Questions to Ask Before Buying Refurbished Office Cubicles

Posted by: Mitchell H. Kirsch 2 comments

Are refurbished office cubicles an option on your radar? If you’re furnishing your office, they should be. Under these economic conditions, you want your furnishing budget to go as far as you can, and refurbished office cubicles might be your ticket.

New office furniture is ideal – but these cost money, and with the wide selection of refurbished, remanufactured, and otherwise like-new used cubicles on the market, entirely unnecessary.

Still, you need to do your homework before buying refurbished office cubicles. Experienced facilities managers ask certain questions when looking for refurbished office furniture – you can ask them yourself and save the frustration and wasted time. The following questions, we hope, will make buying refurbished office cubicles less an exercise in frustration and more a walk in the park.

How big is my budget? Determining your working budget can give you an idea of how much office furniture you can purchase – but you can be sure you can purchase more refurbished office cubicles than brand new on any given budget. You can spend a great deal less by buying refurbished office cubicles instead of brand-new. The money you save from buying refurbished office cubicles can either be invested in a larger order than usual, or be reinvested for other office purposes.

A caveat: purchasing refurbished office cubicles will require that you are flexible on size, color and accessories.  (read more)

How much am I willing to compromise on quality? That’s the elephant in the room where refurbished office cubicles are concerned: at best you’ll get something close to new, but that doesn’t happen all that often. When buying refurbished office cubicles, you must expect a few dents and dings.

Are a few scratches or dents on your refurbished office cubicles something that you can live with?  Can they be covered up or repaired? Does the décor of your refurbished office cubicles match the rest of the office?

A little brand-consciousness may help – world class manufacturers like Steelcase, Haworth, and Herman Miller produce long-lasting cubicles that stand the test of time, and offer the best bang-for-the-buck when sold as refurbished office cubicles. Refurbished Herman Miller office furniture, in our opinion, can be a better deal than some brand-new equivalents from lesser-known manufacturers.

Do I turn to a known retailer, or should I buy from another end-user? Finding the right supplier of refurbished office cubicles can be hit-and-miss – if one doesn’t have a big enough inventory, you might not get the refurbished office cubicles you want in the quantities you need.

An established furniture retailer is a better bet – they may have more of the refurbished office cubicles you need, in the color you want. The best furniture providers have a hand in the whole office furniture buying process – from cubicle layout to installation of refurbished office cubicles to after-sales service. Check with a few retailers before you decide on a purchase, to get the best deal possible.

2 Comments
Nov 2, 2010
6:14 pm

Good tips, will keep these in mind in the future

Dec 18, 2010
9:04 pm

It is true that selection may be limited with refurbished items depending on how much access a dealer has to large batches of liquidated furniture. However, refurbished (as opposed to retouched) office furniture can be often be finished per the customer’s specs for laminate, paint, and textiles. Of course, custom finishing may add some expense, but it’s still much cheaper than buying new.

Daisy McCarty

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