How Much Office Space Does Your Business Need?

Determining how much office space square footage your business requires is an essential aspect of the office move process. There are several different methods to calculate this; the simplest is to base your office space square footage requirement on the number of employees in your office.

Experts estimate that you need 200 to 250 square feet of office space per employee. You may require even more room if you have significant storage needs or if your business requires large amounts of open office space. Calculating your square footage needs at both 200 square feet per employee and 250 square feet per employee is an effective way to determine your office space square footage range.

For example, if your firm has 27 employees: 27 at 200 square feet per person equals 5,400 square feet of office space. Next, multiply 27 by 250 square feet to get 6,750 square feet of office space. You now know that your ideal office space will be somewhere in the range of 5,400 square feet to 6,750 square feet. Keep in mind, this range gives enough room for the individual employees and adds a buffer for corridors, conference rooms and work areas.

If your business requires the use of additional equipment, or offices that are significantly larger than usual; you will want to increase the amount of square footage for your office space search. Conversely, if you run a call center that utilizes small cubicles, you may be able to get by with less square footage than is considered typical. Very dense call centers can often get by with 150 square feet per employee or even less.