Work from home or rent an office?

macfanuk

Hi all,

I could really do with some advice.... I am starting a new company offering web design, etc and I am trying to decide whether to run the business from home or pay for an office.

My main concern is that when I've done web design for people in the past, about 70%-80% of them want to have a meeting face to face and I would rather not have customers know my home address if that makes sense - in a way, keep work and home separate. An office would also give an opinion of long-standing and therefore may open up the opportunity for more business.

However, looking online, I'm looking at around £300 - £400 per month for an office whereas I do have office space at home, so is it worth the extra expense?

Another thing to consider is that I work full time at the moment and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. My wife will be working for the business and could 'man the office' during the day, but I would then have to go to the office of an evening to do any work.

I'm sure there are many of you on here that have had a similar decision to make so what did you decide and why? Also, if any of you have client meetings at home, etc, what's that like?

buglawton

Bit if a no brainer really, stay based at home. Meetings can so easily be arranged in the lobby cafes or upmarket bars of quiet posh hotels, I've seen whole job interviews being conducted in these.

Pennywise

This is a very common question/problem faced by most people who start this kind of "service" based self employment.

Generally, people seem to start out at home and then move onto an office when they have built up their business. It can't be financially savvy to pay hundreds in rent (plus power, insurance, maintenance, etc) if you're only needing an office for an occasional meeting. You should either try to avoid meetings (i.e. more phone calls etc), or why no go to see them at their home/office instead? Alternatively, most larger towns have buildings where you can rent an office by the hour (Regus?), or you could meet clients in, say, a hotel reception area.

I'd really wait to see how it works out before committing yourself to an office. I started my accountancy practice whilst holding down a full time job. I went to see clients in the evening at their homes. When I'd built up enough clients, I gave up the job and worked full time from home. It was probably 3/4 years before the business grew to the extent that a separate office was justified and that was when I started employing people as I don't believe that having workers in your home is a good idea. Very rarely did any client shown concern over me working from home and going out to meet them at their home/work - most liked it!

PasturesNew

Definitely work from home. All face to face meetings can be at the client's premises, or you can hire a meeting room at a hotel or serviced offices for the hours you need - or even find a quiet/quality pub that serves coffee/tea.

No point paying out money and making life more complex if you're not actually going to be there most of the time.

You could use a serviced office's "rent-an-address" service to receive your mail etc - maybe the same ones offering that service can also hire you a meeting room occasionally/if needed.

DigForVictory

+1 for this is where a serviced office (or sometimes even less expensive to hire "conference" or "training" facilities at a hotel) saves you a bundle.

Ask at your library if there is any local new business support? There may be professional office space to rent for a few hours for still less, but the ambience may not be as confidently assured as a well turned out hotel. (I wouldn't want to risk a contract for cheap coffee!)

Renting and insuring another space you don't use much? Not MS at all!

paddyrg

Money saving is one thing, working well is another. Some people can work from home, others (me, for instance) won't get a stroke of work done with the Mrs around, with having to do the washing, etc. I NEED a separate space to work. It costs me £400/month, but I wouldn't earn that money without an office to work from.

Serviced offices etc may also be good for working with other local businesses and picking up contracts with them.

Kinda up to you and how you work TBH.

Opinion

paddyrg wrote: »

Money saving is one thing, working well is another. Some people can work from home, others (me, for instance) won't get a stroke of work done with the Mrs around, with having to do the washing, etc. I NEED a separate space to work. It costs me £400/month, but I wouldn't earn that money without an office to work from.

Serviced offices etc may also be good for working with other local businesses and picking up contracts with them.

Kinda up to you and how you work TBH.

I've had to do the same, I know your pain!

Stevie_Palimo

It is hard to work from home and not be distracted - I just shut myself in my home office and get on with it, no one annoys me in the day until around 5pm or so.


I prefer it as I have everything near me and can work as and when required/suits.

InsideInsurance

Pure money saving says to work from home and just have somewhere to have meetings outside be that bars/ cafes or by the hour meeting rooms.

There a number of challenges with this, some people simply dont get on with home working and struggle with distractions. Others find it hard to stop working because they can nip back in their home office to check something and then they get into something else and 5 hours later its mid night and you still havent seen your family.

There can also be an element of what image you are trying to give your clients. If its a budget one man band then home working fits with that perfectly and meeting in a coffee shop does too. If its high end "agency" then that doesnt work if someone does some googling/ streetview etc

buglawton

Web design - any image that spells personal UK based attention with the option for customer to meet up with supplier when needed is brilliant.
When you compare with dealing with a faceless entity in Bangalore (which is the sort of place a lot of UK companies get their Web work done in).

macfanuk

buglawton wrote: »

Web design - any image that spells personal UK based attention with the option for customer to meet up with supplier when needed is brilliant.
When you compare with dealing with a faceless entity in Bangalore (which is the sort of place a lot of UK companies get their Web work done in).

so are you for or against an office