Modern commercial real estate leaders aren’t just managing square footage; they’re navigating volatility. Changes to space needs can happen seemingly overnight, whether they’re due to hybrid work, economic uncertainty, or accelerated growth cycles.
That means long-term leases and one-size-fits-all layouts are a thing of the past. Unfortunately, many operators still buy furniture as if their floor plans will never shift that, more often than not, leads to negative results. They ended up footing extra costs for storage costs, stuck with stranded assets, and had to maintain rigid environments that no longer served their businesses.
“The days of signing a 10-year lease on a piece of real estate are gone,” CORT’s Eli Attal said in a recent interview. “Now we’re looking at one- to two-year leases, people want to stay nimble.”
But while many commercial real estate (CRE) teams are shortening their lease terms on paper, they’re still locking themselves into long-term furniture ownership that doesn’t align with the same mentality.
They invest in permanent layouts and own furniture that lock them into a static plan, only to realize months later that the headcount, team structure, or location no longer works for their businesses. It’s a backward approach — furniture should follow your strategy, but instead, the strategy chases the furniture — and the result is that your assets become liabilities.
When you opt to match your furniture with your strategic goals, you maintain control and avoid getting stuck with an inflexible setup that doesn’t serve your business.
When a business makes a big furniture purchase up front, it’s stuck with it. Even when it no longer fits the space or the way the team operates, businesses find that they’re forced to make it work. This can lead to awkward reconfigurations, zones that employees barely use at all, and spending money on storage for pieces that don’t serve their needs.
Attal tells us that one of his clients, a fast-growing tech company, learned this the hard way. “They had me reconfigure 50% of their workspace just three months after moving in,” he recalled. The company wanted a huddle room where a conference table would be situated, and they aimed to transform a space filled with cubicles into a lounge area where employees could work together and collaborate.
Furniture ownership is a barrier to change at a time when office design flexibility is crucial to remaining competitive.
By contrast, renting furniture allows you to adapt and change based on your current needs. If a collaborative lounge needs to become a heads-down space or if 30 desks are no longer utilized due to a team change, renting gives you the freedom to redesign as often as needed without wasting money.
“If you think the floor plan is going to change, why risk it?” Attal asks bluntly, adding, “Why buy furniture and then have to store it later?”
In today’s hybrid, high-change environment, the most effective offices are the ones that are adaptable. But when you own furniture, you’re locked into something costly that will most likely no longer reflect your operations down the road. Your needs will shift, and those purchased pieces will no longer fit your new reality. So, instead of designing space around what’s best for your employees, you’ll find yourself designing around your rigid furniture.
This creates a ripple effect. A misaligned space prevents collaboration. Your team gets frustrated. Their performance slows or even stalls. Leadership can’t do anything to fix it because they’re trying to justify these huge physical investments that are standing in the way of productivity.
“Companies don’t just want functional offices, they want performative ones,” Attal says.
CORT’s Furniture-as-a-Service (FaaS) option is the key to achieving that. Rather than make these huge investments upfront that you can only hope will serve you months and years down the line, you rent high-quality furniture and fixtures that serve your office space right now. Workplace operators can respond in real time to feedback and evolving use cases, swap pieces in and out as your layout evolves, and support work style diversity.
Performance becomes a priority. Facility managers and CRE teams are empowered. And businesses can prioritize people over permanence.
This is not to say that ownership doesn’t still play a strategic role. “If your space won’t change for 10 years, then buy,” Attal advises. But he adds that otherwise, you’re just taking a huge risk.
Some operators find that a blended approach works for their needs. That might look like:
Of course, it can be hard to determine what you should own and what you should rent from the beginning. That’s why CORT doesn’t just rent the furniture; we partner with you to help you make smart, data-informed decisions, whether you’re outfitting your new headquarters or redesigning after a headcount shift.
We’ll help you decide:
Your modern office is a living asset, not a fixed investment. With that in mind, it can help you grow or hold you back.
CORT’s FaaS model empowers CRE leaders to design with change in mind, reduce stranded costs, and create environments that move with their teams.
In today’s CRE environment, the most valuable spaces are the ones that change with you. The smartest leaders are no longer betting on certainty; they’re building for change.
Hear more insights from Eli Attal, CORT Business Development Executive here:
If you’re ready to see what flexible office design could feel like in your workplace, explore CORT’s Furniture-as-a-Service™ Calculator or visit the Office Furniture Rental page.
