How Much Money Can I Save With a Virtual Office?

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One of the realizations companies made during the global pandemic was that many offices can be run completely virtually. During the midst of the stay-at-home orders, companies around the country had no choice but to switch to a virtual office to keep their businesses going.

Now that most stay-at-home orders have passed, business owners are looking at their costs for a physical office and wondering how much does a virtual office cost and how much can they save?

87% of executives are planning to make changes to their real estate strategy over the next 12 months, some of whom are closing offices or consolidating space. 

Cloud technologies have now pretty much made where you work irrelevant in many types of companies. Even large companies like Apple use a remote customer support team and Twitter allows all employees to work from home permanently.

So, the time of needing a physical office is waning and business owners are taking a hard look at running their companies completely virtually.

Even if you just take one area of savings, such as office space rental, into account, you’re saving quite a bit by transitioning from a physical to a virtual office. But there are many areas of savings you can realize that make it an even more attractive prospect.

If you’re planning to rent office space in the McLean, VA area, you can expect to pay anywhere between $15.00 to $43.00 per square foot per year. For an office of 2,000 S.F., that is a median of about $4,833 per month. Even at the cheapest average rate, it’s $2,500 per month.

That’s quite a cost savings if you lose that office rental altogether.

What about having an address? Virtual address services allow you to have a professional physical address to use as your business address on documents, your website, and everywhere else. And it costs just a few dollars a month as compared to several thousand.

When you have a physical office, you’re paying for utilities like internet service, phone service, and depending upon your rental contract, possibly electricity and water as well.

When you’re working virtually from home, those are typically all services you’re already going to have there. The virtual office cost savings can add up to several hundred dollars a month for all those utilities no longer needed for a physical office. Plus, you’ll be able to deduct a portion of your home utility expenses used for your business.

Many companies that have a physical office feel as if they need to have a receptionist that handles all calls and any visitors. The average receptionist salary in the area is between $24,000 to $43,000 per year, plus the employer taxes and any other perks, like health insurance, you’re paying out.

You can still have a real person handling all your incoming calls even if you don’t have a physical office. A virtual receptionist is very inexpensive and sounds just as professional to a customer calling your business. 

And if you need to have an in-person meeting, you can rent day office space at the same location as both your virtual address and virtual receptionist when working with Tysons Office Suites.

When you no longer have a commute to work, this can add up to multiple vehicle-related savings, not to mention eliminating the frustration of sitting in traffic or being cut off by a rude driver.

Some of the virtual office cost savings you get from eliminating your commute can include:

• Gasoline
• Vehicle wear and tear
• Metro and other public transportation costs
• You get that commute time back for either work or relaxation

The average cost of a commute is 34 cents per mile, which equates to $170 per every mile of your commute per year if you commute 250 days per year. So, for a 10-mile commute one way, 20 miles both ways, that would be about $3,400 annually saved.

When you have a physical office full of employees, there are several other costs that will add up as the months go by. These can include things like:

• Coffee and/or coffee service
• Cleaning service
• Copy machine 
• Paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, etc.)
• Employee desks & chairs
• Office décor
• Office supplies
• Conference room furniture and supplies

You’ll be surprised just how much those extras end up costing and how much less of them you actually need when you switch to a virtual office.

Tysons Office Suites has everything you need to run your virtual front office affordably all in one place. From a street address and receptionist services to onsite meeting room rental, we’ve got you covered!