Office Interior Design Blog |

The Installation group here at SPACE inc continues to grow within themselves. Each member is now willing and able to handle daily deliveries as well as lead large installs. They all now have the ability to manage a large crew that can consist of our own crew as well as 2 other preferred crews. Managing 1 crew is a job in it self, but the ability to manage a crew consisting of 3 separate crews, brings on a larger challenge. I am glad to say our Installation team has stepped up to that challenge. We now have a greater ability to handle all of our clients needs and the ability to handle multiple clients simultaneously.

 SPACE Inc and Case Systems, Inc.  have partnered together to create more options and better solutions for both of their clients.  Case Systems manufactures several products from nurses stations and patient rooms to classrooms and clinical labs.   Case Systems, Inc. creates aesthetically pleasing areas using the highest-quality plastic laminate casework, healthcare and laboratory workstations, and educational laminate casework.

SPACE Inc is a preferred Haworth office furniture dealership and Case Systems Inc makes their own brand of Casegoods mostly for K-12 markets.  Case and SPACE inc together make a winning combination for clients who need both systems furniture and built in case goods.  We look forward to growing together as a team in the future.

Today I want to share about the SPACE Furniture Installation team. Once again the team showed it’s Clients First mentality. The email went out to the client with the install date of Wednesday of the following week, the client did not respond until Thursday after noon the week prior to install. He indicated he could not wait until Wednesday, our scheduler made a few calls and our installation team stepped up and agreed to work on Saturday to meet the clients needs. Our installation team does this on a regular basis so it goes unnoticed most of the time. The client was very happy. Kudo’s to our team.

The Project team here at SPACE just completed a perfect project for one of our major clients. The project was a reconfiguration of a occupied space consisting of 170 Haworth Premise work stations. The SPACE team was able to meet the customers needs with only a small amount of new furniture and the ability to reuse the majority of the clients existing furniture. The Project Manager for SPACE did a tremendous job coordinating the project to make sure there was very little down time for the client. The installation crew worked  a split shift on the project. The night crew tore down and rebuilt majorityof each nights phase. The smaller day crew came in made any necessary adjustments and repairs to the work stations. The project was finished on time, on budget, with no damage, no warranty, no missing product and the customer was 100% satisfied. When the customer was asked, what could we have done better? The response was, nothing we are completely happy with the project.

Have you been toying with the idea of reconfiguring your current office due to the downsizing of your company?  This is a question many have been comtemplating as of late.  SPACE Inc can help with a large area filled with empty work stations and make it look like you have a healthy thriving business once again.  Whether you know it or not, your front office area is saying something to your clients.  Let your client know they are dealing with a professional competent corporation by reconfiguring your office to make it look like an efficiently run organization.  SPACE Inc will reconfigure your space to make it as efficient as possible.  We will do the tear down and give you the extra furniture to store at your facility while reconfiguring the existing product to make sense for you, the client. 

What happens if you need to hire new people in the future?  SPACE Inc will come to your facility and set it up, using your existing furniture you have in storage, so that it makes sense for you and everyone in your organization.  The only cost you incur is the cost to do the reconfigure.  Doing the reconfigure is a way to save money until the time comes to purchase new office furniture.  When that time comes, SPACE Inc is a preferred Haworth office furniture dealership with the capabilities to space plan and help with the entire project from carpet, blinds, wall coverings and of course new furniture.

I want to talk about safety again today. One thing that is easy to overlook when it comes to safety at the workplace, at home, on vacation, or where ever you find your self is safety intervention.

When I read this below it seemed so clear to me the need for intervention in all areas of our lives. 

“I’ve always done it this way and have never been hurt”. 

Consider this accident that resulted in two deaths:  A group of 20 snowmobilers had just completed a rescue of 3 stranded riders.  While returning from the rescue a group of 8 raced ahead.  They stopped to wait for the rest of the rescue party.  These were very experienced riders; qualified to perform mountain rescue.  While waiting for the rest of their group, two riders decided to “joy ride” up a steep slope despite numerous warnings regarding the conditions - perfect for avalanche, not perfect for riding up hill on “fresh snow”.  They did it regardless because EVERY time before this one the response was fantastic - the thrill of riding up a steep slope until gravity forced you to turn back had always produced a thrill; a positive experience.  Their drive for that thrill overshadowed reason.  What about the remaining six?  Were they puzzled and wondering “What are those guys thinking?”.  Yet, no one intervened.

 We have employees that are willing to take risks at work because previous experience had been positive: finished early, less effort, good feedback, results achieved.  The next time they are presented with the opportunity to take that risk there is a chance that the “drive for that thrill” will overshadow reason.  Intervene.  As long as we prepare for these changes and discuss some control options we can stay ahead of the hazards.

Please take a minute to think about this.

Furniture is usually the last thing that people think about when they build new or renovate an existing building.  This is exactly why you should get an interior designer involved right from the start.  Why should you get them involved from the start of your project you ask? 

First off, an interior designer will be able to do test fits of furniture in your plans to see if everyone you are expecting to get into your space will fit and be able to function properly. 

Another commonly seen issue we at SPACE Inc run into is that the contractors building your building usually put the electrical outlets in the middle of the wall and the data and electrical by one of the electrical outlets.  When people go to install their furniture they find they have to run extension cords across the floors causing a tripping hazard or they find the furniture is covering the outlets.  Worse yet, conference rooms that see a lot of traffic, that need electrical and data feeds will have cords running across the floor to an outlet causing both a tripping hazard and another obstacle for someone in a chair to and navigate around. 

Problems like these are more common than one might imagine.  Getting an interior designer in at the start of a project will actually save you money, time and frustration in the end.  If you have to bring a contractor in to tear up your carpet and trench out the floors and then bring in an electrician to change electrical location, it will cost you a lot more than using an interior designer to pre-plan your project, and have it done right the first time.  The headaches that will be saved in the end will be well worth the cost of hiring a firm like SPACE Inc. to do some pre-planning for you.