Using spare space in business premises

Eliza_2

Morning all, - a warning to all of you thinking of starting a new small businesses, you get up early on a gorgeous sunny Sunday thinking about how to move your business on - no lie-ins here!

Anyway, I lease a premises which is quite big, we use most of the large spaces but there are also 2 or three smaller rooms which are unused and I was wondering if there was a way of somehow making money from them. We can't sublet, and they wouldn't be any good for offices and have no outside windows. I was wondering about storage which they would suit well, but then as I wouldn't know what was in the boxes people might want to store there, and it could also be a fire-risk, this is also a non-starter.

Can anyone else think of anything we could use these spaces for, particularly to bring in some income - we are paying rates for unused space at the moment.

Thanks

Savvy_Sue

I'm not even sure you could sub-let for storage purposes, could you? I'm sure insurance would be a problem, for the reason you identify: you don't know what's in the boxes!

It's the sub-letting which is the issue, IMO, but rooms without windows can, if done properly, be OK for massage and other therapies. You certainly want privacy!

Charityworker

I work for a charity which has a spare room at the back and we have put a desk in it and said that smaller charities can 'rent a desk' for a few hours a week. It's not subletting as it's not a permanent arrangement with a rental agreement. We charge £6 an hour and it's proving popular.

Savvy_Sue

Charityworker wrote: »

I work for a charity which has a spare room at the back and we have put a desk in it and said that smaller charities can 'rent a desk' for a few hours a week. It's not subletting as it's not a permanent arrangement with a rental agreement. We charge £6 an hour and it's proving popular.

That gives me a thought, that until recently we were always desperately short of private space for 1:1 meetings - for line management and the like. A nicely set out room with tea and coffee facilities could be of value on an 'as and when' basis, even if it's not large enough to take a meeting of more than 5 or 6 people. Depends if you can market it effectively to nearby groups!

s_b

unless you have a ginonrmous place you should be getting free business rates at the moment, see this as free rent until it stops next march
as for sub letting i considered this but realised other people would need a key to my business and as such i would not be able to regulate their comings and goings and how do you explain it to your insurers
my advice is kiss in these circumstances or move to smaller premises

Eliza_2

s_b wrote: »

unless you have a ginonrmous place you should be getting free business rates at the moment, see this as free rent until it stops next march
as for sub letting i considered this but realised other people would need a key to my business and as such i would not be able to regulate their comings and goings and how do you explain it to your insurers
my advice is kiss in these circumstances or move to smaller premises

It is ginormous - we pay around £800 a month which is why I want to do something to make better use of the space. We use the main area but this rabbit warren of little rooms is just wasted. Like you though, I wouldn't want to give out a key, one of us would have to be there which is why I thought of storage.

Thanks all for the ideas, will have to do some thinking!!

Horace

Wny not rent the room out on an hourly basis to small businesses who may want to meet clients etc - insist that the room is only available during office hours.

paulwf

Eliza wrote: »

It is ginormous - we pay around £800 a month which is why I want to do something to make better use of the space. We use the main area but this rabbit warren of little rooms is just wasted. Like you though, I wouldn't want to give out a key, one of us would have to be there which is why I thought of storage.

Thanks all for the ideas, will have to do some thinking!!

The first thing I'd do is go to http://www.2010.voa.gov.uk/rli/en/basic/find . Find your property and click on it to see how your business rates are calculated. Mine are calculated on 6 different areas, my second floor storage area is quite big but is absolutely insignificant in the rate calculations as it is only the prime downstairs bit that adds up.

Check yours, you may find you're not actually paying much rates on the small rooms so don't need to justify them generating a significant revenue. Also, get a reputable company to calculate your true business rates if you haven't already done this, there may be ways of reducing the rates for the unused rooms (for example you pay a premium for areas covered by air conditioning).

Personally I couldn't be bothered with the faff of renting out rooms, it causes a lot of hassle and potential security and h&s concerns for not much return. Instead I'd make it into a lovely chill out area for staff, hopefully creating a more loyal and happy workforce. Of course it's hard to give out proper advice as I know nothing about your company but that's just a general thought. Companies with nice spaces for staff are much nicer to work at than those without.

Eliza_2

Thank you so much lovely people, isn't it great how complete strangers take the time to respond in such thoughtful ways, I'm really grateful.

I have checked out the bus. rates and taken advice and sadly the amount is correct. There is a staff area with sofas and a cafe where they can help themselves to drinks etc as they like. However no-one works a long session, mostly just 4 hours or less a day and they don't use the room much though they do have drinks as it's thirsty work.

I suspect the amount I could let the space for wouldn't make much of a dent in the rates anyway now I think about it. Still it's wasted space though, such a shame.

Thanks all

Savvy_Sue

Is it worth asking your staff for suggestions / ideas? If they're part-time workers, that suggests they might include students - would they like study rooms? You might not want to charge for that, but it might inspire loyalty etc. Anyone need some storage / sorting space?

veganline

If your business posts things cheaply, say on Royal Mail packetpost, you could do the same for others and so have an extra business. This assumes that the distraction and hassle would not reduce the size of your main business - maybe if there is someone unemployed who you trust to work freelance and have a key it would work.

Someone tried to do this for me from a cubicle of an abandoned office in a workshop, the size of a few double beds. It's surprising how many shelves he fitted-in there.

There is a warehouse trade association that gives guide prices, or google "pick and pack warehouse". From memory the prices were per pallet-sized piece of shelf and per item posted, plus the cost of the postage itself.