When it comes to refreshing — or in some cases, re-inventing — their work environment, many businesses need to answer important questions about their (soon-to-be-new) space, such as:
- Do we need to encourage and enable cross-team collaboration?
- What are our privacy preferences, and what are our privacy obligations per regulations?
- Do we need to occasionally accommodate remote workers and/or teams?
- Do we need or want to establish multi-purpose space for different uses?
- Do we want our space to incorporate energy efficient “green” technologies and innovations?
However, when the context shifts to choosing the right interior solutions partner to bring their vision to life, many businesses aren’t sure what to ask — simply because the process is new (or hasn’t been experienced in many years).
To help your business safely, smartly and strategically move forward, here are 5 questions to ask when evaluating various office design companies:
1. What services can you provide?
It’s important to focus on office design companies that provide you with a full range of interior solutions services, such as space optimization, installing audio/visual systems, office furniture sourcing, and so on. You don’t want to have to manage multiple vendor relationships, which is confusing, costly and risky.
2. What is your experience?
The last thing you want is to partner with an office design company that runs into a challenges or problems that they cannot solve due to a lack of experience and knowledge. As such, if a prospective partner doesn’t specialize in this area, then cross them off your list.
3. Can we see some of your work?
Credible and experienced office design companies typically won’t wait for you to ask this question, because they’ll proactively invite you to see their portfolio of past work. Just keep in mind that while there are similarities between projects, each design (just as each business) is unique.
4. Do you use value engineering?
This is a critical question that will help separate truly capable office design companies from the pack. Essentially, value engineering is a systematic approach to providing the necessary functions in a project at the lowest cost — but while maintaining or improving quality levels.
5. How will the relationship be managed?
It’s vital to work with an office design company that assigns an experienced and dedicated project manager to each project. This professional is not a clerical coordinator. He or she is an experienced processional who is accountable to you (and your team) for reports, updates, escalating issues, managing change requests, and so on. If you have a question or concern, you want to know that one conversation, call or email will put things in motion towards an efficient, tracked and acceptable resolution.
Learn More
At Key Interiors, we’re proud to be one of the nation’s most experienced office design companies. We offer a full range of interior solutions — from consulting through to completion. We also use value engineering to ensure that our clients get maximum value for their investment, and establish a dedicated project manager on each project to ensure schedule and cost control, positive client experience, quality assurance and full accountability.
Contact us today for your free consultation, and to view our extensive office design portfolio that spans all industries and marketplaces.
Different office design companies can provide different office design layouts. To find out if an open and collaborative approach is right for your business, download our FREE eBook:
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