in charge of purchasing office furniture, you’ve come to the right place to learn more about purchasing office furniture for the first time. Here are a few tips to get you started!
Preparation: Understanding Your Needs
- Obtain a Floor Plan:
- Request a floor plan of potential new locations from your real estate broker
- Workspace Requirements:
- Consult with your architect or interior designer. Review preliminary space drawings – determine the number of workstations, private offices, meeting rooms, and common areas.
- Determine the functional requirements for various areas—consider storage, privacy, and collaboration needs.
- Tips for Optimization:
- Space Utilization: Select versatile furniture that serves multiple purposes.
- Future Growth: Invest in adaptable furniture to accommodate company scaling.
- Budget Planning:
- Factor in costs for furniture, decommissioning services if needed, cost for delivery and installation, cost for electrical services and cost for data/IT work.
- Next Steps:
- Research furniture dealerships: look for ‘full service’, ‘affordable’, ‘new and used’. Your furniture dealer is your partner in helping you figure out these costs, therefore, it is advisable to get started as early as possible – i.e. 6-8 months prior to lease ends.
- Plan showroom visits to confirm online impressions
- Create a furniture inventory: what to keep, discard, or move.
Dealer Selection: Making the Right Choice
Ideally your furniture dealer is knowledgeable on commercial interior design and industry trends, has in-house teams to do design work as well as offer services such as decommissioning, moving or relocation assistance, as well as has a strong product portfolio.
- Dealer Interviews:
- Allocate at least 1 hour per dealership
- Inquire about space planning and cost estimates.
- Explore both new and used/refurbished furniture options with your dealer.
- Comprehensive Services:
- Space Planning support and guidance.
- Project coordination support.
- Confirm if moving services are offered and what is included.
- Short term or long term storage needs?
- Plan for eco-friendly disposal of unwanted items and/or donation to local charities.
- Reputation: Research the dealer’s customer reviews and service history. I recommend working with ESOP or Employee Owned and Operated furniture dealerships.
- Warranty & Terms: Understand the warranty and after-sales service terms. Furniture dealerships will ask for a deposit at order placement, and the remaining balance is due within 10-30 days of completion of the project.
Other Required Trades:
- Data technician or low voltage electrician for IT work
- Licensed electrician for cubicle power connections
Project Timeline: Planning Ahead
- Establish timeline & sequence of events: Work with your furniture dealer to establish a timeline that aligns with your move-in date. Factor in lead times for new furniture orders and refurbishing processes.
- Logistical Coordination: Plan the delivery and installation schedule.
- New Furniture Lead Time: Total: 5-6 months from initial contact
- Design: 3-4 weeks
- Order placement: 1 week
- Furniture Manufacturing: 6-8 weeks (or longer)
- Shipping and installation: 1-2 weeks
- Used Furniture Lead Time: Total: 2-3 months from initial contact
- Design finalization: 2-3 weeks
- Order placement: 1 week
- Preparation: 4-5 weeks
- Shipping and installation: 1-2 weeks
If you are moving from one space to another, here are a few more tips:
- Confirm the move-out date and responsibilities with your current landlord.
- Coordinate installation schedules with your dealer and tradespeople.
- Account for potential delays in your planning.
- Create a moving checklist for team collaboration.
- Arrange utilities and services transfer to your new location.
Image credit: Pexels.com Photo by Karolina Grabowska