You’re a medium or a big company looking forward to introducing yourself in the French market, so you have decided to take the step and establishing an office in the country. If that’s your case, and depending on your budget, you’ve probably considered renting or even buying your premises, but do you really need to do it?
Having your own physical office in the place where you plan on establishing your business is the traditional choice for the creation of a company that requires a physical space. It provides you with a professional image and, theoretically, there are no limitations so as to receiving your clients in your premises, storing your merchandise (although, depending on the nature of such, you may need special permissions), or hosting the amount of employees that you need (within the space constrains). In case the premises belong exclusively to your business, the independence is complete and you can shape your working environment according to your personal preferences since it won’t be shared with other companies.
Nevertheless, you should make an honest analysis to determinate if this option is really the best for you:
Have you considered the subsequent expenses that renting or buying your premises could be? The rent prices can be very high and buying the place would be a very strong investment for a starting company. In addition to that, you need to consider that you’ll also have to purchase all the office material and furniture.
So how about moving to a less centric, more affordable place? Well then you may end up in a street where not many people pass by or in a disreputable district, thus damaging your brand image.
Anyway, do you really need the physical office for your business? It’s increasingly common, especially for the digital sector professionals, to have almost everything happening online, in which case you can clearly work remotely, saving up all the costs and time.
Have you also considered that your company may grow? In that case, you will have to move to another office to carry out your professional activity. If that’s the case, you need to beware your lease contract as the minimum rental periods are 9 years, with the possibility to terminate it on a triennial basis, and it’s necessary to inform about the termination of the agreement at least 6 months before the next three-years period begins. Disregarding the deadlines may have as consequence having to pay the rent for a whole new period. On the other hand, this wouldn’t be a problem if you had your enterprise domiciled in a business centre, where you don’t have any long-term permanence engagement.
CONCLUSION
Investing in a physical office can be an avoided expense if you don’t have a real need to work in the premises of your company and, contrary to improving your reputation, it may have an opposite effect if a poor decision regarding the emplacement is made. In the end, it’s always possible to have your own premises later on after your company has already been operating for a while.