Will you believe it is not as simple as picking the phone and placing cash to hire an office Portable Solutions Group? It is like purchasing a second hand car, you will never know whether somebody has secrets behind the new paint work. The majority of them take a plunge at once on the belief that it is a quick solution to their work place predicament but boy, there are flakes.
First off, let’s talk space. The brochures adore love to play around with generous and airy. Don’t fall for it. Use a yardstick to check your needs. A container that measures 20 feet can be said to be spacious but place some desks, water cooler and within no time, you find yourself bumping into Dave each time you require a cup of coffee. Forget privacy, too. Slim metal walls mean that Clara is talking on the phone and one can hear that you are calling a sub-marine.
Ventilation–there is a hole there. Most of the containers have narrow small vents. On hot days go in after lunch also you will have your own sauna. Think of more fans or even an air conditioner that is portable or you would be in afternoon meetings in your bathing suits.
Let’s chat about delivery. The truck comes and the motorist demands flat ground. Your Web site being pimply as the first shave of a teenager, you can look forward to leaning your new office on its heels. Shaky chairs are amusing until one drops his coffee twice in a week on a laptop computer.
Then there’s customization. You may paint it, wire it, install a window or two, anything, but you will not read until you pay the bill how much the eye-watering prices will be. Other companies will make you pay more on minor stuffs like insurance, washing, some even charge you on the extra mud in the containeres in case your box was dirtier than it was earlier. It’s a wild west of surcharges.
Renting one for a “short time”? Be wary. Other contracts are a riddle. Mandatory minimum rent, policy of artistic breakdown and mystery of service bills gain in the fine print and your budgetary plan needs a bail-out operation.
One thing concerning security: most of the containers base a lot on the quality of locks and a crowbar and ten obstinate minutes have that to count. Extra locks, cameras or even motion sensors might be worth it given that there is something to be locked.
These metal boxes are the favourite of the mice and insects, just like Paris is the favourite of the tourists. Little fissures host unwanted guests. Question of guarding against pests, and you will be with your Monday meeting of a colony of fierce ants.
All the same, office containers can become a savior but one should enter with his eyes open. Ask ugly questions. See with your own eyes then rent. And do not ever think that plug and play is an easy thing, more often than not it is you alone. Cogitate, quibble, and fault not me should Frank in the accounting department fall in possession of the one place by the window.