Compare office quotes against the same brief
To compare office quotes fairly, start by checking what each provider was asked to price. A proposal for a particular office, start date and service arrangement is different from an indicative price for a space that has not been selected. Keep those stages visible in your comparison.
Imagine a team choosing between two attractive offices. One proposal covers the team’s stated requirements; the other leaves a regular meeting activity undecided. Sending both providers the same short brief lets you compare their answers without treating the missing activity as a free inclusion. Use the actual office reference, intended start and required activities in that brief.
Build a bridge from the quote to your working day
For each proposal, identify what you would need to add to make it usable for your team. Record a required item as included, separately quoted or unanswered. An optional extra belongs in the comparison only if you actually intend to use it. This keeps an appealing list of possibilities from becoming an assumed budget.
Ask the provider to explain the charging basis for any item that varies with use. A shared-room allowance, for example, needs to be compared with the meetings your brief describes. Keep provider-confirmed figures separate from your own estimates, and carry an unresolved cost forward as a question rather than silently entering nothing.
Separate running costs from move-in payments
Make two views of each quote: what you expect to pay to use the office, and what must be paid before you can start. Record the quoted deposit, advance payments and setup items in the second view. Ask when each payment is due and what happens to it when the arrangement ends.
A refundable deposit can still matter to your available cash even though it is different from a charge for using the office. Read the provider’s actual refund conditions before describing it as recoverable. Also confirm the treatment of applicable taxes and the date until which the proposal remains valid.
Choose with the unresolved differences in view
Use the blank reconciliation sheet below to capture the remaining differences. Add a short decision note beside each proposal: what works for your routine, what needs clarification and what would make you choose another office. When a quote changes, keep the revised version and update the affected lines together so your comparison uses the same offer throughout.
For Figment Work Studios, enquire for pricing with the house or area you are considering and the same working brief you use elsewhere. Ask for the specific office, package and terms, then bring the confirmed answers into your comparison.
Blank quote reconciliation sheet
Use these headings for your own notes. Complete the blank cells from the particular proposal or your observations.
| Comparison line | Proposal A | Proposal B | Clarification needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office reference and quote date | |||
| Requirement priced in the same brief | |||
| Required addition to the quoted package | |||
| Usage-dependent charging basis | |||
| Running-cost items | |||
| Payments due before starting | |||
| Deposit return conditions | |||
| Tax treatment and quote validity | |||
| Reason to choose or rule out |