Square Footage Rule of Thumb

One of the first questions clients ask us is how many square feet they need for their office space. The best approach is always to engage an architect to do a space study, but for generic budgeting purposes one can apply the following rules of thumb:

• Open Layout – 150 SF per person

• Mix of Offices and Cubicles – 200 SF per person

• Majority Private Offices – 250 SF per person

This assumes an average amount of circulation space and meeting areas.

Another important variable to work into the calculation is the building common area factor. This is the area attributable to all the lobbies, hallways and restrooms for the entire building. A good average for the central Ohio market is 15%.

So for example if you have 25 employees in a mix of private offices and cubicles you would multiple 25 x 200 which equals 5,000 usable square feet. You then multiply that number by 1.15 which equals a total if 5,750 rentable square feet.

Obviously there are many factors that can impact this rule it thumb calculation, but it is a good start.