How to choose the best office location for your company?
As part of the management team, you would prefer an office nearby a BTS station.
Not because you are going to use it, but because you are probably leaving next to it.
However, the most important factors to decide the best office location shall be:Budget
The closest you are to a BTS station or MRT station the more expensive is the rent/SQM. For most offices at 10min walking distance, the rent would be from 700 to 1200B/m2.
For most offices at 20min walking distance, the rent would be from 400 to 600B/m2.
So, with 10 more minutes walking distance, the rental fee is already divided by 2!
Not only the rental fee needs to be considered, the closer you are to the BTS or MRT, but the more expensive will also be the parking fee, building management fee, Restaurants, services, housing…
Clients
Where are your clients/distributors? The sales team will visit them by using the BTS? By car? If the sales team can reach most clients by BTS, it makes sense to set an office near a BTS station. If the sales team needs to visit clients by car, How easy is reaching the office by car? On Sukhumvit road the traffic is just impossible when you need to get out of the city or/and to come back it would be one hour more each time.
Geographic position
How convenient for the employees to reach the office? Knowing that most of the employees do not leave near a BTS/MRT station….The closer you are to them the more expensive are the rent for your housing…
So, an employee would need first transportation + BTS/MRT to get to the office.
How easy is it to get to the office by car/taxi/moto-taxi/bus?
What is the budget for the employees to go to the office? Knowing that the transportation cost, as well as the time for transportation, is an important factor for every employee.
Facilities nearby the office
Restaurants, shopping, banks, and more also enter into account when looking for the best office location. It’s always important to have many possibilities for lunch for different budgets at walking distance from your office.
Other factors to be considered for the best office location:
How Thai employees would reach your office?
Your Thai employees will look at the most effective cost/time solution to get to work.
First, they will be looking for a possibility to live closer to their office.
Therefore it’s important to know what are the housing solutions/costs nearby your office.
BTS transportation is not cheap….employees will be looking at alternatives solutions.
car/taxi moto-taxi, bus, often a cheaper solution! And on top of it, a faster solution too.
However, if it’s too difficult to reach the office by car (if too much traffic), they won’t have any other choice than the BTS or MRT transportation.
How do managers reach your business center?
Managers are usually leaving nearby a BTS station when they rent an apartment or living in a house, outside the BKK center.
For the managers who live nearby a BTS station, they will use the BTS station or a moto-taxi or they own a moto and they are in the office within 5 min.
For the managers who live outside BKK, they use their own car, and for sure they do not want to have an office on Sukhumvit where the traffic is impossible, and they prefer an office easily reachable by car.
Empty Office or Serviced Office
On Top of the best office location, you might decide between an empty office or a serviced office.
Also, the closest you are to BTS the more expensive would be the office rental.
For a serviced office:
- About 3000B/SQM 10 min Walking distance.
- About 1500B/SQM 20 min Walking distance.
For an empty office:
- About 1000B/SQM 10 min Walking distance.
- About 600B/SQM 20 min Walking distance.
Most people have the idea that a Serviced office is more expensive than an empty office for rent. This is a wrong perception, and a Serviced office can save budget when compared to an empty office for rent! When you are looking at an office, there are several things you should make sure to check.
A serviced office, the rental fee per square meter is more expensive than an empty office, but included with a serviced office is:
- Building management fee,
- tax property,
- Electricity,
- Electrical installation,
- Office space set-up,
- Office furniture,
- IT set-up,
- Telephone lines set-up and installation
- cleaning,
- reception services
- Printer facility
- Meeting room facilities
- Maintenance
- Internet and telephone connection
The differences are not only in the overhead costs. Serviced Offices have many advantages for any type of company. Benefits are numerous and will ease your daily business. In addition, other factors need to be considered:
Contract duration
With an empty office,
The contract duration will be a minimum of 3 years. That means you need to find an office considering your potential growth for the next 3 years with a consequence of taking an office bigger than what you really need for the first 2 years.
With a Serviced office,
The contract duration is flexible and most of the time set for one year with still the possibility to size your office up or down according to your needs – The advantage of renting what you need when you need it.
Reception area
With an empty office,
you would need to rent more space to set the reception area and you would also need to hire a receptionist to pick up the phone and take care of the office.
With the serviced office
The reception area is a part of the common area, you do not rent this space – it is included in your fees already. On top of that, you save by not needing a receptionist to pick up the phone and take care of your office, this is also included in your fees. This service can have a considerable, positive impact on your budgetz
Server area
With an empty office,
You would need a server room with air conditioning system working 24/7.
With a serviced office,
The server room is outside your office – you do not need to pay for this space, pay for the electricity or provide the maintenance.
Meeting rooms
With an empty office,
You need to get a bigger office to include one or two meeting rooms.
With a serviced office,
You can rent the meeting room per hour, 200Baht for up to four people or 500 Baht for up to 10. You only pay for what you use instead of paying a monthly rent for a meeting room partially used.
Common Area
With an empty office,
You would need to rent all the common areas as well. Therefore, your office would need to be bigger to include the corridor, the pantry, the printing area, the toilets, etc.
With a serviced office
You only rent your working area.
Installation/Maintenance
With an empty office,
You will have to spend a lot of working hours on your office installation, no matter whether you subcontract or create your office plans yourself. Your office needs design, IT solutions, network cabling, WiFi, security, cameras, phone system, furniture and so on. You would need to understand how everything is working and provide maintenance or outsource it with supplier when something is broken or does not work. This is both costly initially and over the course of a year.
With a Serviced office,
Everything is ready for you, and include IT, network, WiFi, security, phone systems. using the latest technology and to make sure everything is working well 24/7!