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How to Buy Office Furniture: The Local 831 Guide.
Update from 5-2022. Shop online through social media, affiliate content producers, or other people that create helpful information to support your work. There are lots of resources and empty office buildings full of furniture. These same principles are a good way of planning for adding furniture to help support your body and equipment.
Can we work together?
Space- what is the space that we will be working in? Also, you should put a list of requirements if you do not already have the building that will be used. Office space selection is very important for many reasons and needs a separate post. This is a short list of thoughts.
Size, will the space fit, and support the number of people? In other words, will the people and equipment have enough room to get their work done efficiently? Data entry and a production line have very different square foot requirements for employees.
Time, how long do you plan to use that building, and what changes in growth should be expected? For example, is there planned hiring for data entry, or is that new production line scheduled for next year?
Logistics, parking, data /power, and tuck docks with warehouse storage. Commuting for employees and traffic patterns for a new location has become very important over the years.
On-site measure, DWG, PDF, or pencil sketch on paper. Let’s get on the same page and define the walls, columns data/power entry. At Fiverr, some people will do project work and computer drawings are easy to do as a remote task.
Design Resources
There are also, office furniture design specialists that can put a plan together for you to send out to bid. You should pay them a per square foot amount or a flat fee. If they ask for an hourly amount, it could be very difficult to monitor. There are many places to see furniture online. My Resource Library has become the industry standard, they also can help you organize the vendor catalogs for specific areas or the whole project. When you use fewer vendors, you can get deeper discounts. There are also Government resources that can help with seeing the bigger picture and then focus on each department. I have compiled an extensive glossary of furniture terms in Post #26.
Go TEAM
The main idea at this point is to put a team together, to develop a plan and budget for your project. This will give you “the big picture” early and you will use the floor plans every meeting. Many furniture dealerships offer these “add-on” services, track the value and if you don’t buy from them… you get billed. Read the fine print before you sign, it is sage advice for a reason.
Scope of Work
What type of work needs to be supported, company culture, café style, manufacturing shop, or cocoon coding? Most likely there will be a variety of work areas, meeting spaces, and alcoves. Also, plan for the next stages of growth, downsize, or flex work from home. Office furniture space planning and design have a long and valuable history. Good design is good value for workflow, social distance, sound management, and focused attention.
Style
Branding corporate culture has become ever more important through social media. Your building, furniture, and office amenities can be a very powerful set of communication tools. The back office is “seen” more than ever and can help potential partners, customers and employees build trust.
Specifying Furniture
The hard and soft of it – Furniture Specification? Basic follow up from the above, let’s help the people produce. At this point, we should have a pretty good idea of what and how to accomplish the project. #1 How to buy: office furniture purchasing process
Final Selections
The main drivers- style, time, budget? What will filter out the endless options? The lead time might cut right to the shortlist. The budget and style need to be balanced. There are endless images to look at. Take a look at office furniture shopping online and see what you like.
Wrap up the details
Nuts & Bolts- parts list anyone? I am still a fan of Excel and use it for job costing, purchase orders, and receiving counts. Let’s figure out power, cabling, lighting, monitor arms, adjustable work surfaces, keyboard trays, chair mats, and steel storage.
Shelving Inc.
Comparing Quotes
How did your office furniture shopping go, is there anything you would like me to change? Make revisions early, Change Orders cost time and money. Savvy entrepreneurs have learned the value of clean, quality used office furniture.
As-Is Furniture
We have LOTS of empty office space and vacant furniture due to “Work at Home” during the start of the 2020s. Used furniture is a viable option and should not be overlooked. These items may supplement your project with meeting tables, lobby furniture, or possibly the whole project. Large inventories can be shared with multiple companies through long-term business contacts or social media groups. Skip the warehouse, buy direct, DIY project manage, and get FREE furniture.
How to Buy Office Furniture: The Local 831 Guide.
This can go very well or just as bad. Do you have a facilities ROCK STAR on your payroll? They are worth all the $$$ on a project. When a facility is decommissioned, everything goes- I.T. (the whole package), the phone system, copier/fax, surplus toner, and office supplies. Battery / Server backups, furniture, Post-Its, and everything. This has been a GOLDMINE for Start-Ups that have people with “the knowledge about the doing”. Note: when subcontracting knock down (K/D), and removal (palletizing and speed packing) for truck loading, it helps to have the same company deliver, unload and install the furniture. Keeping the command chain of liability is very important and you want that chain short and tight.
Project Management
Logistics- schedule subs? Who is going to do what and when? Plan moving, sell surplus items, or send them home for flex WFH.
Are we still getting along? Let’s load the deposit and pull the trigger. If you are a larger organization a Purchase Order or Purchase Card will get things started.
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How to Buy Office Furniture: The Local 831 Guide.
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