You’ve picked out new furnishings, settled on a budget, and got your team completely invested in the redesign of your office. Now all that’s left to do is identify the inevitable disruptions that come with any office refurbishment project, and make plans to avoid them.
One major crisis you certainly don’t want to face is having to close your office, even for a short time. Lost revenue, disappointed clients, and the costs of maintaining service levels without a physical office can all cause real issues for your business, so put the following measures in place to minimise disruption whilst your office is transformed.
1. Schedule The Work Around Office Hours
Whilst some businesses choose to shut their doors during a refurbishment, for businesses that rely upon their onsite employees this simply isn’t feasible. However, neither is expecting them to continue being productive whilst building work is happening just a few feet from their desk.
Many successful refurbishment projects are completed outside of normal office hours, during the evenings, weekends, and early mornings. Shifting the schedule to these times eliminates the need to take further steps to reduce operational disruption, as there is no one in the office to hear the constant noise or become distracted by the sight of ongoing building work.
An out-of-office schedule is a great option for businesses that rely upon minimal disruption and constant focus, although you will need to work closely with your contractors to stop any work from running over into regular business hours, so consider this when weighing up your options this spring.
2. Set Up Temporary Office Spaces
Waiting for your office to be fully refurbished is stressful enough, but relocating your entire team to a temporary workplace will add even more to your plate.
Having to pack up your employees, vacate your current premises, and kit out a new office is a huge disruption to your team and their working patterns, not to mention their lives outside of work. Choosing this option will require them to adjust their commutes, settle into a new location, and maintain the productivity expected of them, only to return to their usual premises just a few months later.
This isn’t just an inconvenience, but also a huge expense, as you will have to pay to maintain two premises whilst refurbishing one. If alternative working arrangements are required, then we recommend that you set up temporary workspaces within your premises, rather than renting a nearby office. These spaces can then be moved around as needed to keep employees away from the most disruptive areas of the project, and don’t forget to invest in temporary facilities if access to the washroom and kitchen will be impacted during this time.
3. Prioritise Sound Control
The excessive noise that comes with an ongoing office refurbishment project is not just distracting, but also very stressful. It is impossible to focus on daily tasks, brainstorm upcoming projects, or conduct client-facing operations under these circumstances, and the most proactive way to mitigate this disruption is to implement sound control measures across the office.
This approach calls for the construction of quiet zones which are physically separate from the refurbishment site. This involves installing them as far away from the construction zones as possible, but also investing in soundproofing barriers to block out the noise that will inevitably bleed through across the working day. If there is limited space available for these sound-controlled zones, then adopting a hot desking policy will allow your employees to move further away from the most disruptive areas depending upon the focus required for their daily tasks.
Combining these measures with an out-of-hours refurbishment schedule is the best way to minimise noise disruption, but if the project hours simply can’t be moved around then it is worth considering whether your team’s hours can be adjusted instead. For example, if the noise is loudest between 4 and 6pm, then why not allow your team to finish out the working day from home or in a local coworking space?
4. Invest in Daily Cleaning
As we have already touched upon, relocating your entire team will only disrupt their daily routines more than keeping them in a familiar space (even during a large-scale refurbishment). However, there are additional steps that must be taken to provide them with a productive and protected workplace for the duration of the project.
The dust and dirt that settles on office surfaces can negatively impact morale just as much as the piercing noise of industrial equipment and the constant movement of construction workers. The health and safety of everyone on site must be protected, which calls for sealed barriers between the construction sites and adjacent office areas to prevent airborne contaminants from filtering through. Adequate filtration systems around the different zones will also improve air quality in the office areas and allow daily life to continue as usual alongside the construction activity.
Despite this physical separation during office hours, the sealed-off areas will need to be opened every day to allow the contractors to enter and exit their work zones. This results in a hazardous transfer of construction dust into the office spaces, and a regular cleaning service will be required to tackle these particles and ensure the air quality of both areas. After all, anything you can do to make the office as comfortable and clean for both your in-office team and refurbishment partners during the project will go a long way.
5. Choose The Right Contractor
Finally, minimising disruptions as and when they arise will be made all the easier if you have the right partner on board from the very beginning.
Your choice of contractor will impact every aspect of the office refurbishment, from the quality of the work to the way any setbacks are handled – and, for the duration of the project, they should become an integral part of your business. When obtaining quotes from prospective contractors it’s important to be on the lookout for companies that have a proven track record of overcoming issues and delivering projects on-time, backed up by plenty of positive testimonials from satisfied customers.
The right contractor will also have worked on plenty of similar projects that required them to adapt their operations to prevent disruption for their clients. This way, they won’t just be familiar with the measures you plan to implement, but will also be able to offer suggestions that expand upon your existing plan and highlight any gaps that would otherwise have led to avoidable delays and interruptions.
Start Your Commercial Office Refurbishment Today
With this checklist, an honest conversation with your team, and a great partnership with Universal Contracting, your operations can continue as usual during your upcoming office refurbishment project.
Contact them today to find out how their full project management package will take the stress off your hands and deliver an optimised workplace without any disruptions.
