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Office Space, Measuring Correctly |
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Usually, when it comes to setting up your office space, it's characteristically done in three stages --- Organization, Design/Layout, and Set-Up. The content on "The Raw Basics" as I call it has always been the first critical step, depending on your situation. One situation deals with measuring your space to layout what you currently have in the way of fixtures and furniture. The other is measuring for purposes of introducing all new fixtures and furniture.
The Organization stage is where all the real brainwork comes into play. It's all about deciding what you need to make that office work for you --- not the other way around. Organization is part concept/ideas, part measuring, and a heavy dose of common sense.
Decide what you would like to have in your office. Next, figure out if it's all feasible. "Will it fit?" is the key question here. Take into consideration what your current needs are, and what needs you may have in the future based on the growth of your business.
Design/Layout is exactly what it says. You'd be amazed at how creative you can truly be, even if you think that you don't have a clue. This stage involves measuring the fixtures and furniture to see if they will fit in your office space. Remember that when it comes to doing the actual set-up that as far as your desk goes, if you have to get up out of your office chair to reach anything that you need to work on, you didn't do things properly. Think Ergonomics.
The set-up stage is a mix of brains and brawn. In some cases, based on a person's budget, your first office may be nothing but RTA fixtures and furniture. (RTA = Ready to Assemble.) Or, you do have the budget to invest, so you buy real office fixtures and furniture. One way or the other, you'll either uncrate it and build it, or muscle it in there, so brains and brawn are required. The other part of the set-up is how you actually set up your office space with your equipment and supplies --- how you organize its functionality.
Unfortunately, when it comes to measuring properly, some people are unaware of how to do that properly. No, I'm not going to get into a tirade that sounds like "Measuring for Dummies" or anything like that. I'm just going to give you some tips, with a little common sense thrown in, so that you are aware of how to measure your space properly. Oh, and just so you know, that common sense part above resulted from me creating a bigger disaster than what I had before. Why? Because I didn't measure things properly.
Here are a few suggestions when it comes to measuring your space:
- Measure around the base boards for the overall dimensions of the room and then commit it to paper. Graph paper is preferred and try to be as accurate as you can when setting things to measurements and scale.
- Add measurements for built-in bookcases, cabinetry, closet openings, doorways, and anything else that is not useable wall space because of "interruptions" in the flow of the perimeter
- Add measurements for windows so as to gauge where there are "interruptions" in the flow of useable wall space.
- Finally, add in anything in the way of cable or satellite feeds, electrical sockets, and phone jacks. This is especially important when it comes to electrical
If you can think of anything else that interrupts useable floor and wall space, measure it and add it to your drawing. Hopefully this will give you some help as you get started on your new office space. |
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