Office buildings are rapidly being developed in the East African region. The growth of office spaces demand can be attributed to various factors that encourage economic growth. Investors and property developers have been at the forefront in establishing new developments provided by economic opportunities.
To put up an office building that will give you good returns on your investment, go through these 7 factors that you should prudently consider.
1. Investment Interest
For an office building to come up, individuals or organizations have thought of it as an investment as opposed to cooperate headquarters. The will must be there for this development to take place. The investor(s) thus embarks on an intensive research to determine whether it is a worthwhile venture. You should therefore do your homework to establish the target customers, analyze competition, and determine the potential of your business growth. At this stage, a feasibility study is done.
2. Location/ Site.
This is the second most important factor in the building venture. Choosing the best location to set up your building determines the businesses and tenants you attract. The choice of a location should be influenced by infrastructure and services available, the neighbourhood, security, accessibility and target market.
3. Planning/Strategizing
You should embark on intensive planning and strategizing for the way forward. Planning helps you to determine the best execution method to achieve the desired product. At this stage, you layout the financial goals, investigate legal and planning requirements, establish the projects requirements (brief), project timelines and establish an execution plan.
4. Architect
After the execution plan is set, you should select an architect to help you in designing the building. An architect is a professional who will design the building from your brief. The choice of an architect should be influenced by his/her portfolio, experience in similar projects and skills. The architect will prepare design concepts to meet the brief, prepares drawings for the contractor to build from, manage the construction and ensure that the intended design is delivered.
5. Other consultants
The architect does not work alone. After developing the concept and a viable designed is settled on, other consultants are hired to play their part in making the building sound and habitable. These consultants include civil and structural engineers, quantity surveyors(building cost consultants), services engineers, interior designers, landscape architects, project managers etc. The number of consultants is determined by the complexity of the proposed building.
6. Contractor and sub-contractors
Your choice on a contractor and sub-contractors determines the precision at which your building is delivered. The contractor and sub-contractors are responsible for executing the designs from the architect and other consultants on site. Their experience in similar projects, workmanship, integrity and working relations determine the resultant building.
7. Marketing agency.
You may decide to manage the building yourself or hire a property agency. The property agencies are responsible for marketing and letting out the office spaces. Their knowledge in the industry and their market share can highly influence the returns on the office development. However, this comes at a cost, normally a percentage of the rental income or sales amount.
The described factors will determine the success of your office building. To learn more about office building visit our website: http://www.triad.co.ke