A wealth of advice exists on how to minimise disruption during an office refurbishment. But in-depth guides and repetitive blog posts can end up being off-putting. This is why we’ve put together this quick, simple guide showing how to minimise disruption during your office refit.

Be it cosmetic decorating, a full renovation or installation of new furniture; rest assured that, after reading this, you will be able to  keep any disruption to an absolute minimum.

 

Out Of Hours Working

If your office space doesn’t facilitate being closed for any amount of time – due to customer interaction, staff logistics  or any other reason – then out of hours working might be the answer.

Your refurbishment can take place away from your business hours and therefore not impact your operations. Most probably suited for commerce businesses.

It does incur an extra cost compared to ordinary hours working though. It could  be the best option if the benefits and cost of the refurbishment are outweighed by any impact on revenue caused by the works taking place whilst you are still open.

 

Weekend Working

A slightly different option to minimise disruption would be to complete works over a weekend, or a couple depending on the size of your company offices. A labour intensive shift can see impressive results between Friday closing and Monday opening. The benefits of not having to work around your staff can speed up the whole process.

Works can be divided into phases and completed a section at a time and made good before your staff return for work following the weekend. This method will just mean a little more intensive time management.

 

Quiet Hours & Client Visits

If you decide to go ahead with your office refurbishment inside working hours, you can minimise disruption by having “quiet hours” where no noise or disruptive can take place. This allows your colleagues to still conduct meets and phone conversations without sounding like they’re on a building site.

It is also best to liaise with your contractor to ensure they know when you will have any existing or prospective clients visiting your offices. Work can be stopped prior to these days or unsightly materials moved away in order to give the right impression.

You may decide to keep the refurbishment working whilst clients visit as part of some positive PR, but you need to make sure your contractor’s staff are working safely and acting accordingly. But to do this, the dates need to be in the Programme of Works.

 

Temporary Screens And Workspaces

And finally, if working around your staff is unavoidable then employing temporary screens to shield refurbishment works is an option. As is utilising a temporary workspace for the lengthier projects.

A company like Elm Workspace can relocate your staff to a temporary home or reconfigure your  existing layout to allow the refurbishment and your existing operations to take place side-by-side.

 

It All Comes Down To Planning – So Get Organised With A FREE Checklist

Remember the golden rule when preliminarily costing a construction project; the quicker you want it doing the more it will cost. It’s just a case of balancing that with the cost impact on other areas of your business by dragging the process out. So that means your planning needs to start well in advance.

You can complete the early planning and feasibility studies, as well as assign and track tasks with our free downloadable refurbishment checklist. You can also be assured you won’t miss a thing…