For Webdesign company owners; do you rent an office?

[bullynj]

Let me start by saying that I own a busy Webdesign company in NJ. My overhead is low I have 2 designers stationed in the UK, 4 in India, 1 in house and a project manager in house as well. Presently my in house employees and I are working out of my home and local clients are coming to my house. I have been considering renting a space and wondered how many companies rent a space. Cost is not a issue we generally do about 30k monthly. But I'd rather hold onto that 2500$ a month instead of paying a rental. But I know to expand and get even larger I can't keep working out of my home. Just looking for suggestions.

[Sagewing]

You would be surprised how large you can get without having an office. I've had big offices, but now I have a 100% virtual team and we do fine. I think the question is WHY do you want an office? If you want separation from your home life, an office can be great. If you want to entertain clients, an office can be useful. If you are trying to impress, an office is critical.

What is your plan? You don't need an office to get bigger, unless you want to get bigger in a specific way, which is to have a big team all working together. Offices are VERY expensive, it goes way beyond the rent as you will soon find. Supplies and utilities, desks and chairs, etc. really add up so be sure that you are investing in a growth strategy that you really want.

[bullynj]

You would be surprised how large you can get without having an office. I've had big offices, but now I have a 100% virtual team and we do fine. I think the question is WHY do you want an office? If you want separation from your home life, an office can be great. If you want to entertain clients, an office can be useful. If you are trying to impress, an office is critical.

What is your plan? You don't need an office to get bigger, unless you want to get bigger in a specific way, which is to have a big team all working together. Offices are VERY expensive, it goes way beyond the rent as you will soon find. Supplies and utilities, desks and chairs, etc. really add up so be sure that you are investing in a growth strategy that you really want.

I would say my biggest issue presently is having people in and out of my house, and wanting to separate myself from the office when I am sick or not ready to go in and not have people in and out of my living room to reach the area where our office is I feel like even though at 4PM my day is over and they are here til 5, I can't relax until they are out the door.

Because we have everything in the home office, all the printers, desks chairs etc will just be moved, so the cost of that I am not worried about .... I guess I want to know how many companies out there actually have "office spaces" ..... Obviously if I didn't have people in my house that would be a different story. But I find it necessary for my project manager and assistants to be working by my side, we presently are doing 30 store packages monthly and it is pretty hectic around here. Worst case scenario we can always move back into the house right? lol

[Sagewing]

Well, from what you describe you probably need an office

For me, I would rather invest in dealing with the virtual office (which has it's own problems) and not even try to get everyone together in one room. But, if that's your model and it's working for you then an office might be a great way to go. It's nice to separate work and home.

[MelUp]

Wow, clients come to your home? How does that work? I would recommend a virtual office (I use http://www.alldaypa.com/virtual-address-services) or perhaps even look in to hotdesking http://searchvirtualdesktop.techtarg...on/hot-desking

[SMSF101]

I have a friend who's working on a rented office... she's a graphic designer and a web designer... but her employees says they must bring some of their works at home... Since then she works alone in the office, while her employers were at home... She said it was hard at first, but she was used to it, and started to stand on her own... Her employers were good ones and they trusted her for her kindness and eagerness to learn... so they gave her the responsibility to continue working. On her part, she'd do the same task that was left for her, since her boss were the one who contact clients, she feel relieved...

well, just wanted to share something =)

[PromptSpace]

Well specially when it comes to jobs like web designing and web hosting you can pretty much expand very well till you need a dedicated office. We as a hosting company all work remotely and use a virtual office address for all business needs.

[EastCoast]

A lot depends on who your prospective clients are. When I had my own web design company, one of the best moves we made was moving from a small back street office to a more 'premium' city centre address. Although there was a financial risk involved, it allowed us to successfully access a more lucrative class of client, and also improve our recruitment success. If there's not a clear profit to be had either through productivity, market visibility or positioning, then it may not be so worthwhile.

[webcosmo]

depends on your target.

if you simply work as a freelancer you might not need a office.
but if you really like to land big clients, you are better off with an office. because corporate clients like to see you as an established entity with offices, employees, ... so on.