Find Your Perfect Office Space

Here’s where to start.

List your office space requirements.

For starters, list your initial criteria — knowing they can change throughout the process. But the faster you generate a list, the quicker you can eliminate some spaces from your search.

A list is easy to share with fellow stakeholders for feedback, including brokers. It also helps you recall your requirements faster to pounce on available office space more quickly.

Start with the basics, like size (or square footage), location, and lease term (or the duration of your lease), and then move on to any “must-haves,” like “must have a minimum of three bathrooms,” and so forth. After that, you can also list any nice-to-haves.
Here are some key questions to consider when listing your requirements:

Do you want to remain in or around your current location or explore a new one?

Several practical considerations should determine the ideal location of your next office:

Your employees’ commute. Consider prioritizing easy commuters you search for new space. The ease with which employees can get to and from your office has a sizable impact on their happiness and, in turn, their performance. While you can’t please everyone, it’s worth the effort to gauge employees’ receptiveness to the new locations under consideration before making your decision. And if your current space is in a great spot for most people already, consider an office nearby that doesn’t disrupt their routine too much.
Proximity to clients and events, especially if you need to be nearby for meetings.

This matters less in some industries than others, but companies facing pressure to provide on-demand client services, like a PR agency, might prioritize proximity to customers over other considerations.
Whether a particular neighborhood will enhance your company culture. Your office neighborhood can also shape and inform the company culture you’re trying to promote. It all starts with a neighborhood’s “character,” which is outwardly defined by architectural identity and the other businesses taking up residence. But the neighborhood’s cultural identity has implications beyond the purely aesthetic. Where your team’s professional development and individual growth opportunities are concerned, the ease with which they can attend relevant events or take classes after work is also significant. These are the neighborhood characteristics, alongside fun bars and great lunch options, that employees appreciate.