Office space comparison: options, tradeoffs and use cases

Two offices on a shortlist are never directly comparable as offered. One is quoted on a different measurement basis, one includes services the other charges for, one comes with a fit-out and the other with a bare floor. Compare the quotes as they stand and you are comparing the landlords' presentation skills.

The fix is dull and effective: put both candidates on the same sheet, with the same rows, and fill every row with a verified fact rather than a claim.

What to take away

• Before comparing anything, normalize the two offers: the same measurement basis, the same delivery condition, the same term and the same services included.
• Decide your kill criteria first and test both spaces against them before you look at anything you merely prefer.
• Spend a working day in each finalist. A tour is a performance; a day is data.

Make the two candidates comparable first

Rewrite both offers so that each line means the same thing in both columns.

• Area. Confirm what standard each figure was measured to, and whether it is usable or rentable. Ask for the measurement certificate. Two identical floor plates can carry different rentable areas because of how the building's common parts are shared out, which is one of the points made in office space.
• Delivery condition. One space may be handed over finished and the other as a shell. Either describe both in the condition you would occupy them, or add the work needed to bring the bare one up to the same state.
• Term and options. Line up the same length, the same renewal rights and the same break rights, or note where they differ and what that difference is worth to you.
• Services included. Cleaning, security, reception, heating and cooling hours, after-hours access and internet may sit inside one quote and outside the other.
• Concessions. Any rent-free period or allowance belongs in the sheet as a line, not as a headline.

Only once every row reads the same way is a comparison of the totals meaningful. The general rules for reading those totals are in commercial leasing.

The comparison sheet

Dimension	Record for each candidate	Why it moves the decision
Usable area per seat	Measured area divided by the seats your plan actually places	Two floors with the same area can seat very different numbers
Commute pattern	Travel time from where your current staff live, at your start time	A move that lengthens most commutes costs you people
Systems hours	When heating, cooling and lifts run, and what after-hours costs	Teams that work late are charged for it, or work in the dark
Growth path	Adjacent space, expansion rights, ability to add a floor	The space you will need in three years is already decided
Exit path	Assignment and sublet terms, break rights	The cheaper space can be the more expensive one to leave
Building control	Who owns it, whether a lender is involved, planned works	Sales and refinancing change who you are dealing with
Fit-out effort	Approvals needed, landlord consent process, base building limits	Time to occupancy is a cost that never appears in the quote
Neighbors	Who else occupies the building, hours, noise, security	A shared floor with an unsuitable neighbor is a daily problem

Fill this from documents and site visits, not from the listing. Where a row cannot be verified, write "unknown" and treat that as a mark against the candidate rather than a blank.

What a tour cannot tell you

A guided visit shows you the space at its best hour. The rows that most often decide a comparison are found elsewhere.

• Take your team's home locations and plot the journey to each building at the time they actually travel. Do it for the people you cannot afford to lose.
• Ask for the building's operating schedule in writing, and what it costs to run the plant outside it.
• Ride the lift at the morning peak, not at eleven.
• Ask what the landlord's plans are for the building. Refurbishment of the lobby, a new tenant on the ground floor, or a sale can each change your experience mid-term.
• Ask whether the building has an energy benchmarking score. A building enrolled in the ENERGY STAR benchmarking program can show you a rating that tells you something about the plant you will be paying to run.
• Look at how the location serves your business beyond the commute, using the method in location selection: clients, suppliers, the labor pool you hire from.

Score the kill criteria before the nice-to-haves

Write down, before you visit, the conditions that rule a space out regardless of anything else. Common ones: a term you cannot commit to, a floor plate that cannot hold the layout, a building that cannot provide the power or the cooling, an accessibility problem at the entrance of the kind the Access Board's guide to entrances, doors and gates describes, or a landlord who will not agree the exit terms you need.

Test both candidates against that list first. Only the survivors go on to the rows where preference matters: the light, the finish, the view, the cafe downstairs. Doing it in this order stops a beautiful space from talking you out of a fact.

Run a working day in each

If both finalists survive, ask to spend a normal working day in each, or as close to one as the landlord will allow. Bring three or four people who do different jobs. Take calls, hold a meeting, eat lunch nearby, leave at your usual time.

You will learn about noise, temperature, the internet, the lift, the reception and the street in a way no tour provides. Write the impressions down the same evening, in the same rows as the sheet, so that they can be compared with the facts rather than replacing them.

When the comparison is between staying and moving

Renewing in place is a candidate too, and it belongs on the same sheet. Its advantages are real: no fit-out time, no move, no disruption. Its disadvantage is that the landlord knows all of that, and prices it.

Treat the renewal as an offer to be compared, not as a default. Get the alternative to the point where you could sign it, because that is the only position from which a renewal negotiation is honest on both sides.

Common questions

Which single row decides most comparisons?

Usable area per seat, once both spaces are laid out properly. It corrects for the measurement basis and the shape of the floor at the same time, and it is the number the rest of the cost sits on.

How many candidates should reach the sheet?

Two or three. More than that and the rows are filled from listings rather than from verification, which defeats the purpose.

The cheaper space needs a full fit-out. How do I compare it?

Add the cost and, more importantly, the time of the work to that column, and shift its start date accordingly. A space you occupy four months later has cost you four months, and the approvals that set that timetable are described in tenant improvements.

Is a serviced office comparable on the same sheet?

Yes, provided you add the rows it lacks: control of the space, privacy, and what happens at the end of a short agreement. It usually wins on time to occupancy and loses on control.