Just like homes and apartments, commercial buildings like banks, offices, hotels, and even factories occasionally need to go through remodeling. However, remodeling is expensive and so many building owners and business operators try to ignore the signs and delay the remodeling for as long as possible. Maybe your business doesn’t need a remodeling today, but if you spot enough of these warning signs it’s time to bite the bullet and pay for a professional to redo the place.
1. Client Appeal
Your clients and customers can tell when your commercial building is old and hasn’t been updated in decades. Even if they don’t care about fashion trends, old decorations, faded paint, drooping wallpaper, old stains, and other signs of age tell your clients that you don’t care about details or putting your best foot forward. A remodeling can change the way your business looks to clients, it can project the atmosphere you want, and it can make your clients feel more comfortable about your company’s priorities and attention to details.
2. Employee Morale
When clients look at your commercial space, you only really have to worry about first impressions. On the other hand, your staff spends dozens of hours every week in your building and has to live with your building’s décor every day. Numerous studies have shown that things like colors, shapes, and layouts can have a real impact on employee morale, and even the act of remodeling their workspace shows your employees that you care about them.
3. Property Value
A substantial remodeling can do a lot to improve a building’s property value. That can mean higher property taxes, but it also means you can get substantially more money if and when you sell the property, plus you may be able to enjoy state and local tax deductions that offset the extra burden. You can also take out a larger equity loan to make use of that value while you still own the building. If you rent your property out to other businesses, a higher property value is a very fair reason to charge higher rental fees.
4. Energy Efficiency
Remodeling can include revamping old HVAC systems, installing solar panels on the roof, replacing old insulation, installing high-efficiency light bulbs, and other practical improvements. Add them all together and your property will use less electricity every month no matter what industry you’re in. A high-efficiency property that uses green building techniques is also a good way to attract new and forward-thinking commercial tenants.
5. Painfully Outdated Décor
If your business handles fashion consulting or needs to appear modern for some important reason, you should definitely keep the interior design as up-to-date as possible. Other businesses like private offices and banks can afford to look old-fashioned, but eventually, you have to face up to the fact that brown plaid, neon highlights, and other old color schemes aren’t coming back and honestly weren’t all that great even when they were fashionable. Updating your interior can even have an effect on employee and customer morale since they know you care enough to give them something nice to look at.
6. Unavoidable Deterioration
A little wallpaper peeling in a corner is easy enough to overlook. A stain or two on the drop-ceiling tiles just add character. You can hardly notice the paint has faded since it was a pastel shade, to begin with. People use all these excuses and more to put off remodeling and redecorating their building, but at some point, you have to admit that your building has stopped looking distinguished and is now just decaying. Eventually, you simply have to face facts and remodel your building before it falls apart around you.
7. Employee Inefficiencies
Efficiency is a valuable commodity no matter what kind of business you run. By keeping travel time low your employees can spend more time on productive work. When employees have enough space at their workstation, they don’t have to keep grabbing things out of a common area or borrow each other’s equipment. Every employee should have space and equipment they need to do their jobs, and remodeling can be a practical way to give that to your employees.
8. New Business Needs
Businesses can change in unexpected ways over the years. Back in the 70s, high-tech corporations had a single mainframe computer that everyone had to use at the same time, but by the late 80s, each employee had their own personal computer. Fast-food restaurants added drive-through windows for customers on the go. When you change how your business operates, it’s important to make sure you have enough room for everything to work. That may mean you have to remodel the building.
Remodeling a commercial property is a big undertaking even if you aren’t revamping the whole building. That’s why property owners don’t do it often. Still, there are plenty of reasons why a remodeled building can be a financial benefit to your company, and over time remodeling will usually provide a net profit over the time and costs you invested. To learn more about how remodeling can help your company and what improvements you could get, contact Global Construction today and set up an initial consultation.