What Should You Look For When Viewing an Office?
A viewing is a short window to assess a space that will shape your business for years, so it’s worth going in with a checklist rather than relying purely on first impressions.
Beyond the finish and the view
Existing finishes and views are the easiest thing to notice and the easiest thing to change in a fit out. Look past them to structural elements that are expensive or impossible to alter — ceiling heights, column positions, and window layout.
Checking the building's services
Ask about lift capacity at peak times, heating and cooling performance, and building-wide connectivity infrastructure. These affect daily working life far more than most people expect and are genuinely difficult to fix if the building itself is limited.
Understanding what condition it's delivered in
Confirm exactly what’s Cat A, Cat A+ or shell and core, since this changes your fit out scope and budget significantly. Don’t assume from how the space looks on the day, ask directly.
Bringing the right questions to the viewing
Bringing someone with fit out experience to a viewing, even informally, tends to surface practical issues (M&E condition, partition restrictions, loading limits) that aren’t obvious to someone viewing space for the first time.
