Office Rental Space in Kansas City

9 Ways to Save on Energy Expenses in Your Office Rental Space in Kansas City: Getting Employees Involved

Saving energy around the office is a great way to save money for your business and demonstrate to customers and clients your sense of environmental responsibility. Once you have decided to go green at work, be sure to incorporate the whole office in the effort:

Tip #8: Start a Committee

Jump-start your energy-saving campaign with a meeting of a committee to discuss priorities, strategies, and reasonable goals. Incorporating employees into the green process will prevent policies from coming off as sudden, arbitrary, or pointless. Get people invested by putting together an interested committee to keep the office accountable for their goals, and listen to input from employees who have ideas about going green. You might also consider getting a professional energy audit for some concrete ideas on where to start saving energy.

Tip #9: Make it a Habit

Once you have implemented your green office plan, make sure it becomes a habit. The best way to hold people accountable is by showing results. Keep track of energy costs and meter readings and let the office know about setbacks and advances. Consider celebrations for reaching landmarks, as well as recognizing and rewarding excellent energy saving ideas. Don’t forget to let your customers or clients know about your efforts to go green…you might find yourself surprised by their support!

Get started on saving money and energy at your office!

If your business is looking for commercial space for lease in Overland Park, give us a call at 913-685-4100 to set up a tour of one of our office suites for rent in Overland Park!

9 Ways to Save On Energy Expenses in Your Office Rental Space in Kansas City: Screen Savers

Office spaces can be a major source of energy consumption, which hurts both the environment and your company’s budget. Learn how to go green and cut energy expenses by making some simple changes in your office:

Tip #7: Eliminate Screen Savers

Screen savers might be nice to look at, but did you know that they use full power from your computer monitor and the same amount of energy your computer uses when you are working on a spreadsheet? In addition, a study done in 2009 found that almost half of American employees who use computers at the office do not even shut them down before going home at the end of the day. This terrible habit costs American businesses almost $2.8 billion in unnecessary energy expenses annually.
To reduce this inefficiency, turn off your computer monitor or put the computer in “sleep” mode before heading out for a coffee or lunch break. Doing either one of these things can significantly reduce the amount of energy consumed by computers. The U.S. Department of Energy recommends putting your computer to sleep or turning off the monitor for breaks longer than 20 minutes, and shutting down the computer if you are going to be gone for 2 hours or more.

Asking each employee to do small, simple things such as eliminating screen savers and hibernating their computers can be a significant step in reducing your company’s electric bill.

Looking for office rental space in Overland Park? Give us a call at 913-685-4100 to find out about our available office space in Overland Park, KS!

9 Ways to Save On Energy Expenses in Your Office Rental Space in Kansas City: Paper

According to the Energy Information Administration, if commercial and industrial spaces cut their energy usage by just 10%, they could save the economy a yearly average of nearly $20 billion! Check out some information on saving energy by going paperless in your office:

Tip #5: Go Paperless

The Clean Air Council found that each American uses an average of 650 pounds of paper per year, and America on the whole disposes of enough paper annually to build a 12-foot wall from New York City to Los Angeles! Help reduce that amount of paper and energy by asking yourself before you print a document or an email: Do I truly need this hard copy? How long will I actually keep it? Could I find an accessible place to save it on my computer?
Keep any reference guides or employee manuals on a common server or some sort of public hub instead of handing out hard copies. This can potentially save you a lot of paper, and also ensures that employees will always have access to the most updated versions of these documents.
It is impossible to go completely paperless, so make sure that there are accessible recycle bins for employees to dispose of any paper waste. Consider buying paper with a high percentage of recycled content and refilling ink cartridges instead of pitching them. Set up printers to print double-sided if possible.

Save some money on paper and help reduce paper waste in general by implementing a few paperless strategies!

If you are looking for commercial real estate in Kansas City for your business, give us a call at 913-685-4100 to find out about our available office space in Kansas City!

9 Ways to Save On Energy Expenses in Your Office Rental Space in Kansas City: Stay Home

Did you know that about 17% of greenhouse gas emissions can be traced back to commercial buildings? Consider implementing some easy green business practices to save the environment and some money for your business:

Tip #4: Work from Home

Though 40-hour work weeks seem to be standard, a more flexible schedule might actually serve your office staff and business purposes better—plus help reduce utility bills. Think about trying out a four-day work week. If this is not feasible for your business, try flexing schedules that allow people to take on more hours four days a week for at least part of Monday or Fridays off, or close down the office after lunch on Friday.
Telecommuting might also be an option for appropriate workers. Educate employees on your company networks and experiment with allowing them to determine their own schedules. Video chats or teleconferences can also be a way of reducing business travel (and business travel costs).
Though this might seem like too much flexibility at first glance, studies have shown that offices have increased productivity under these circumstances. Flexible schedules often mean that workers have fewer experiences in which they have to take care of personal business on the job or take leave.

Allowing employees to do some work at home may seem like a major change for your business, but giving it a try has the potential to both increase productivity and reduce utility costs.

Is your business trying to find a new commercial space for lease in Kansas City? Give a DDI Commercial real estate broker in Kansas City a call at 913-685-4100 for some information on our available spaces!

