Planning The Remodel For Your Small Business – Part 2 of 3
The planning stage and process for your small business remodel is a VERY important stage! This is where you make the majority of your decisions. Your planning will include prioritizing the improvements, meeting your financial obligations and determining what the process will look like for the operation of your business.
Stage One – Planning Your Small Business Remodel
- What is your budget?
- When can you do it?
- How long will you need to be closed?
These are the first three questions I would ask and answer. They will go along way in setting up the perimeters you need to make the best decisions for your small business. Keeping an open mind through this stage can be hard, but it is well worth it. Don’t rush this stage…as the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day!
Stage Two – Planning Your Small Business Remodel
Stage two is time for collaboration with your team. If your team is too big to get constructive opinions from, you could form a committee or just sit down with your senior team or trusted leaders. I personally feel it is important not to skip this step. Besides collaboration being important and validating to those you work with, they may also think of things you didn’t. Some of the ideas may be brilliant! If they can think of things to help potentially increase sales or provide better service to your clients or guests, it is a win-win!
Stage Three – Planning Your Small Business Remodel
Now it is decision time. Prioritizing what you can afford with the necessary updates as well as operational and aesthetic changes is the name of the game. Don’t become discouraged. After you have some rough ideas, contact an architect if necessary and have them get to work. Be very specific with who you have hired and do not be afraid to ask for changes. No one knows your business better than you do! If your update or remodel does not require an architect, I still recommend making a master plan in Excel that includes the individual plans, updates and a way to record the planned budget and actual expenses as they come in.
In closing, the order of these stages is truly up to you, but I believe in backwards engineering. So my first phase may be your third phase. This is also dependent on the type of business you have and what your traffic looks like. If it doesn’t cost you a lot to be shut down or have part of your working space shut down, then it will make this remodel a whole lot easier!
