---

The cost of office space nowadays is very high. Companies have been exploring alternative options in order to make things more affordable.

Below are just some of these alternative solutions.

Share office space

Instead of renting an office to yourself, you could consider sharing an office with another company. Shared offices allow multiple companies to share out the rental costs and energy bills of a single building. Alternatively, there may be a company out there that owns an office and is willing to rent out a section to you for a reduced price.

When sharing office space, you need to be sure that there isn’t a conflict of interest – sharing an office with a competitor is a situation best avoided. In many cases, companies can benefit from one another when sharing space, sharing resources and possibly even providing discounted/free services for one another. You’ll find lots of adverts for shared office space online.

Hire a modular building

If you own land, you could hire a modular building to place on this land. Modular buildings are structures that are built off-site, transported to the location in one piece and then installed. They could be generic or designed to spec.

When it comes to building your own office space, a modular building is often the cheapest option. Hiring instead of buying a modular building can reduce costs even further and it has become a more popular option. Make sure that you definitely have the available land first and that you use a professional company to supply your modular building so that you’re getting something good quality.

Consider a virtual office

You may not need an office building at all. More people are choosing to run a business from home. This cuts out the cost of extra rent and energy bills, as well as cutting out the need to commute.

But what about if you have employees? A solution to this could be to simply allow employees to work from their homes. By embracing the concept of a virtual office, you can learn to manage your entire team online. Video call software and instant messaging can be used to quickly communicate information with your team. All files can meanwhile be stored on a secure cloud server that can be accessed from any location.

Such a system could allow you the freedom to not just hire locally, but possibly hire staff from all around the world. Your employees won’t have to worry about a commute, saving them time and money, making it a bonus for them too.

Of course, a virtual office does have its challenges. Some companies are still working out how to motivate remote employees and a home office may not be convenient if you need to meet clients in person. Hiring out space for one-off meetings or staff parties could be an option – there are many places where you can hire conference halls and function rooms for a few hours.

---