There are many pros and cons to working in an office or setting up your business from home, but when it comes to the most cost-effective option there are a few things to consider:
Your Environment
While it might seem obvious that working from home would save you money, that isn’t necessarily the case. If you live alone in a small apartment, then you will no doubt have a quiet and comfortable setting, ideal and cost-effective for working from home. However, if you live in a big house, then running the heating or air conditioning all day long at full blast can be very costly if you’re there all day every day. You can try and carve out one space and ignore the rest of the house during weekdays. Chose the most comfortable room in the house regarding temperature and if you do need to invest in a small fan that won’t be too expensive.
Your Expenses
Renting space in an office building costs more than working from home. However, it might not be as bad as you think. In addition to energy savings, some Commercial Properties To Let also include Internet service and the use of a professional-grade printer, fax machine, scanner, and copier. Working from home means having to buy your printer, scanner, and office equipment then there’s no rent to be paid. But over the years, they’ve more than paid for themselves – and I deducted them from my taxes.
Distractions
If you have a young family then working from home can be tricky and your productivity will likely be much higher if you rent office space. Other distractions at home include television, the kitchen, and even the neighbors. Avoiding the TV, cooking, and neighbors can be difficult but if you think about a day in the office, how often are you taking hidden breaks there? You spend lots of time talking to co-workers, taking coffee breaks, trips to the vending machines. No one works eight hours straight. So at home, if you make lots of short breaks, you will probably still get all your work done.
Choosing To Rent
If you’re going to go for an office to rent then ways to keep costs down would be to search for subleases. There are options you might not have thought of such as families trying to rent out their basements, an additional office from another small business that they want to sublet to help their bottom line or a shared space which reduces everyone’s expenses.
Look into executive suites, a type of office arrangement where workers rent a desk or a room to themselves but have shared use of shared resources such as conference rooms, office equipment, and even receptionists. Then there are virtual offices; this has become a popular service that allows workers to rent space for part of the week and is ideal for mobile people who can work with just their laptop and briefcase when they need to.
