Office size for employees?

[Growth & Learn]

Hey all,
So, we're building a new office right now. I like to make sure every dollar spent will have an ROI. So, honestly I'm not sure what to do in this scenario.

For those of you who have offices and employees... is 10x12 too small a room to have 2 employees in there comfortably w/o them being claustrophobic?

We also have the option of building the room 12x14 but that would add an additional $1300 on to the office build.

Any insights or experience on this would be great. Thanks.

 

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[Equilibrium]

10X12 should be fine!
as long as you dont cram in 40 people like sardines. It also depends whats going in there. Two computers? a plotter? make sure what you are building accommodates both equipment and people.

 

[SteveO]

Hey all,
So, we're building a new office right now. I like to make sure every dollar spent will have an ROI. So, honestly I'm not sure what to do in this scenario.

For those of you who have offices and employees... is 10x12 too small a room to have 2 employees in there comfortably w/o them being claustrophobic?

We also have the option of building the room 12x14 but that would add an additional $1300 on to the office build.

Any insights or experience on this would be great. Thanks.

It really depends on what they are doing. How much space to they need to have all the tools needed for the job? Do they need privacy for phone/customer interaction? Are they simply working on a computer and don't need much more than that?

Set a space up for the job and test it out.

 

[Growth & Learn]

10X12 should be fine!
as long as you dont cram in 40 people like sardines. It also depends whats going in there. Two computers? a plotter? make sure what you are building accommodates both equipment and people.

We would have 2 people, computers, and desks.

 

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[Growth & Learn]

It really depends on what they are doing. How much space to they need to have all the tools needed for the job? Do they need privacy for phone/customer interaction? Are they simply working on a computer and don't need much more than that?

Set a space up for the job and test it out.

One person would definitely be talking to customers for customer support/incoming sales. The other person would be doing video and other content production work.

What do you think sufficient or no?

 

[jon.a]

Hey all,
So, we're building a new office right now. I like to make sure every dollar spent will have an ROI. So, honestly I'm not sure what to do in this scenario.

For those of you who have offices and employees... is 10x12 too small a room to have 2 employees in there comfortably w/o them being claustrophobic?

We also have the option of building the room 12x14 but that would add an additional $1300 on to the office build.

Any insights or experience on this would be great. Thanks.

Where are you building this? What will you do with it in 2 years?

 

[Growth & Learn]

We would have 2 people, computers, and desks.

It will definitely fit but I don't want my people to get claustrophobic. Personally, I'm really comfortable working in small spaces so its' very hard for me to personally access if it's enough.

 

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[Growth & Learn]

Where are you building this? What will you do with it in 2 years?

Good question...In 2 years I have no idea. In 10 years I'd imagine I'd sell the office though.

 

[jon.a]

Good question...In 2 years I have no idea. In 10 years I'd imagine I'd sell the office though.

With real estate, know your exit options going in.

 

[Growth & Learn]

With real estate, know your exit options going in.

Agreed. Like I said. 10 years we'll sell it...but right now just need to figure out this 1 office space's size.

 

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[Growth & Learn]

As others said, it depends on several things:

- Is there additional shared common areas?
- Are there cubes/walls or is the space open?
- Are there windows?
- How much "stuff" do your employees need (books, equipment, etc)?
- Do they need privacy (customer phone calls, etc)?
- Are there windows?
- Will they be there full-time or can they telecommute part-time?
- Will they just be on a computer/phone, or will they have responsibilities that require moving around?
- Will there be others in the space besides your team?
- Do the employees need to communicate/collaborate with one another?
- Do the employees know/like each other?
- Is this temporary or permanent?
- Do you have a separate meeting/conference room?

Those answers should inform your decision.

For our office space, we're currently in an incubator, so we have a common area, conference rooms and our employees can telecommute much of the time, so those make the rest of the decisions easier. In general though, we try to have 120 sf per employee, plus a separate room that can be used for private phone calls.

If our employees were full-time in the office and had no common areas, I'd definitely want to increase that space per employee.

