Office Space Calculator: How Much Office Space Do I Need?

Are you a small business owner?

Are you leasing office space for the first time?

Have you been working from home and want to return to the office?

You may also be a well-established business looking to relocate into a new space as your business grows, or as your workforce adapts to hybrid arrangements.

Whatever your situation, every business owner needs to make sure they have the right amount of space to get work done.

Whether your team is shifting from work-from-home back to in-office, or you simply need a new office to accommodate your scaling business, it’s vital that you accurately forecast and calculate office space needs.

How Much Office Space do I Need Per Employee? Office Density Calculation

A first point of consideration is how your employees will operate in the space. When considering how much office space you really need, you want to meet comfort standards for office density.

The term “office density” simply refers to how many square feet of space you allocate per employee. There is a growing trend toward a dedensified workspace, partly in response to the way office space per employee shrunk through the early 2000s. By 2009, the average square feet per person in an office was 250. By 2019, it was 100. Today, post a socially distanced pandemic, dedensification is the common trend reversing the 100 square feet per employee back up to 150-200 square feet per employee. It’s especially important each employee has a little more room to work.

Consider the number of employees working in the space, then make a density calculation. There are also many other important metrics to consider when it comes to getting work done and having access to the amenities you want to provide.

What are Must-Have Office Spaces?

Modern office buildings have evolved considerably. Long gone are the days of sterile cubicles and tightly packed conference rooms. It’s worth investigating all of the additional features of an office building, and learning which configurations or components can best serve your employees’ productivity and happiness.

Consider these factors:

• What types of meetings and huddle-ups do you have on a regular to daily basis, and what setting is ideal?
• What tasks are regularly performed in a given workday, and how much traffic flow or multipurpose space would be helpful to accommodate that?
• What are your employees’ regular habits in an average workday, including lifestyle and professional elements?
• What would make employees more excited or happy to come into work?

If you are leasing an office for the first time, or leasing a new office, you may as well consider the full work day and how to choose the best office space with all of the advantages.

You will want to answer the questions above to determine whether you want or need certain types of break rooms, kitchen areas, storage, meeting rooms, outdoor spaces, and more.

At Silver Star Properties, we favor Class B buildings that offer Class A amenities. Learn more about Class B buildings here.

Office Size Guidelines

Here are some specific guidelines to help you spec out office space needs:

Per Person Office Space — Depending on your team and budget, you may opt for a high density configuration (80-150 SF per employee), an average density configuration (150-250 SF per employee), or a spacious density configuration (250-500 SF per employee).

Based on the number you choose, you can multiply it by the number of employees and get a rough estimate of the office square footage you need.

In addition to desk space, there are other areas of an office that contribute to total square footage, and which you may want to think about. These include:

Conference rooms — Traditionally, you may want to consider between 15-30 SF per person for conference rooms.

Reception area — This may be 50-75 SF per person working in the reception desk area.

Filing and storage — Depending on the type of business you run, you may have unique needs for a file room or storage room.

Kitchen — A galley kitchen may be just 200 SF (or less), or you may have a full kitchen that is a few hundred square feet or more.

Other areas that should be part of your office that add to the space are bathrooms, private booths, hybrid/flexible workspaces, mail room, additional break rooms, and work group areas.

Planning for Future Growth and Expansion

It may occur to you that the office space you need today is different from what you’ll need in the future. As you decide on the right office space to lease, you’ll want to plan ahead. Make sure your office space matches your business growth goals. For example, if you currently have 12 employees but hope to scale to 25 in three years, don’t sign a three year office lease for a space that only accommodates 12 employees that you’ll quickly outgrow.

Office space with extra room for expansion is ideal. And when you’re ready to expand, having a moving coordinator (like we provide at Silver Star Properties) can be the perfect solution to ensuring a seamless, future-minded decision.

Ready to explore more?

Here are some additional resources that help you calculate office space needs:

Office Pre-Leasing Checklist

Negotiating a Commercial Lease – How Long Does It Take?

Renting Office Space for Small Business: a Complete Step-by-Step Guide