How To Nail The Build Out of Your Next Space

A project as big as your next office space??

It’s easy to f%&# up.?

Not because you aren’t smart and experienced.?

Because: thousands of moving parts.?

And you don’t know what you don’t know. You don’t live and breathe workplace tech like we do at Immedia . Or give hundreds of tours of this immersive workspace gallery showroom like we do at NextSpace .

When we built our 32,000-square-foot building here in Scottdale, we made mistakes, took the long road to solutions and spent money needlessly. We also learned dozens of valuable lessons, and now we get to pass that experience and wisdom on to our clients as they imagine the possible for their next space.

Here’s how you can nail it with your next space:

Nail It Tip #1: Start at the end.

Instead of starting at the beginning, start at the end.??

You will not know all the things you’re going to want, need (and budget for) on the inside of your building until you sit down and map it all out. And you should do that first.?

Constructing a new building has had a traditional process: First, hire an architect, then a builder, then the contractors. You spend your money and sign the papers. Then start digging into how you want it to look – inside and out.

We recommend starting with that visioning first, and beginning that while on a tour of NextSpace is a big help in that visioning. Here you can see examples of all that you are considering.?

When you know what the end looks like before you begin, you’re on track to better assess costs and opportunities to improve or make different decisions along the way. It will also give your team a chance to make better decisions on your behalf, because they understand the complete vision and all the details needed to bring it to life.?

Once you see what’s possible, you’ll be able to set aside the portion of your budget that you need to create that kick-ass conference room with the best audiovisuals and acoustics and the built-in sound masking for your communal workspaces.?

You’ll have the budget for an office bar or putting range. You’ll understand the moving parts that can trip you up and what your non-negotiables are for the interior experience of your space.?

Expectations are higher now and leaders need to do more to impress their teams and clients: workspaces with positive cultures that make meetings enjoyable and fruitful, providing seamless technology, and easy collaboration.?

Nail It Tip #2: Prioritize the interior.

There’s been a standard practice of deprioritizing interiors, by moving them to later in the process.

We recommend reversing that as well. Make sure your interiors are discussed, mapped out, visited and revisited, again and again.?

Begin that early in the process. Let the interior needs and desires be part of the construction conversation so you can literally build in what you need to bring them fully to life.?

If you don’t prioritize interiors, two things happen.?

One: by the time you’re finally thinking about desks and windows and conference room AV, you’re locked into your construction contract and spent the lion’s share of your budget on the walls, floor and ceiling.?

Two: if you screw up the inside, you lose the chance for a “wow” reaction when people work within your walls or visit your space.?

Instead, people have a “meh” of “nah” reaction.?

The interior is where you’re going to be, where your people are going to be, every damn day.?

And you recognize it’s imperative to provide a space they want to be in, otherwise you’re not going to attract and retain the level of talent you need and want.

Which brings me to Tip #3.

Nail It Tip #3: Focus on Experience

Nobody is going to care what the outside of your building looks like, but they will care how the inside looks, sounds, feels and works.?

Is it full of one-touch ease and the tools and access to leadership they need??

Did it waste their time to be there?

Did it bring them joy?

Did they feel comfortable, inspired?

Such an incredible amount of money is wasted on office details that do not work: whether that’s shades that won’t go up or down, or audiovisual that won’t connect to a laptop or bring in a virtual meeting software.?

It’s an insane amount of money and time!

When things go right, and are enjoyable and impressive, people talk about that for a long time. They remember how good it felt to be in your space and can’t wait to come back.?

They want to work in that environment again.

Tip #4 Get Creative With the Space You Actually Need and Focus on Making It Wow

Twenty percent of our clients use creative financing to build out their interior spaces.?

One client rents over 50,000 square feet of downtown office space. Yet, on any given day, their hybrid work schedule requires about half that space.?

They wanted to upgrade the amenity space so the team would enjoy being at work more, so they say, “Wow,” when they walk back in after the renovation.?

Instead of planning for all the square footage of his current space, we suggested scaling back the size of his space, taking some of the money saved, and outfitting it the way they wanted, then signing a lease on all the furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) for five years, which would then be factored into his monthly payment.?

The client wasn’t even aware leasing all his furniture, lamps and lighting, shelving, artwork and appliances was an option.

Once he did, he cut his rent in half, took 20% of what he saved and made his space amazing. All of a sudden, he's not worrying about how to come up with a quarter to half of a million dollars to redesign his space. Instead, he’s spending $7,000 a month on FF&E, and he’s still got the majority of the money he saved by cutting his rental space in half.

The point: sometimes you need what you need. And sometimes you can do more with less. We love uncovering those opportunities during a tour and discussion about your project.

If you know me, you know how transparent and honest I am.?

To be blunt: I get that you don’t know what you don’t know when you start your next project. And my team and I have some powerful insights to share. And we’re willing and eager to do just that.?

We live and breathe workplace tech, and give hundreds of tours of our immersive workspace gallery showroom. We’ve learned some things.?

We know you need your next space to be incredible, with the best tech, the best acoustics, the best AV, the best FF&E.?

We don’t want you to miss this huge opportunity to nail it.?

You need it to be somewhere your employees want to be and where they can be at their best.?

Let us help you build the future, do the unexpected and nail your next space.?

Come visit us and get it right the first time. Go here to book a tour.

#NextSpace #WorkspaceGallery #inspirethepossible #immersiveworkspaces

Jeff Emmons founded Immedia in 2004, and it is now the top workplace technology company in the southwestern US and one of the top employers in Arizona. Jeff has personally met more than 6,000 people in the community and the industry over the last 20 years, and because of these relationships, in 2023, Jeff brought together a dozen partners and over 100 manufacturers to open NextSpace, a 14,000-square-foot immersive workspace gallery featuring product categories and solutions that help end users imagine the possibilities as they design their workplaces of the future. He is also a husband and dad, loves trail running and hiking, is involved in Greater Phoenix Leadership and served as president and part of the advisory board for the Notre Dame Preparatory High School Dad's Club.