Designing and fitting out a new place of work can be a stressful experience but it needn’t be. Provided that you leave yourself ample time, work with a good agency, and if you have staff to spare, appoint a relocation/outfit team, you should find outfitting your current workplace or relocating to a new place of work to be a straightforward affair.

Downtime

One of the biggest problems that businesses experience when outfitting an office is downtime. Downtime can’t always be completely avoided, though it can, however, be minimised to a great extent. There are many ways in which you can minimise downtime, including the following:

• Relocate to a serviced office or similar work environment when the fitout project is being carried out. This incurs additional expenses, but can prove beneficial.
• Have the work carried out in bits and pieces after hours or over the weekend. This can also prove expensive because of penalty rates, but it’s an option.
• Have an experienced fitout team carry out the fitout and have them work in stages so that you can continue to operate during the working week.

These are three options to take into consideration in order to minimise downtime as best you can, however, it’s unlikely that all of these options will be available to you.

Agency

It’s important to select the right fitout agency to work with because so much rides on the successful outcome of fit outs in Melbourne. With so many fitout agencies to work with, it can naturally prove quite a challenge to select the best fitout agency to work on your project. When searching for an experienced fitout agency, consider the following:

• How much experience do they possess and are they happy for you to see examples of their completed, or under construction, office fitout projects?
• Can they provide you with references to check? It’s always good to be able to speak to a previous customer to confirm they conduct themselves professionally.
• How flexible are they and can they plan the fitout project around you so that you can continue to operate whilst they fit out your new office environment?

These considerations and many more are very important to bear in mind when planning an office fitout project and it’s imperative to select the right fitout agency to work with.

Team

If you have the staff to spare, it’s highly advisable to appoint an office fitout team, a team that will oversee the office fitout project and the relocation if there’s a relocation involved. This helps to ensure that your business is able to continue operating smoothly whilst the fitout is being planned to a tee, and it also helps to ensure a minimum of downtime over the course of the project.

Implementing a successful office fitout is straightforward when you know how, so bear these tips in mind when planning your next office fitout and don’t forget to allow yourself plenty of time. You may be surprised as to how long the planning process can take.