For the most part, those choices are bypassed in small offices. Most small offices choose to be a combination of three things, and three things at once, and, in the end, none of those things well.

Think about how your team actually uses the space.

An office under 1,000 sq ft focuses on one clear function. If your team is mostly desk-based and comes into the office daily, an open office plan with storage and desks would serve your team better than zoning. If you disperse your team throughout the office for desk-based work on a few days a week, you would benefit from a flexible office plan with an upgraded meeting space and a designated quiet space for phone calls.

Make that decision first, then the layout and the budget will follow.

Storage – assumes all the space in an office

In small offices, storage is what makes the space functional or chaotic half a year in. Wall-mounted shelving is better than freestanding shelving because it makes the office feel more spacious and allows to keep the office floor clear. Pedestals for the space under the desk should be a fit-out budget priority. They keep the office clear of visual clutter from personal items.

If there is a storage room or comms cupboard, use them from the start. It will become a room full of stuff that nobody knows where to put, unless you designate its purpose.

Lighting – the most neglected office fit-out budget item

Office lighting design is usually the last thing to be considered, and the cheapest item on the budget. In small offices, the cheapest lighting is a mistake because the wrong lighting design can put people off working in the office. Small offices with the wrong lighting design feel like a waiting room.

Layered, good lighting does not have to be expensive, especially in a small office. For general ambience, a 4,000K LED panel are good enough to work under. Warm LED panels with poor colour temperature do not make great task lighting. Prioritize natural lighting. Choose the windows with the best light.

Small office sound issues

The biggest problem when fitting out small offices is sound, and most people don’t even consider it. Bare floors and walls paired with glass offices tend to bounce sound, where even a single phone call by an employee of a 4-10 person team is heard by the whole team.

This can be solved by adding desk partitions, acoustic panels to the ceiling, and floor tiles that are carpet vs vinyl. These things can be relatively inexpensive. If your team makes a lot of phone calls, consider a glass meeting room that is a phone booth or an acoustic partition to help with sound absorption vs. a glass meeting room that tends to amplify the sound.

What to really invest in

For the square footage that you have, feature walls, pod chairs, and game tables are unnecessary. Go for the essentials first, and everything else can be considered later. There are a lot of good spaces under 1,000 sq ft, and they have been designed for their specific purpose. Don’t try to replicate the design of a larger office, but smaller.

There are many quirks within the Derby commercial property market that can catch new businesses off guard. Most customers gravitate towards Pride Park as their preferred location. However, in the last couple of years, options have become increasingly limited. This has forced many businesses to look elsewhere: RTC Business Park on London Road, Cardinal Square in the city center, or the Cathedral Quarter for business units with a bit more character as an alternative to the standard units on business parks.

Once you’ve decided on a location, the first question around fit out is always around the space in its current form and the state that it is in.

Cat A or Cat B — and what your landlord has actually done

Most commercial properties available in Derby are Cat A. This means that the landlord has taken care of the base build (raised floors, suspended ceilings, heating and cooling systems, WCs) and the rest is left to the tenant to complete. What you can expect to see is an empty space with just the power supply and no other fit out.

Cat B means everything that converts a shell and core office into a functional office: partitions, kitchen facilities, meeting rooms, flooring, lighting, furniture, IT cabling, etc. That’s the budget you have to work with. For a Derby office which is in the 1,000 to 3,000 sq ft range (the majority of local transactions), you should expect to spend £30 to £60 per sq ft for a standard Derby Cat B fit-out (which is dependent upon finish and the degree of structural works required).

One thing that you should be aware of is that in Derby, the standard of office space is becoming a key factor in making a leasing decision. Landlords are being more Cat A positive (in particular on Pride Park). However, don’t assume that will mean something to you, you need to check it out.

Pride Park and the Parking issue

Pride Park has very good access – the A38, A50, A52 are all nearby and J25 of the M1 is about 7 miles to the east. For employees coming from most of Derbyshire, it is very easy. Office space in the city center does not have that advantage and it influences the design and layout of the office space.

If your employees are either cycling in, or using Derby station, which is close to both Pride Park and Cardinal Square, you will need changing and storage facilities. It may be a small issue, but it is the kind of issue that is raised six months after the fit-out, when someone asks the design team why there’s no place to store a bike.

How long it takes

Compared to Manchester or Leeds, Derby has significantly less pressure on the supply chain. As a result, local fit-out contractors have much greater availability and shorter lead times, and due to lower costs, labour is less expensive than in other cities in the East Midlands.

However, you shouldn’t expect the process to be complete on the day you sign the lease. Expect fit-outs for SMEs that occupy 1,500 to 3,000 square feet and require a Cat B fit-out to take between eight weeks and three months to complete to the point of the space being ready for employees. This time estimate also includes the time needed for sign-off, purchasing, and the unplanned snagging week.

What to sort out before you brief anyone

The first three decisions that every business has to make before engaging a contractor are: (1) how do you want the space to work (open plan, cellular, etc.); (2) what does the IT infrastructure look like; and (3) are you purchasing or leasing the furniture. Each of the decisions will impact the design, and changing any of the decisions once work has commenced will be a costly impact.

Derby is home to a number of office fit out Derby contractors from whom it is advisable to obtain multiple quotes. A national contractor is not necessarily going to be the best choice.

Planning out your office is very important and you need to consider not only the practical side of it but also health and safety plus fire regulations to make sure you adhere to all of these. It may be that you only have one or two employees at present but you will need to consider if you may need to expand in the future and if the premises will allow for this or if you wold mind if you have to relocate.

You may wish to hire an office bigger than you will initially need so it already has room for you to grow your business as and when you need to.