9 Ways to Save On Energy Expenses in Your Office Rental Space in Kansas City: Vents

Did you know that the Environmental Protection Agency found that about 30% of the energy used by office buildings is used inefficiently? Think of the money your business could save by reducing that number! Here is some information on how to make sure your vents aren’t costing you unnecessary energy:

Tip #3: Check on Your Vents

•   Sometimes energy loss is a result of inefficient heating or cooling systems. Investigate this in your building with easy questions: how is the circulation? Are air ducts clean? Do any clogged filters need to be replaced? Regularly check the striping around office doors and windows for leaks and gaps—fixing leaks can cut up to 10% from your energy bill!
•   If you want to make bigger improvements, look to your HVAC system. Sometimes water in the condenser tubes can leave a slimy buildup, reducing the air conditioner’s efficiency. Occasionally treating this with chemical or ozone cleaning can keep your air conditioner running at top efficiency. Or, instead of paying for continued maintenance, think of replacing outdated units with more energy efficient ones, which could reduce cooling costs by up to 50%.
•   If possible, paint an office building roof a lighter color or plant a rooftop garden to deflect the sun’s heat on warm days and increase your energy savings.

Look into your heating and cooling systems to make sure you are using them as efficiently as possible!

If you want to tour some office suites for rent in Overland Park, give us a call at 913-685-4100 to set up a tour of an office building in Overland Park!

9 Ways to Save On Energy Expenses in Your Office Rental Space in Kansas City: Carpool

Saving energy could also mean personal savings for your employees when it comes to transportation. Helping them out with this could both make your business greener and increase employee satisfaction. Here is some information on carpooling as a way to go green at the office:

Tip #2: Carpool

Transportation is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases, and high gas prices can make the commute personally expensive to employees. Some employees might appreciate employers’ effort to make commuting or carpooling easy and a way to save money in the long run.
Try to come up with fun incentives to encourage people to use public transportation or carpool. Employees who use public transportation, walk, or bike could get financial help with transit passes, coupons to local businesses, small prizes, or even bonus vacation days. You could create designated prime parking spots for carpools to encourage people to share rides, or subsidize the cost of parking passes if you do not have dedicated parking.
Keep your employees informed of carpool and public transportation options by keeping a folder in a break room or on your intranet with lists of bike trails, carpool groups, and public transportation schedules. Consider starting a RideShare Program (http://www.marc.org/rideshare/) to make finding carpooling options easy for employees.

Not only will carpooling or public transportation use help your business’s green efforts, it could also increase your employees’ job satisfaction by saving them some money.

If your business is considering an office space lease in Overland Park, give us a call at 913- 685-4100 to find out about our affordable office space in Overland Park!

9 Ways to Save On Energy Expenses in Your Office Rental Space in Kansas City: Lighting

Saving energy is about more than just joining the green revolution; it can also be a big money saver for your company, and is just a responsible business practice. Check out this series of tips on how to reduce energy—and some expenses—in your workplace:

Tip #1: Flip Those Switches.

Lighting makes up the highest portion of a company’s electric bill, and another 4-5% of that bill goes towards counteracting the heat that light bulbs generate, so lighting is a good place to start reducing your energy inefficiencies.
Turn off lights at the end of the work day and the start of the weekend. If this is a difficult task to remember daily, then consider motion-detecting lights. These also help keep seldom used areas from eating up energy, and can be a good asset for a building’s exterior as well, keeping people safe, but not using more energy than necessary.
The best and cheapest form of light is, of course, the sun! So open blinds and doors and consider installing a skylight or two to take advantage of natural light. Be sure to do this only during times of the day and year when heat buildup from sunlight won’t cause cooling problems.

Making a few of these simple lighting adjustments can save your company money in the long run—and give you the satisfaction of being a green business.

Give Kathy Woodward at DDI Commercial a call at 913-685-4100 to find out more about our commercial realty in Kansas City!

10 Things You Must Know Before Signing a Small Office Lease in Kansas City: Part II

Rushing into a lease could mean a huge financial setback for your business in the long run. Here are a few things to consider before you sign a lease:

3. Negotiate. Remember that while landlords and lease brokers will expect negotiations, they would love for you to take the first deal they offer, since they built in room to drop the price. If you do anything less than negotiate, you will probably end up paying more and excluding from the lease important clauses to protect your business. When negotiating, be prepared and do not appear too eager. Leave pride aside in pursuit of the best possible deal. Start low, go for extra perks such as free rent, and ask for more than you expect.
4. If this is your first lease negotiation, practice. Talk to plenty of landlords, ask as many questions as you need to, find out about different incentives—try to get an overall feel for the negotiation process. Doing so will help you better understand what is on the market and prepare you for the actual negotiations once have an idea of what is available, what your business needs, and what you can ask for in a negotiation.

Preparing for negotiations and honing your negotiation skills can help your business find the best possible office rental situation.

Is it time for your business to move into a new office rental space in Kansas City? Give us a call at 913-685-4100 to find out about our available Kansas City office space for rent!