We started our office improvements over the 2018 holidays & office operations did not shut down. Our office of approximately 25 employees needed to manage in the dust, debris, noise & distractions that occur during demolition & construction. Most of us were stationed in the kitchen, or huddled up at the receptionist’s desk for many weeks. In case your office is planning a renovation soon, here our our tips to surviving what’s to come:
- Have a good reason for renovating so that all employees are on the same page. The Access office was originally painted white, which by now had been heavily marked up by work boots, mud, moving furniture, chairs marks, etc. It was becoming a place where we hesitated bringing new & existing customers to because it wasn’t in great condition. As a demolition contractor, we have the opportunity to score “free” office furniture that comes off of job sites. In turn, we all had mismatching desk chairs, different colored wood desks & other odds & ends that didn’t match up. Our office staff were thrilled for the opportunity to start fresh & have uniform furniture.
- Does the existing space accommodate the current & future goals of the company? Our co-owners, Ron & Terry, were eager to roll out our new divisions: Access Mold & Fire Restoration, Access Roll Off & Recycling. It was clear that we had grown out of our current digs. We were able to expand our office into its connecting warehouse to add an additional 1,000 SF to accommodate our future 2019 goals of operational restoration & disposal departments.
- Remain Positive & Have Fun. What better way to survive your office under construction than to look forward to it. The ladies of the office were excited to pick out furniture & decor. We teamed up with a local interior office space designer, explained our goals & they gave us a few catalogs with their suggestions. We decided on clean, white, modern desks, supportive executive chairs, & a 26′ conference table. Don’t get it wrong, the whole duration of the construction was less than pleasant: our phone service was going in & out, dust was in the air, not all of us were able to have our multiple screens to work efficiently & it was the holidays! But, we managed to get through it together.
We also learned a few things along the way:
- The process of cleaning out your current desk can get emotional & tedious
- Open work spaces can be the quietest spots in the office
- It’s not just the carpet that’s dirty
- If you’re choosing new carpet, choose carpet tiles & go with a fun, more abstract design
- If you remodel an existing restroom into an office, make sure you redirect the exhaust fan from the other restrooms!
Our team is incredibly thankful to our loyal, long lasting & new customers. Without many of you, it would be impossible to renovate or have the reason to. We are looking forward to many more years of success & to unveiling additional services to our customers.
Proudly serving Maryland, D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware & Pennsylvania, we specialize in interior & exterior commercial demolition (including tear downs), structural shoring, concrete cutting, mold remediation, water & fire damage restoration, asbestos & lead abatement.