Cost-saving office furniture strategies.

"How many people can I fit in and how cheap can I do it for?"

Those about sums up what most companies have been saying when it comes to office furniture over the last few years. It wasn't always zso. In 1999-2000, the height of the dotcom boom hatched hundreds of new businesses with many new office furniture dealers springing up to meet the demand of equipping their shiny new office spaces. Back then, many CEO's were more concerned with creating impressive offices than creating profits. Today, the discerning eye towards design is balanced by tighter budgets and the need for utilitarian spaces that boost productivity.

The dotcom explosion and subsequent implosion became significant contributors to the office furniture and commercial real estate landscape of today. Most notably, the contract furniture industry shrank from $13 billion down to $8 billion, reducing the number of suppliers and increasing the competition for the remaining suppliers.

Surprisingly, though, this has proven to be mostly good news for businesses looking to expand and relocate. As the market tightened, competition became fiercer. As a result, prices for new office furniture today are significantly less than what they were just a few years ago. Less experienced dealers who relied solely on low prices have been edged out of the market by those providing more value.

"The good news is the past 60 days has been the most significant period of growth in our industry in years."

Square one

Once your real estate broker has helped you locate your office space, designing your working environment usually involves two components: an office furniture supplier and an architect/designer responsible for designing the physical interiors--space planning, where the walls go, overall lighting decisions, fabrics, conference room design, kitchens, etc.

So just what should you look for in an office furniture dealer? Before you rush into buying new office furniture, you might explore options for refurbishing your existing furniture or purchasing used. Tangram On Site, for example, was established several years ago to repair, repaint, reupholster and generally spiff up existing furniture to look and perform like new.

Buying used office furniture is another cost-saving strategy. After the dotcom fallout, there was quite a bit of used inventory available, though the market has tightened lately and driven the used furniture prices closer to new. Explore combining your existing furniture with new. Often times, a bit of new furniture can better serve your needs than relying solely on used. One important caveat: most used furniture cannot accommodate today's technical requirements for power and cabling as well as what's currently available.

Not "just" furniture

You should also look to an office furniture dealer to supply more than furniture. Ideally, look for a dealer that offers a wide range of furniture options (both new and used), flooring, asset management to keep track of your inventory, move management, installation and project management services. Given the time, money, and disruption-of-business at stake during a move, it's obviously in your best interest that everything be delivered on time and assembled properly.

"How will the furniture you choose ultimately look in your new space? Many firms offer three-dimensional computer renderings and 'virtual walk-throughs' of your proposed space."

Something else to consider is not only the quality, but the utility and flexibility of office furniture. You can expect for most "A" grade contract furniture to last 10 or more years. The gains in productivity by having flexible workstations that are easily reconfigured and that stand up to being disassembled and reassembled more than offsets the money saved by buying less expensive furniture that doesn't quite fit with how your business works.

Making the right decision about office furniture can also reduce your workmen's compensation insurance. Believe it or not, most workmen's comp claims come from office workers, not physical laborers. We are currently working for a large Orange County client in partnership with an architecture/design firm to create fully adjustable workstations with an eye towards reducing workmen's comp claims.

Finally, keep in mind that in many cases a costly move to a larger space can be avoided entirely by professionally reevaluating how you are using your existing space. Indeed, the right expert evaluation will almost certainly yield a wide array of practical ideas on how you can maximize the space you already have rather than incur the expense of undertaking a major expansion or relocation. Work closely with your furniture dealer and design firm. Careful space planning is a crucial component in the mix.

Consolidators beware!

Companies are consolidating their facilities more than ever, sometimes as many as 35 locations into one. Unfortunately, even combining two locations can be a logistical nightmare. For that reason, look for an experienced firm that offers overall project management and ask for references. Move management and installation experience is crucial and can end up costing you thousands in lost productivity if poorly handled. Every item should be logged into an inventory and accounted for, and there should be one project manager responsible for all aspects of the move.

People tend to focus more on the cost of the physical move than on the planning exercises. Planning is where the battle is won. Careful management and scheduling of contractors and your IT team can make all the difference.

Taking the custom made route

Though there are literally hundreds of office furniture manufacturers out there, sometimes the only option is to create furniture from scratch. The reality is that many office spaces require furniture not available commercially. Just recently, for example, KPFF, a large engineering firm in Culver City required more than 200 adjustable workstations that were precisely 36" deep with rolled drawing storage facilities and under work surface shelving. Rather than settling for a commercially available but inferior substitute, the company went the custom-made route instead.

Experience Counts

As is the case with most professional services, experience really does count when it comes to office expansion and relocation. Interview several companies before you decide on which one to work with. Pay close attention to what kinds of questions they ask--are they just concerned with showing you catalogs of office furniture or are they interested in learning how your business functions so that they can make recommendations that will increase your productivity?

The adage "you get what you pay for" really does apply when it come to office furniture. The potential gains in productivity by choosing the right furniture for the right job far outweighs the cost in the long run. Remember, your corporate move should not simply be a physical one, but a move forward. Choose the right partners, and you're already halfway there.

Joe Lozowski is President of Tangram, www.tangraminteriors.com, the largest office furniture dealer on the West Coast.