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Set up your office success In 5 Easy Steps

To set up your office, start by evaluating your business needs against your company goals while considering your available budget.

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What does a professional office design and construction unit bring to you ?
19 POPULAR OFFICE DESIGN STYLES 2023

1. Prepare Your Budget & Office Needs

If you haven’t setup any office and don’t have experience in this, please contact professional interior designs for advice, they will help you know total fee of setting up an office and what you need to do next.

Understanding your business requirements helps determine the right equipment, identify the correct office size, and work out a budget based on your available resources. 

 

2. Find the Suitable Space to set up your office

When you have a plan for your office setting, the next step is finding a suitable space. For startups, solopreneurs, and small businesses, these are usually small to medium-sized commercial rentals or home offices. In either situation, location and amenities are crucial. Think about your current office configuration to determine how a new space will respond to the shortcomings of your existing space.

When choosing a space, you should pay attention to the following items:

• Access and location: Your office needs to be accessible enough for your clients to visit, with convenient transport for your staff.
• Price: Consider whether the cost, plus additional expenses, such as parking or maintenance fees, are in accordance with your budget.
• Team and company size: Your office setup should match the size of your business and its expected growth. Avoid cramped, tiny spaces that affect productivity or overpaying for offices with more space than you need.
• Technology and infrastructure: Determine whether the electricity, water, internet, and telephone infrastructure meet current requirements and future developments.

3. Design Your Office

The World Green Building Council reports clear evidence linking worker productivity to office design. The image of a dynamic working environment will help make the working atmosphere more exciting. A scientific office with everything arranged and decorated will have a strong impact on the attitude and working consciousness of employees. A beautiful office is also the face of the company, conveying the message of professional working style to customers and partners in the most subtle way.

Right from the time of looking for rental space, businesses should immediately find a design unit to accompany them. Because they will give you useful advice for that area.

Here are some layout options for how to set up a professional office:

• Open layout: An open plan maximizes the usable area of the space, but at the expense of privacy and storage
  
• Closed or cubicle layout: A closed plan gives your staff more personal space, but it’s less collaborative and won’t fit with many seats.
  
• Co-working layout: A floor plan highlighting common, open workstations for networking, it is more flexible, there’s less individual and company privacy.
  
• Hybrid layout: A layout that combines aspects of other layouts, offering a balanced solution to the drawbacks of open and cubicle offices. However, people are more exposed to each other, office can be noisy, and distracted.
  

  Optional Dedicated Rooms to set up your office

  Depending on your business requirements and available space, you may need to list up functional spaces to match your business operations. Here are optional areas you may want to plan for your office:

• Formal entrance or reception area: This is the best place for small businesses that interface with customers or expected clients.
• Break room or kitchen: Give your employees a dedicated space for socializing during their breaks. It’s helpful to have a designated space for the refrigerator, microwave, and utensils—separate from working areas.
• Conference or meeting room: If your team arrange regular meetings, private rooms help create spaces for one-on-one conversations with colleagues or clients.
• Dressing area: Service businesses often set aside space in the office for workers to change clothes, sometimes it will be used as a place for employees to rest during shift changes.
• Exercise room: Some firms provide workout equipment and amenities, such as a stationary bike, treadmill, or yoga room, to keep employees fit.

 

A design that incorporates all productive spaces seamlessly improves workforce efficiency.

Separating meeting rooms from common areas and workstations to ensure a disturbance-free working environment.

If you want to have a satisfactory office, you need to work with a professional design consulting unit. That also helps you minimize the cost and time to setup your office.

The cost of office design in Vietnam will range from 100.000 – 500.000 vnd/m2 (equivalent to $5 – $20 /m2) depending on your detailed requirements as well as the capacity of the design consulting units.

4. Choose the suitable construction contractor

There are 2 types of construction contractors:

• The contractor constructs each part:
  Choosing the contractor constructs each part according to the expertise and strengths of each unit will help you reduce some costs when setting up an office. However, this requires you to have expertise, experience and spend a lot of time   searching, evaluating and appraising the construction capacity of all contractors before deciding. You also need to closely monitor and have the capacity to coordinate all contractor activities, to ensure the project can completed as desired without encountering overlaps and errors during the completion process.
  This option will only suitable for those who have a lot of time and expertise in architecture and interior design
• General contractor:
  Choosing the general contractor will cost you more. However, evaluating and selecting a general contractor will be much faster and easier.
  With a reputable contractor, you will be provided with a synchronous solution for all problems when setting up an office: from construction renovation, furniture, internet lines – telephone, equipment, and accompanying services. …
  An advice for you: let’s work with units that have over 5 years of experience and take the time to see the projects they are constructing or have completed.

5. Buy Your Office Equipment, Supplies & Furniture

There’s a saying that the layout and quality of office space directly reflect how much a business values its employees. Therefore, desks should be functional and suited for the work and surrounding space. Get desks that are the right height with adequate surface space. When selecting tables, consider the equipment placed on them; will it be mainly for typing, or will you need more space to accommodate sketching or additional screens?

Since members in your team will spend a lot of time at their respective desks, you should consider this an essential cost item. Ergonomic chairs are the best but they are more expensive than standard office chairs. If you are comparing between quality and budget, there are plenty of low-priced office chairs on the market. Choosing adjustable chairs with adequate back support so your colleagues will be comfortable.

There are four main types of office chairs you can choose:

• Task chairs: These are usually armless and compact—intended for shorter use. They are portable and easily moved around for group meetings. Task chairs cost between 500.000 and 1.000.000 vnd each (equivalent to $25 and $50 each).
  
• Mid-back chairs: Mid-back chairs, costing between 800.000 and 2.000.000 vnd each (equivalent to $40 and $100 each), have arms and offer more support. These are a better option for full-time office staff who sit all day.
  
• Ergonomic chairs: built to support the body, promote good posture, and prevent discomfort. They range from 3.000.000 to 10.000.000 vnd (equivalent to $150 to $500). This chair is also chosen as a chair for managers because of the comfort and convenience.
  
• Executive chairs: Executive seating is typically more ergonomic and elegant. They range from 4.000.000 to 20.000.000 vnd (equivalent to $200 to $1,000). Many chairs provide ventilation with additional adjustments.
  

In most office settings, mid-back and executive chairs are more than sufficient, with task chairs used to supplement them at temporary workstations. With current trends, ergonomic chairs are increasingly used, bring to higher working efficiency to employees. Assess your budget to have the right choices.

Office computers: Before purchasing your devices, you’ll need to decide if you’ll provide a set of computers or if they’ll be buying their own. When comparing a laptop or desktop computer, desktop computers generally offer better value with more storage and better performance, but laptop computers are more portable.

Office supplies: Standard supplies include copy paper, desk organizers, bulbs, staplers, pens, notepads, and recycling bins. It will be a periodic expense, so you need to carefully consider to balance the budget.

 

 

Edit: Nguyen Kien