“A good piece of wood is better than a good coat of paint.” The dictum reminds enterprises which want to set up a new office during the period of economic turbulence that they have to find solutions for difficult math. They have to consider whether to use a "good piece of wood” or to use “a good coat of paint." The option is not as simple as to pick up one of the two alternatives already on the table. The problem is in the calculation of the necessity and economic efficiency of the investment. The enterprise has to consider carefully what kinds of materials are economically suitable for different functional departments in the office.

WOOD OR PAINT

There is a common formula to solve the math: The enterprise only supplies the office with furniture which can be re-used when the office needs to be upgraded or removed. In general, professional designers are required to find the best solutions to set up a good looking office by using low cost carpets and blinds and designing wooden cupboards and decorations which can be attached to the walls and easily disassembled and removed, while keeping intact the technical system on the ceiling of the building. Let's begin with the reception counter. It is considered as the face of the enterprise and should not be blemished by the recession. With their skills, the designers will make a luxurious reception counter with granite and glass, and better still, it can be easily disassembled and removed. Therefore, to save money, the best solution is to use granite and glass of small size instead of big size, which are very expensive. And partitions with the name and logo of the enterprise on it, if it is well illuminated, it will be luxurious and striking; the enterprise doesn't have to spend much money for expensive materials.

The meeting room is also very important. It is used for internal weekly and monthly business briefings, meeting with partners and reception of customers. The amplitude of investment to this area is fluctuating, sometimes is too high and sometimes is too low, but in general, it must be economical. The enterprise is required to provide the critical mass of data of the frequencies of weekly and monthly meetings, the participants at each meeting and small meeting rooms. If the enterprise needs more small meeting rooms, the partitions should be easily disassembled and removed; expensive removable and soundproofed partitions are not necessary. The interior decoration of the meeting room should be simple, but create high effect in usage. Light should be focused on the tables and rather dim at the corners. The master table in the meeting room should be an assembly of many small-sized tables so that it can be flexibly used in different cases. Fixed and heavy wooden tables should not be used. With this solution the enterprise can save considerably.

SOLUTION TO THE DIFFICULT MATH

The area for the CEO and other senior managers is the most difficult to decide between using 'wood” or “paint.” At present, top interior decoration companies have marketed high class

NFC furniture with modern style, trendy colors and well-designed, very luxurious look, which can replace expensive wooden furniture used for CEO and manager offices. If they are welldesigned and sophisticatedly combined with glass, the area will be very airy, smart and friendly. It should be considered that fire-resistance, ventilation and air conditioning systems for separated offices take a lot of money. Many big companies and corporations require exclusive design and equipment only for the CEO office. From the technical point of view, the area for IT and server should be separated. To save cost, it's advised not to raise the floor. Instead, IT can use a hanging trunk so that the enterprise can save the cost of raising the floor and data lines. Cabinets for UPS and Battery should be separately equipped to save the capacity of the air conditioning system for this area. To apply the above-advised solution for a good piece of wood” or “good coat of paint," the enterprise can have a well-equipped, multifunctional office at a cost varying from US$120 -150 per square meter and it can anticipate a change for a new look of the office when the recession ends.

Mr Le Ba Thong - General Director of TTT Corporation - Translated by Hong Trang

Source: Entrepreneur style - June 2009

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