What are we paying for?

More and more companies taking leashold space are examining what it is that they are paying for each quarter on their service charge.

In these times of stringent cost management, the hand that signs the cheque is pausing and asking the questions 'What is this for?', 'Why has it gone up?', 'Who controls this?'. Questions that are overdue and need answering.

So let's look at the model. Currently a Landlord normally assigns the management of a site to an agent. The agent oversees the delivery of the services that te landlord has contracted on the site and liases with tennants to ensure that the services are delivered. For this sevice the agent charges a fee, that fee is calculated as a percentage of the total Service Charge budget (Normally between 7 and 14%). Can anyone see a problem with that? The agent is activly disincentivised to reduce costs!! One of the may reasons that service charge has risen 7% compound year on year for the past 5 years!

We at Simplicity have changed the model. We charge a fixed fee and agree a bonus from the Landloed set against criterea such as cost reduction and Service Delivery. In a recent example we took a bonus of 10% of the cost savings implemented across the year with a rider that Service Levels must remain the same or improve. Simple!

This is not rocket science, this is a simple and easy remodelling of an out moded and inappropriate system which is long overdue and puts the customer back at the centre of the conversation.

Office Space in the UK

Simplicity provide services to commercial offices throughout the UK. However this is a huge market so we have spent some time looking at the breakdown of the market and the results are interesting, at least we think so!

Detailed surveys from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) provide a clear view of the current provision of office space in the UK. We have specifically taken ‘Office Space’ in ‘England and Wales’ (No data was available for Scotland) from the ‘Commercial and Industrial Floorspace and Rateable Value Statistics’ as the definition of the total addressable market. This does not include public buildings, schools, warehouses or retail space (All of which may be viable target markets in the future).

According to the survey conducted in 2005 and published in 2008 there is 1,092,063,295 ft2 of commercial office space in England and Wales.

A further study conducted by Dr John Calvert with Loughborough University looked at the proportion of this office space which is let to multiple occupiers.

Dr Calvert found that 637,000,000 ft2 of the market is let to more than one tennant.

Simplicity are initially focussed on providing services to this market, although we continue to deliver specialist services to other market sectors including retail, shopping centres, entertainment venues, sports venues, warehousing, industrial estates and single occupant offices.

Wherever you work Simplicity can help to improve your environment and reduce the cost of occupation. Get in touch at:

www.simplicityatwork.co.uk
info@sinplicityatwork.co.uk
0844 225 2555

Updated Portal

Simplicity has updated the online secure portal with new services to make life easier for property managers, landlords and customers.

New Management Information (MI) is now provided on every service, including graphical information and reports on fault management along with the usual billing information.

We believe that one of the many things that sets Simplicity apart in this market is the ability to provide, as standard, detailed MI to allow customers to benchmark the service they receive and to ensure that the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are maintained.

Other suppliers may offer quarterly updates or may report on fault management, no one offers the real time reporting and updates that Simplicity have implemented.

Just one morething to revolutionise the market, where we lead others will struggle to follow!

Contact us to find out more.

www.simplicityatwork.co.uk
0844 225 2555
info@simplicityatwork.co.uk

New Services coming online

Facilities Management and Propery Management are both very broad spectrums. Simplicity currently provide a very full menu of services from catering to utilities, fabric maintenance to IT & Comms. However we will not be resting on our laurels and over the coming weeks and months we will be rolling out additional services including:

-Handyman services for those small annoying jobs around the office that aren't worth a £100 call out charge
-Hosted IT For better flexibility, reduced costs and integrated Business Continuity Planning
-Advanced Remote Monitoring Services For improved security and reduced insurance premiums

These services will enhance the existing Building maintenance, IT services and Security services that we have on offer and demonstrate the way in which Simplicity at Work continue to develop the services that our customers require.

All of these services will be integrated into the secure on line portal so users can monitor, track, change and report on any and all the services they take.

The future is a very exciting place, we'll see you there!!

The Launch

Simplicity at Work launched in June 2009 to revolutionise the way in which commercial property is managed in the UK.

Specifically Simplicity provides, Property, Facilities and Asset management services for Landlords, Managing Agents and occupiers of commercial space in the UK.

Over the next 2 months a new public website will be launched providing full details in the meantime you can have a look at the holding page at www.simplicityatwork.co.uk, sign up for the secure customer portal or contact us by emailing info@simplicityatwork.co.uk or even call us on 0844 225 2555.

How ever you choose to get in touch we look forward to hearing from you soon.