Stay Vs Go, Refurbish Or Relocate?

A Practical Guide To Your Next Office Move

Your next office decision often starts well before a property search. When a lease event is approaching, headcount is changing, or your current workplace is no longer performing as it should, the instinct can be to start looking at what else is available.

But before comparing buildings, it is worth understanding how your current workplace performs, what your business needs next, and what change would mean for cost, timing, and day-to-day operations.

A structured Stay vs Go review gives leadership teams a clearer basis for comparison. It helps determine whether the current office still has value, whether refurbishment would solve the right problems, or whether relocation offers the stronger long-term outcome.

At Cachet, we start with six questions.

1. What Does Your Office Need Next?

The starting point is the business, not the building. Before assessing whether to stay or move, we build a clear picture of how the workplace needs to support the organisation over the next lease cycle.

Looking Beyond Headcount

That means considering more than how many desks are required. A future office brief may consider:

• Attendance patterns and future growth.
• Meeting and collaboration demand.
• Focus and quiet work.
• Technology requirements.
• Team adjacencies.
• Client-facing areas.
• Amenities and support spaces.
• Accessibility.
• Employee experience.

The purpose is to establish a office brief based on future requirements rather than the limitations of the existing floorplan. This creates the benchmark against which both the current office and any future options can be tested.

2. What Needs To Change In Your Current Office?

With the brief established, we can assess how well the existing office responds to it. Some workplaces need a significant rethink. Others have strong foundations but no longer reflect the way the business operates.

Focus Investment Where It Matters

We look at where change would have the greatest impact. That could include:

• Improving front of house and client-facing areas.
• Adding meeting rooms or focus spaces.
• Creating more usable collaboration areas.
• Improving acoustics and storage options.
• Changing team layouts, adjacencies or creating neighbourhoods.
• Refreshing kitchens, breakout areas or key finishes.

We also assess the existing built form, furniture and workplace settings to understand what continues to provide value. This helps separate what needs to be replaced from what is worth retaining. Smart reuse starts with understanding the good bones already within the office and directing investment towards the areas that will make the greatest difference.

3. What Would Refurbishment Involve?

The next step is turning the Stay option into a real scenario. Early test fits and design thinking help us understand how the workplace could change within the existing floorplate.

Turning An Idea Into A Defined Scope

From there, the team can start testing the practical requirements behind the design:

• What needs to move?
• What should stay?
• Which services need to be altered?
• What furniture or finishes can be retained?
• What level of construction is required?
• How does the programme align with the lease and broader business timetable?

This moves refurbishment from a general idea into something the organisation can properly assess. It also gives decision-makers a clearer view of the likely investment, programme and complexity involved.

4. How Would The Work Affect Your Business?

For an occupied office, the delivery strategy can be just as important as the design. A refurbishment needs to be planned around the parts of the business that must continue operating throughout the works.

Planning Around A Live Office

At Cachet, this means considering operational requirements early, including:

• Staging and construction sequencing.
• Temporary team movements.
• Employee, visitor and contractor access.
• Understanding when to undertake noisy or disruptive works.
• What is permitted as after-hours activity.
• Safety and separation of work zones.
• Communication with key stakeholders throughout delivery.

Some projects can be delivered floor by floor. Others require temporary decant areas or carefully separated construction zones within the existing office.

On live refurbishment projects, we may sequence works so one area remains operational while another is under construction, then progressively move teams into completed spaces as the programme advances. Deliveries, services shutdowns, disruptive works and contractor access are also coordinated around business operations rather than treated as separate construction issues.

Understanding these requirements early gives the organisation a more realistic picture of disruption, programme and operational risk before committing to the Stay option.

5. How Does Staying Compare With The Market?

Once the Stay scenario is understood, it can be compared fairly against the Go scenario. Suitable market options can be tested against the same office brief rather than assessed in isolation.

Compare Like For Like

That comparison may include:

• Location.
• Floorplate efficiency.
• Building quality and amenity.
• Transport access.
• Lease timing and conditions.
• Fit-out requirements.
• Programme.
• Business disruption.
• Future flexibility and growth.

The current office now becomes a benchmark rather than the default. This is important because one factor rarely tells the whole story.

Look At The Total Workplace Outcome

A relocation might provide a better floorplate or stronger amenity, but require a substantial new fit-out and a longer programme. Staying may avoid some of that disruption, but require investment to address limitations within the existing space. A useful Stay vs Go comparison looks at the total workplace outcome rather than focusing only on rent, fit-out cost or available area.

6. What Does The Business Case Say?

The final step is bringing both scenarios together. At Cachet, we compare the key considerations associated with each option, including:

• Investment required.
• Lease implications.
• Project timing.
• Workplace experience.
• Growth capacity.
• Operational requirements.
• Business disruption.

Make The Trade-Offs Visible

The lowest initial cost will not always deliver the strongest long-term outcome. Likewise, the most ambitious workplace option may not justify the additional investment or operational impact. The purpose of the business case is to make those considerations visible before a major property or project commitment is made.

By this stage, leadership should have a much clearer answer to the question: stay, refurbish or relocate?

See Your Options Before You Commit

Plans and numbers tell part of the story. Test fits and digital visualisation can help stakeholders understand what proposed changes would actually mean in real space.

Through 3DXP, for example, teams can move through a proposed refurbishment or relocation option before construction begins, helping them assess layout, look and feel, functionality and key spatial changes earlier in the decision process.

For a Stay scenario, this can be particularly valuable. It allows stakeholders to see the potential of the existing workplace rather than assessing it only as it looks today.

For a Go scenario, the same workplace brief can be tested within different floorplates to help teams understand whether a new option genuinely performs better.

From Decision To Brief

A strong Stay vs Go process produces a clear office brief and data-driven business case for decision-making.

If the organisation stays, that brief can move into:

• Refurbishment design.
• Pricing.
• Staging.
• Programme planning.

If the organisation relocates, it can guide:

• Property searches.
• Test fits.
• Building comparisons.
• Conversations with property advisers or tenant representatives.

Rather than entering the market asking, Where should we move?, the organisation enters with a clear understanding of what the business needs, what the current workplace can provide, and what any alternative needs to improve upon.

Cachet’s workplace strategy, design and delivery teams bring these considerations together from the beginning, helping organisations assess existing workplaces, test refurbishment options, explore market alternatives and create a clear pathway from early business requirements through to delivery.

Stay. Refurbish. Relocate? Speak with our team today.

SYDNEY: +61 (0) 2 9241 7755
MELBOURNE: +61 (0) 3 9988 2988
BRISBANE: +61 (0) 2 9241 7755
AUCKLAND: +64 (0) 9 302 3066

EMAIL: [email protected]