Could a serviced office be your flexible friend?
Over the years, we’ve witnessed the boom of flexible office accommodation. There are a number of serviced offices available for rent by businesses along the M4 corridor from Chepstow to Newport. Owned and managed by national and local companies, each has a slightly different pricing policy with varying items included in the rent as well as their own advantages and disadvantages, depending on what type of business is looking at them. But what are serviced offices and what benefits do serviced offices provide for their tenants?
Serviced offices are a great way for new businesses or SME’s to establish their base, often located at a prominent, easy to find business address, and providing tenants with the flexibility they require to develop their business.
A serviced office is usually provided furnished i.e. desks, chairs, filing cabinets and phones and is offered on flexible licence terms for as little as a month at a fixed, all inclusive fee. Exactly what’s included in the rent can vary but usually includes rent, business rates, utilities, service charge, building insurance, telephone line & internet connection and a telephone answering service. For some companies, the telephone answering service can save you thousands of pounds each year on staff costs! Additional services such as meeting room hire and secretarial services are usually available at additional cost.
The key advantages to serviced offices compared to traditional lease accommodation are set up costs, flexibility (in terms of length of commitment and amount of space required) and the speed in which occupation can be gained – sometimes within a matter of hours! Serviced offices usually suit start up companies, regional sales advisors, small professional firms or companies with unpredictable growth.
Are serviced offices a flexible friend for small businesses? – in our opinion, for a lot of small businesses the answer is yes.
