Setting up an office can eat up an entrepreneur’s start up funds at a startling pace, and buying used office furniture is a great way to limit the costs. But many business owners, even start ups, are hesitant to buy used office necessities.
The first concern is likely to be quality. We spend a lot of hours at our desks, we rely heavily on our office equipment, and we don’t want to take chances. Fortunately, used office furniture can actually be the key to better quality. Entrepreneurs needing to put funds into computers, printers, copiers, and other high ticket items aren’t likely to go for top of the line desks and shelving.
Your brand new particle board desk or shelves made of fiber core with laminate aren’t going to hold up and look good for years the way solid hardwood furniture will. Typical office furniture available at an office supply store is rarely made well; it’s more likely to be viewed as disposable. You can expect it to look good when you buy it, but to show wear quickly. In a year or two, you’ll be back in the market for a new desk or filing cabinet.
Better quality used office furniture can cost the same as cheap office furniture from the discount store, but with a much better look and feel. You’re also more likely to find ergonomic design in higher end office furniture, meaning greater comfort and higher productivity.
If quality isn’t a concern, what about convenience? A trip to the office supply store can outfit your office. Hunting down good used office furniture may sound like a lot more trouble.
The secret here is to go with a specialized used office furniture company. Used office furniture brokers have the connections to find just the furnishings you need. Some will deliver the furniture, too. The best will also refurbish it and make sure that it meets your needs. This is a far cry from creeping around your friends’ attics in hopes of picking up a neglected credenza.
There’s still the question of prestige. If you’re an entrepreneur hoping to impress some clients, can you do that at a used desk?
Used office furniture doesn’t have to look like cast offs. High end used furniture will naturally look better than new, cheap furniture, but perhaps you’re yearning for new high end furniture instead. Think about it. What makes you look more established and experienced: shiny new furniture all through the building, or high quality used office furniture with the patina of a few years?
Sit back in your used chair and consider all the deals made at the used desk before the former owner passed it along to make way for an upgrade. This is a good place for a CEO to be.