Workspace Design: Leasing vs Buying Furniture

This year we’ve seen how workspace design has drastically changed. From corporate offices adopting coworking elements and coworking spaces implementing more private areas, to incorporating technology and sustainable elements to it, the workspace of today is a welcome evolution from the old, traditional, and bleak offices of several years ago.

Furniture is one of the components of design that has had a major effect on the look and feel of a workspace. Gone are the days of intimidating reception desks and stiff chairs; workspace furniture has taken a turn towards the comfortable, the aesthetic, and worker wellness.

This change has meant that many workspace operators (as well as companies) have had to go on a furniture shopping spree. And as many of you probably already know…this isn’t a cheap endeavor. According to Spectrum Workplace, “for the vast majority of companies (including workspace operators) a workspace move or refurbishment represents one of the largest items of capital expenditure.”

Just to give you an idea, here is some of the basic furniture that any type of workspace needs (no wonder the capital costs are so high):

• Desking, chairs, boardroom and meeting room furniture
• Partitioning, doors, windows,
• Reception and breakout areas furniture
• Lighting, locks, keys
• Kitchen  and bathroom furniture
• Storage units

Additionally, there are other costs like painting, art, flooring, and overall decorations. Afterall, you can’t have your furniture clashing with the rest of the space.

Leasing Workspace Furniture

Thankfully, there is one way workspace operators can fund their workspace refurbishment or transformation: furniture leasing.

Besides the obvious of saving a significant amount of capital, furniture leasing has many other benefits, among which Spectrum includes:

• Budgeting is easier, as lease repayments are fixed for the duration of the agreement
• You can tailor the agreement to the length of your lease
• All lease repayments are allowable against corporation tax* (In the UK)
• Because you don’t have to use existing cash reserves for the lease, all your existing lines of credit remain intact.
• Since the investment isn’t as high as it would be if you bought the furniture, you can switch up your workspace furniture more often to keep up with current design trends.

Just like the workspace industry itself, furniture leasing appeals to operators based on its great range of choice, its ability to fit in with even the most quirky of spaces and of course, its flexibility.

Do you prefer to lease or buy? What are the pros and cons of each? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Share your thoughts and send your photos to us via Twitter or Facebook.