Now more than ever, businesses are shifting their current working models. When it comes to choosing your office, you usually have two options. The serviced office or a traditional lease space.

The Covid-19 pandemic has majorly shifted a lot of businesses and they urgently need stability at the moment.

Different businesses will go for alternative offices depending on their requirements but what is the difference?

We’ve put together the following points to outline the differences between a serviced office and a traditional lease.

Amenities

It’s in the name! If you go for a serviced office, it is fully serviced. Here at Titanic Suites, you have a full team on hand to help you and your team with any queries you may have. Our reception will handle your calls and act as a full receptionist for your team. Reception will also sort your mail and forward anything you need sent out. Our communal kitchens come fully stocked with amenities such as tea, coffee, milk and sugar, so you don’t have to worry about it. With a traditional lease, all of this will need to be organised within your company, so the serviced option is much less hassle!

Price

The traditional lease is extremely expensive in the short term but in long term, it can save you money. This is only if you’re confident that you’ll be in the same premises for a long time. The serviced office is usually cheaper as there is no mass upfront payments involved with fit-out etc.

The serviced option is much easier when it comes bills. With the traditional lease, all your utilities and rates bills need to be paid separately. With serviced office, you’re paying one license fee a month. This covers electric, gas, internet, rates and any other utilities you can think of!

Location

Most serviced offices are large buildings in the centre of cities. We are based in the Linen Quarter, just behind the Belfast City Hall in Belfast City Centre. This means your office will be in prime location without paying for the extortionate prices of a traditional lease within a city centre.

Agreement Lengths

One of the main differences between a serviced office and a traditional lease is the flexibility in agreements lengths. Especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses need flexibility, so they have the confidence that they aren’t tied into an agreement for years. With serviced offices it is much more flexible, and you rarely take agreements for more than a year. If you compare that with the traditional lease, you usually can not get an agreement for less than a year.

Flexibility

One of the best things about a serviced office, is the flexibility.

For example, you can move in with a 6-person office, then expand or downsize whenever it suits your business. Most of our clients here in Titanic Suites have been able to move to bigger or smaller offices whenever it suits them.

Traditional leases will not offer the same flexibility, this can work out extremely expensive when trying to expand.

Culture

In a serviced office option, you will have many other businesses in the same building. This is excellent for networking as most serviced offices hold events to help you build your connections.

This can increase motivation within your team as there is the ability to see different faces every day.

You won’t have this in a traditional lease, meaning networking will involve leaving your office to attend different events.

A serviced office is usually most popular option for small to medium sized businesses, it decreases the risk associated with taking on a new agreement and virtually removes the need of a receptionist and office manager. We’ve also noticed in recent months, due to covid-19 even larger organisations have been seeking a serviced office option as they have most of their workforce working from home and want to provide somewhere for their employees to go.

With the hybrid working model becoming more and more popular, serviced offices are benefitting from businesses who have their staff in the office part-time as it saves them money and can increase motivation amongst their staff.

Click here to check out our serviced office and enquire to secure yours today!