We do have common spaces where they can take a laptop and work if need be...but there main office and workspace would be in that room.

There is a window. There isn't cubicles. They are full time and will be in office 100% of the time. They don't really need to collaborate that much outside of meetings. They have separate responsibilities.

So, are you saying that you'd go with the 12x14 as opposed to the 10x12?

 

[Guest3722A]

Hey all,
So, we're building a new office right now. I like to make sure every dollar spent will have an ROI. So, honestly I'm not sure what to do in this scenario.

For those of you who have offices and employees... is 10x12 too small a room to have 2 employees in there comfortably w/o them being claustrophobic?

We also have the option of building the room 12x14 but that would add an additional $1300 on to the office build.

Any insights or experience on this would be great. Thanks.

Something to keep in mind if you're going for complete utilization of every square foot, plan on an average of around 20% of total square feet to be designated for 4 ft wide hallways, rest rooms and common areas.

To give a visual of how I used the exact sq ft you're inquiring about, a 10x12 will fit a decent sized drumset, a guitar rig, a bass rig a pa system and 3 musicians adequately. A 4th would make it a bit tight.

A 12x14 will fit a 4-5 pc band w/full equipment. A 14x16 6-8. A 16x16 will fit the equipment of 2 bands a couch and a mini bar. Etc.

 

[Growth & Learn]

Something to keep in mind if you're going for complete utilization of every square foot, plan on an average of around 20% of total square feet to be designated for 4 ft wide hallways, rest rooms and common areas.

To give a visual of how I used the exact sq ft you're inquiring about, a 10x12 will fit a decent sized drumset, a guitar rig, a bass rig a pa system and 3 musicians adequately. A 4th would make it a bit tight.

A 12x14 will fit a 4-5 pc band w/full equipment. A 14x16 6-8. A 16x16 will fit the equipment of 2 bands a couch and a mini bar. Etc.

Good tip. We have hallways that would be outside of the office space I'm referring too. Plus, we have a common area that's big.

 

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[OldFaithful]

If the space is evenly divided, who gets the window? It's amazing what little things people will bicker over.

I once worked at a company that had a "facility manager" and he would come around regularly with a tape measure and office layout drawing. He'd check the sizes of the cubicles to make sure no one had moved a wall to increase their work space. We'd move the walls around just to mess with him!

 

[Growth & Learn]

If the space is evenly divided, who gets the window? It's amazing what little things people will bicker over.

I once worked at a company that had a "facility manager" and he would come around regularly with a tape measure and office layout drawing. He'd check the sizes of the cubicles to make sure no one had moved a wall to increase their work space. We'd move the walls around just to mess with him!

Yeah I hear you...but in my humble opinion issues like that come from a lack of leadership skills. If somebody starts bickering about a window then we've either installed the wrong team members or haven't coached enough to help people understand what they should be focusing on.

The windows in the common area are awesome and everybody gets access

 

[Get Right]

12x14 is more of an executive office. 10x10 to 10x12 is more appropriate for normal offices. Cubicles are normally 8x8.

Depending on use, yes 2 people can share a normal office. Your cooling/heating load goes up a little so adjustment may be needed.

I'm an Architect so hit me up if you run into a snag.

 

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[Jon L]

Are you sure you want/need an office? I work out of my house and do just fine. I have an employee that does the same out of his house. We employ contractors who all work out of their houses.

Skype with webcams works really well.

 

[Vigilante]

Ruthlessly reduce expenses.

 

[Growth & Learn]

Are you sure you want/need an office? I work out of my house and do just fine. I have an employee that does the same out of his house. We employ contractors who all work out of their houses.

Skype with webcams works really well.

Yeah I would love to do it over Skype but this is an employee that needs to be in house. Trust me I don't like spending money but I can't find another way.

The good news is that I'll own the building so it's not like I'm doing a build inside someone else's real estate.

 

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[OldFaithful]

issues like that come from a lack of leadership skills. If somebody starts bickering about a window then we've either installed the wrong team members or haven't coached enough to help people understand what they should be focusing on.

So true. There was indeed a significant lack of leadership.