How Many Square Feet Do I Need?

March 17, 2015 5:34 pm

How much space your company needs depends a good deal on how you plan to utilize it.

Once upon a time in corporate America, every executive wanted an office.  And the bigger the office, the more important you were.  When you got really, really important, you got the big corner office.  (The big, fat stinking cigars were optional, of course!).

Today, by contrast, it’s not unusual to find the chief executive sitting at a desk in the middle of an egalitarian open floor arrangement of desks, work stations, and/or partitioned offices.

Thus we define the two extremes of work environment design; the traditional, private office, and the more efficient open space school.

Regardless of the design system preferred, to determine your space needs, we must begin by calculating how many square feet are needed for your office, using a process called programming, as architects like to call it.

To program the space needed by your company, we first develop corporate design standards.  This is done by choosing the type of work area or work environment desired for each employee.

In the traditional school, large companies often define the work area by employee grade.  A junior executive, for example, might be entitled to a small private office on the perimeter; sometimes referred to as a two-windowed office.  This office might typically include a five-foot desk and chair, credenza, two side chairs, and a small lateral file.

Many office buildings have five foot window mullions or a window five feet in width.  The junior executive office ideally measures 10 feet (two windows) by 12 feet on the interior.  Senior executives may be entitled to a three-windowed office.  Office buildings do have a variety of different window sizes and shapes, and these variations may present challenges for designers trying to work within a company’s standards.

Many companies today have discouraged the use of private offices altogether in favor of modular furniture or cubicles.  The advantages are obvious; traditional offices often require an average of up to 200 square feet of space per employee.  With open space, this number may be closer to 100 square feet of space per person.  At a time when many CEOs, CFOs and business owners are under pressure to cut costs, this is a simple way to cut office overhead.

Beyond the obvious cost efficiencies, modular furniture, a/k/a cubicles, has the advantage of being movable, to reflect changing space needs of dynamic companies.  Like a giant erector set, modular walls can be added or reconfigured within hours without requiring building permits or demolishing and reconstructing walls and ceilings, saving time and money.

While some companies make rigorous use of modular furniture’s movable capabilities, many never do.  Some just prefer the hi-tech look and the space-saving capabilities that modular furniture can provide.

What type of design fits your company’s needs may depend not only on company culture, but also the configuration of the building you are looking to occupy.

Cubicles work more efficiently in “deep” space.  An office building that is shallow, may better accommodate windowed offices due to its large perimeter.  Some buildings used today for offices were originally constructed for industrial or other purposes, like showrooms, or R&D.  Many “deep space” buildings are being modified to meet the needs of hi-tech companies and call centers.

Once the work environment for all employees is determined, a program can be charted.  A simple program might look like this:

Quantity    Description                 Dimensions       Area           Total

                                                                                                           

 

 1            President’s office                   15 x 20        300           300

 

2            Sr. Exec. Private offices       12 x 15        180           360

 

6            Private offices                       10 x 12        120           720

 

1            Open secretarial station       10 x 10        100          100

 

1            Reception area                      12 x 15         180           180

 

1            Coat closet                              8 x  2             16                     16

 

1            Paper storage room              10 x 12          120         120

 

1            Kitchen/sink/microwave        10 x 12          120         120

Refrigerator

 

1            Large conference room           15 x 20          300         300

 

1            Small conference room                  10 x 12          120         120

 

1            Open bullpen area                                              1,000     1,000

 

Subtotal   3,336

 

“I’ve got it!”

 

“I need 3,336 square feet, right?”

Not exactly!  We left out something very important.  Designers call this the circulation factor.  Hallways, aisles, and corridors are required in order to move from one area to another and to allow the space to flow properly.  For a mix of private office and open areas, most designers estimate a typical circulation factor ranges from 33% to 36%.  Circulation factors in different properties can and do vary widely.  The circulation factor may increase if the office design has a greater proportion of private offices and decrease if there are fewer private offices with more open landscaping or modular partitions.

Getting back to our example, if we are utilizing a 33% circulation factor, we would calculate our square footage as follows:

3,336   square feet

x 1.33   circulation factor

4,437   usable square feet

 

So, I need 4,437 square feet, right?  Not exactly!  The area you have just calculated is the usable area.  You must now calculate the rentable area by using the landlord’s add-on factor or loss factor (see Chapter 1).  If we assume a 15% add-on factor, we calculate:

4,437   usable square feet

x 1.15    add-on factor

5,103    rentable square feet

 

You have now calculated a rough estimate of square footage.  Remember that this is just an estimate.  The efficiency of different properties will vary greatly.  Some buildings, for example, may have a small floor plate, while others have a large floor plate.  Some office spaces are deep with few windows, while others may be narrow but provide many windows.  Some are rectangular, while others have an irregular shape.  Some fortunate offices may be corner units (at a building’s corner) with windows on two sides of the space.  The point we are making is that each piece of space is unique and will layout differently.  The efficiency of each will vary according to its design.

Secret No. 2 — Complete a space program before looking at properties.  Don’t rely on the landlord or the landlord’s architect to determine your space needs.  Have your own architect or designer work with you to select the standards for your company and determine your space needs.

          There is another critical area that needs to be addressed.  GROWTH.  In today’s market, the term of a typical office lease (discussed later in Chapter 6), is usually five years.  This may be a real problem for a growing company.  For how long will today’s space program remain effective?  Many CEOs have sleepless nights trying to predict with certainty that which, in most cases, cannot be predicted.

I’ve heard discussions like these many times over the years.  “If my business takes off, I may be out of space before the end of my lease.”  “I’d like to take enough space to handle my plans for growth, but we really can’t afford to lease extra space at this time.”

Solutions:

          Growth can be a good problem to have, although you may indeed experience growing pains.  A proper program should include a realistic amount of room for expansion.  To protect against unpredictable growth, a tenant can consider:

Contiguous expansion:     Negotiate an option to add additional

space next door, if it is available.

 

Subleasing:                          A tenant can sublease his space and

relocate to a larger office.  While there

are costs associated with subleasing,

some of these may be offset by the

additional profits generated from the

expanding business.

 

Expansion option:              Negotiate an option to expand or a right

of first refusal on additional space

elsewhere in the building.

 

You will be successful in negotiating expansion rights according to your leverage in the market, which we will discuss later in Chapter 10.

          Secret No. 3 — Survey your department managers and ask them what their realistic growth plans for new employees and equipment look like in 12 months — 24 months — and 60 months.

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