Subscriber Discussion

Building A New Office, What Rooms/Features Would You Put In & What Tech Would Be On Your Wish List?

DM
David Matyas
Dec 05, 2017

We are finally moving into an office space (finally some storage room). Two questions:

1) What rooms/features would you put in if you are designing the office from scratch (its a shell of a building)? 

So far we have:

Reception area

Build Room

Tech Room

Kitchen

Storage

Three individual offices

2) Being that this is going to be also used to hopefully demo technology to our customers. If budget was not really a problem, what tech would you have installed in your office? (Screens, Electronically frosted conference rooms glass, access control, etc...)

 

 

Thank you

 

EDIT: I am actually buying the building and renovating about 3Ksqft for myself while renting out the rest. So I am here for the long haul, so I dont mind sinking more money into it.

 

Avatar
Brian Karas
Dec 05, 2017
IPVM

Having done a few office designs/build-outs, I would say think about keeping your "public areas" (lobby, kitchen/reception area, conference room) separated from your "business areas" as much as possible. This reduces concerns over customers potentially seeing or overhearing any sensitive customer information, project discussions, or general employee banter.

Similarly, it can be helpful to have employee bathrooms and guest bathrooms, if the space permits.

Consider having employee entrances/exits being separate from the main lobby area, reduces commotion when you have visitors waiting in the lobby and reduces chances of visitors or other people tailgating through doors, and also gives people who may be meeting with visitors a way to enter/exit the building without going through the lobby (like if they are running a bit late to arrive).

Clarify with your landlord about mounting anything on the building walls or roof. Many times you have to negotiate this specifically into the lease.

I would put a lot of thought into the infrastructure layout of the demo room to ensure maximum flexibility for adding or changing things in the future. Also keep soundproofing in mind if you plan to have a lot of servers in the demo room, they can be very loud, might be better behind a window unless you really really need to interact with them a lot for demos.

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DM
David Matyas
Dec 05, 2017

Thank you.

I am actually buying the building and renovating about 3Ksqft for myself while renting out the rest. So no landlord clearance needed :-). On the same note, I am here for the long haul, so I dont mind sinking more money into it.

I like the idea of keeping things separate with a separate entrance and will make use of that. I didnt think of soundproofing for the build room and that is a very good point.

 

Thank you

U
Undisclosed #1
Dec 05, 2017

It's not strictly "necessary", but I've found having a small quiet room with a bed/sofa to lie down on and rest for a while is very nice. Instead of feeling tired all day, you can have a short nap and get some work done afterwards. Also good when you're not feeling well or there's some other need for peace and quiet.

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DM
David Matyas
Dec 05, 2017

I was going to put a sofa in my office, but I guess I should put one in a rec room area for the staff as well.

 

Thanks

SD
Shannon Davis
Dec 06, 2017
IPVMU Certified

This is deffinitely true. I have a bad neck from the thousands of installs and pre-wires over the years. We are moving to a new office soon as well and luckily my office will be big enough for a small love seat or recliner so I can stretch out with my laptop when needed to give my neck a rest.

MM
Michael Miller
Dec 05, 2017

Great topic as I am looking to put an up a new building to handle our growth.   In addition to your list, I would add a design room and a studio room.  Design room for to teams to meet to work on large project design and a studio room so we can produce demo/how-to videos.

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Avatar
Mike Dotson
Dec 05, 2017
Formerly of Seneca • IPVMU Certified

I have done several engineering area build-outs an a couple things come to mind.

Be sure to consider having enough 'wall space' to hang screens in your 'sandboxes'.

Have the right kind of benches to work on.   The vendor I worked with had benches that I could put 'rackable' servers right there with the monitors and KVMs along the back.

A couple of switches on the back of the benches provides connections between the devices under test.

 

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MM
Michael Miller
Dec 06, 2017

I did't see conference room on your list but I would definitely include one with a large display. 

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Paul Grefenstette
Dec 06, 2017

I am curious how many people demo product for clients in their office -- I can see for residential audio, smart home but for commercial we always demo onsite

If I was building or moving offices I would love to have a drive in bay for the vans to load them up in the winter

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Avatar
Will Doherty
Dec 06, 2017
Liberty Consulting, Inc • IPVMU Certified

Sounds like most things are covered.  I would say a large conference room.  Make it twice the size you think you need.  I would also weigh the benefit of building and maintaining an active demo room.  In my experience we were always robbing the demo equipment for emergency service parts, spending way too much time updating equipment firmware etc verses demonstrating equipment to clients.  We were still bringing the demo to the client more than half the time too.  Lastly an open office operations area with a meeting "pit" in the middle worked well for us.  People could jump into a meeting and provide quick input without having to disturb their whole day.  New employees also learned through osmosis.  They could hear how things are done and pick up on the routines etc. 

 

Good luck and congrats on the growth.  

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Dec 07, 2017

A large conduit to the roof or outside area to mount test cameras temporarily, depending on access.

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JH
John Honovich
Dec 07, 2017
IPVM

Seconded. In general, make sure to make it easy for you to test cameras / add / remove equipment throughout the facilities.

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Avatar
Mike Dotson
Dec 07, 2017
Formerly of Seneca • IPVMU Certified

If you can not get the roof access easily, consider using some trusswork like what you may have seen at a trade show etc.   We have this in our lab.

This can stand on the floor or be suspended from the ceiling.  Run your IP cables inside the truss.   I can post a pic if interested.

A vendor I use (no affiliation other than being a customer) is Versatruss.

Avatar
Sean Nelson
Dec 07, 2017
Nelly's Security

If you do alot of testing on products, I find that a nice discreet testing area in your personal office works. I have a monitor mounted on my wall. And on the wall behind my chair, i have a small POE switch, an NVR and a 12V power supply. Its all tucked away nicely in a shelf i have and noone can really see it as its on the lower shelf and my desk hides it from visitor point of view. I know you have a tech room, we do too, but you will like having some basic testing equipment in your office when you want to do some long term type testing and you want to stay by your desk.

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #3
Dec 07, 2017

If your customers will be visiting your office, consider the "marketing" aspects of the space.  Make the areas that customers can access look like a trade show.  Have active displays on tables/shelves, cameras outside with VMS software with enhanced features enable, active card access demo's or whatever your verticals are.  Many manufacturers will give you posters, banners, etc.  Have all your staff certifications framed and on display.  Think of a visit to a doctor, lawyer, accountant, etc...you see their degrees and certifications displayed to show off their expertise. 

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