Saving money when buying office furniture is a concern for every owner trying to grow their business. Choosing, ordering, installing and paying for furniture can be costly and time consuming. However, you need to choose carefully as you’ll probably be at your office desk 9 – 5, five days a week, minimum, so an insufficient desk or chair could prove devastating.
Help alleviate a lot of the issues by following these 7 tips for saving money when buying office furniture.
1. Bulk Order
2. Plan Ahead
3. Match Use to Value
4. Is it manufactured in Europe?
5. Co-working Space
6. Personalise your Requirements
7. Make Room for Deliveries
1. Bulk Order
Buying larger quantities of office furniture at any one time will usually result in a lower price overall as delivery cost can be spread over larger number of items. Making an inventory check once a month or when someone requests new furniture is a good way to make sure that you are ordering efficiently.
2. Plan ahead
A longer lead time gives your dealer a larger choice of manufacturers from which they can source your furniture which allows them to negotiate a deal which gets you the best value for money. When re-ordering furniture that you’ve had before, you are also more likely to be obtain exactly the same to match. Furthermore, the longer your office furniture partner has your order before delivery, the better able they will be to arrange delivery to suit you.
3. Match use to value
You’ll be surprised how often we have been asked to remove items which are barely halfway through their potential lifespan.
To illustrate, a common error is to provide a low budget chair for the receptionist which will need to be replaced due to heavy use whereas the Managing Director will have a top of the range, highly engineered and well-designed desk chair which he may rarely use in comparison.
Double check that your furniture will be durable as well as affordable to give you a solution that will stay looking new for longer.
4. Is it Manufactured in Europe?
Don’t be tempted to cut corners with an initial order for furniture that will cost you in the long run. Ask your supplier if your furniture is manufactured in the UK or Europe as this will usually mean it is much easier, quicker and, of course, cheaper to service your furniture. Goods manufactured in the UK and Europe usually carry a guarantee too.
For instance, replacement furniture keys for UK manufactured furniture are always quicker and cheaper to obtain.
5. Co-working Space
If you have staff that are only in the office several times a week, then you might consider hot-desking. Or, for instance, if tasks that are performed intermittently need larger space, can they share space with other things?
6. Personalise your Requirements
Another common ordering error is to order too many different items or too many of the same item. Does everybody need two triple tier desk trays? And does the company need those extra storage units “just in case”?
7. Make Room for Deliveries
Extra labour charge may have to be incurred if you aren’t ready for the delivery and installation of your furniture. It is best to be well prepared to receive your items. However, if you will need a hand with moving items, your office furniture dealer will be happy to help if they know in advance.
