We are beginning a series of interviews with experts who will share their practical experience in relation to the renovation and clever use of office space. We invite you to read the first of the interviews, undertaken with Paweł Kochański, Key Account Manager of Interbiuro.
How to renovate office premises in practice?
When discussing the issue of renovation, I pay attention to three aspects: cost, time and inconvenience. The latter will always occur - you can only minimize this by, for example, renovating after office working hours, dividing it into stages or by only focusing on specific areas.
Our company has the greatest experience in stage works. This means that the client receives from the owner one part of the building surface in order to move in. We work on the second part of the surface, which the client has not yet received. Then the company quickly performs and completes the work on the remaining half of the surface. Sensing renovation in this case is actually none.
The Dead Line - means time taken to complete the renovation, depends on what you need to do on the surface, that is how much this area is destroyed, or was prepared when passed on to the customer. On average it takes from four to eight weeks, so it is not a long period.
What size of the office can affect the dead line time?
The dead line time is associated with the size of the surface, but mostly, however, the scope of work to be done. The term depends on the elements that you need to bring or mount. It often happens that the renovation of offices of the 200-foot-high, due to the products that you have selected is the same as the surface of the 5times bigger.
What is most difficult during the renovation?
The elements of the installation which are associated with air conditioning and ventilation, equipment-related items in the door, which no one has ever thought of, and there is always an 8 week waiting list as well as individual elements, which are customized for clients. If there are only standard components on the surface/office, the waiting period is not more than two weeks. However, if they are imported, unusual parts or produced on dimension/destroyed building it will automatically extended the waiting time. It causes a delay in delivering the project.
Returning to the previously discussed aspects of restoration: costs depend on what type of office we get to renovate for the client, and how deliberately he/she signed the agreement whether he/she realizes how much he/she will have to spend. There are sometimes suitable surfaces for tenants, for example, after the previous tenant, where a customer can adapt part of the building. So there is no need for re-engineering, ventilation, air conditioning installation and the installation of low-and high-current. There are also offices in developer's stage where you really need to provide all. Here are these huge differences in costs. Customers now seem to spend a lot less than 5-6 years ago, and many elements remains from the previous tenant. There are carpets, ceilings and lighting left, which is a very bad idea.
The problem also appears with the issue of splitting the walls. Often at the time of moving into the office the size of the premises is sufficient, but this changes with the development of the company and hiring new employees. This means another renovation.
What impact can be made by not replacing the components mentioned by you - the carpet or lighting?
Despite being well protected, when left during office renovation, carpets get covered in construction dust and will be dirty and impossible to be cleaned. Therefore, we suggest that the carpet replacement is included in the renovation budget. Conversely, if a lamp or fluorescent lights are 5-10 years old, and it does not provide adequate lighting neither illumination of heat then we take care of replacing at least fluorescent bulbs or we increase power by replacing the light ballasts.
What are the costs of replacing carpeting and lighting?
These costs are negligible compared with the whole, major renovation of the Office. If I have to manipulate the amounts-carpeting cost about 80 zł NET/meter, while the price of the lamps start from 200 zl. The cost of installation must be added to this. Such exchange is not really at a big expense, especially that in adopted practice the customer, entering the office receives financial grants from the owner of the building to refurbish the surface. This means that either he/she invests himself/herself and he/she is released from a part of the fees for a period of time, or the renovation is paid by the owner of the building. It is obvious that the owner prefers the client to renovate the building, because in the truth he is the one who owns the building, and the quality of the building improves.
This is a situation when a new company hires space in the building. Now assume that the tenant is already there for few years and is happy with the space and its allocation, but wants to "refresh" it's interior. What are the easiest and most functional ways to redecorate the office?
When renovating the most important is to rethink it through and to plan and select construction people, who will undertake this task.
What issues should be considered before starting renovations?
First, to be functional as an office, how many people are to be employed, in what areas they are to stay, and how individual departments are to communicate with each other. We are always restricted by communication aisles and emergency exits, which are required by law and each office must comply these laws to be registered. Sometimes we want to slightly modify the space, but placing new walls is not always as simple as it seems. All new buildings have fire-control systems and access control systems , mechanical ventilation systems. So when putting new walls' partition there is a necessity for these installations to be redesigned. There are obviously different solutions: building walls of a certain height or glazing them, what can be done quickly and at low cost. After such a change, the office will look a lot better and it will better fulfill its functions.
Almost everyone has an experience with house renovations, however, such an experience cannot be used on such a large scale. It is important to realize that this is not a house because not all employees will be pleased as this office will change.
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