It is interesting to note the information gleaned from this graphic provided by the National Association of Home Builders. It highlights the increase in the average square footage of a single family home from 1950 to 2000. Yet the average number of people per household has decreased during the same time period.
Contrast this trend with what we see happening across North America with the average square footage of a residential real estate operation. It is completely opposite.
Since the mid 1990's the industry has seen real estate offices requiring less and less square footage. In the 60's and 70's we saw the advent of large offices requiring as much as 100 square feet per associate. A 100 agent office was no smaller than 10,000 square feet. Open bull-pens, large boardrooms, ample reception areas and gracious executive suites for owners and managers. Not to mention the office space required for the relocation, insurance, property management and closing departments. Remember those days, when we actually could close a deal in-house! I've toured my share of these type of operations, of which the largest was well over 30,000 square feet. Then of course the 1980's and early 90's brought us the ego-required private office or executive wing. An outer perimeter of 10' x 10' offices reserved for those producing $2 Million dollars or above in dollar volume. This has helped to create even greater space requirements. Most real estate offices had morphed into resembling law offices and financial service companies.
What's happening now? Enter the X and Y generation where sense of place, community and casual sophistication rule the design of the today. Taking cues from other innovating companies such as Old National Bank and their living room style lobbies, or Chase Bank and their open kiosk style service counters; the real estate office of today is resembling a gathering place. Have you been to Starbucks lately? In some states, Starbucks has teamed with financial service companies such as Charter Bank to create an open and inviting environment with a bistro on one side, education seminars on the other and a communal living area in the middle.
I had the chance to see an up and coming real estate organization in Midtown Houston that fit this new mold. Of course the owner was a generation X'er. The lobby was open, light and airy. Ceramic tiling, bistro tables, flat panel screens, and a coffee bar were the replacement for the stuffy reception area found in most real estate companies. On the flat screen were company listings, agent testimonials, client testimonials, ancillary service offerings, market reports, branding commercials and neighborhood profiles. A potential client is greeted by the company's concierge, offered a beverage at the bistro bar and invited to sit or stand at a nearby table until their agent is able to see them. This front lobby has replaced the back kitchen's water cooler as the gathering place of choice.
This company has over 100 affiliated associates, however there are no agent private offices, no dedicated cubicles or mini-suites. Agents have access to "hotel space" or "virtual space" that will accommodate their needs while in the office. A couple of the firm's executives have private offices, there are a couple of conference rooms and the affiliated title/mortgage operations have offices. This 100 agent firm occupies less than 4,000 square feet. Quite a change from only a few years ago.
If considering a new office, or the renovation of an existing floor plan, take into consideration current trends affecting office design and square footage. The trend of companies moving away from private offices and towards remote space is no longer speculation or a prediction, it is here and it most likely won't change.
1 comments:
Excellent article and it certainly rings true with what I am seeing in the marketplace although not entirely as much as I would like in my own office. Despite being the owner of my company, my Gen X tendencies are much stronger and I can work from anywhere at anytime and consider this a huge strength to my personal business and productivity. However, we have a number of Baby Boomers in our office whose life and work experience dictate to them a private desk and office space to insure productivity. Even many of the Gen X & Y agents who make up the majority of the office seem to expect a desk as a sense of entitlement or equate a desk with their position on the "totem pole". Finally, I think even as owners/managers sometimes we want to provide our agents with as much space as we can afford to have and keep them in the office where we can work and network with them as a retention tool vs. the new model of agents not using the office as much. As Jonathan states, office design is the key and if you can start out with a new office with the right design you're probably in better shape than trying to take space away from agents that have historically had it and are used to it.
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