From your business's point of view, what issues need to be considered?  In short, you need to assess how finances, timing, and convenience of a move will affect your business.

Finance 
There are so many financial issues to consider when making the move to commercial property. Many will be specific to your type of business, while others are not industry-specific:

• Should you purchase, or lease? Your financial situation will probably give you a simple answer, since you may not be in the position to take on the debt of a large commercial loan. The costs for the size of the space you'd need may also dictates whether or not a purchase is feasible.
• Budgeting the appropriate amount for rent each month is critical; however there are many other expenses that come with the rent, depending on the lease negotiations. Those items can be: property taxes, insurance, common area maintenance and repairs. As you can imagine, you need an accurate estimate of these expenses to determine the effect on your monthly budget.
• Accounting is a crucial area, and will need to be consulted in creating a budget as well as reviewing tax issues associated with a lease or purchase.
• Moving your office from your basement or other office is time consuming, expensive and an interruption of work. Organization is critical to a successful move. This means having a detailed plan and sticking to it. You need to consider packing, wiring of phones, wiring of high speed internet access, wiring a network, office layout and much more. All these items cost money and need to be included in the budget.
• Stationery expenses have not been eliminated in this age of the internet. You still need letterhead, envelopes, and business cards for each employee, memo paper, copy paper, and printer paper. This is another expense that needs to be in the budget. (Don't forget that you'll need to update your address on your website as well.)

Timing 
The timing of your move must be well orchestrated so that there is the least disruption of work. Phones will need to be operating the day of the move and the network needs to be up and running. All this takes planning.

• Your office move needs to coincide with your current lease expiration as well as the availability of the new space. In a perfect world, you would be looking at space six months prior to moving so you could coordinate an effective move.
• Staffing projections need to be considered. You don't want to have too much space and you don't want to outgrow the space in six months. Have a clear idea of what your growth expectations are before signing a lease. 

Convenience 
The property you select should be user friendly to both your staff and clients. That means that it is geographically desirable.

• The driving distance for the principals of the company should be discussed and agreed upon.
• Ease of locating the company is essential to clients. You want to be in a location that is easy to get to and parking is plentiful. Don't make it a burden to get to you.

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