October 13, 2025
My Roommates Are Getting a House Without Me. Now What?
You thought you had the plan. Maybe you and your roommates were supposed to stick together — upgrade from a cramped apartment to a bigger house,...
Whether it’s unused furniture, last-minute reorgs, unexpected lease shifts, or another related issue, facility managers typically are asked to fix the reality gaps left by a company’s leadership and/or real estate decisions.
The real problem? Far too many workplace strategies stop at install, acting as though the environment will never change. However, we all know that the environment almost always changes, especially today when the world of work is so dynamic and fast-paced.
The solution? Reframing how furniture is managed — rather than viewing it as permanent inventory, facility managers should look at it as flexible infrastructure that can change along with their business needs.
The best way to do that is by partnering with a high-quality furniture rental provider like CORT, so you’re prepared for any change that comes your way from day one and no longer wasting time and money managing the aftermath.
At first glance, buying a bunch of office furniture up front might seem like the most cost-effective option, but that only works if your plan doesn’t change. As we’ve established, the likelihood of that happening is slim to none. When you do experience change, what once looked like a smart upfront investment suddenly turns into an ongoing operational burden.
As CORT’s Eli Attal puts it, “Companies that own furniture often end up spending time and resources managing it, essentially becoming furniture companies instead of focusing on their core business.”
Furniture ownership comes with hidden costs that most businesses don’t take into consideration. These include:
In the end, facility managers are left carrying the costs and the responsibility for a purchase decision that didn’t take the reality of constant change into consideration.
But what happens when you choose to rent your furniture upfront rather than make a huge investment?
Basically, you flip the equation, and it’s a win for every single member of your team.
A workplace strategy that involves purchasing furniture focuses on delivery and installation, but it doesn’t consider the future. Your space changes. Your team changes. Your business grows or downsizes. Suddenly, you’re stuck without a removal or return plan, which creates a burden on your facility teams.
In a recent interview, Attal told a story about a tenant who had to pay $36,000 just to remove leftover cubicles, which the landlord then reused. There was no lifecycle plan or exit strategy in place, and it was an expensive mistake.
When mistakes like this occur, facilities managers are left to coordinate vendors, negotiate removal, and absorb costs that aren’t in their budget, all because of a failure to plan for the future. It’s almost like having to pay for the same furniture twice.
Poor planning doesn’t just waste your company’s time and money or create a burden on your staff. It literally impacts the world.
Let’s say a company buys desks and chairs, but within a year, it no longer needs them. Your options are to store them (expensive), sell them (you lose money), or toss them in a landfill, which can have a devastating environmental impact.
According to the International Facility Managers Association (IFMA), the United States generates 12.1 million tons of office furniture waste each year. Furniture is actually one of the top two sources of industrial waste.
This isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault; it’s about the absence of systems that account for the full lifecycle and, again, leaves the facility manager with the responsibility to manage it.
Furniture-as-a-Service (FaaS) is the best way to end that cycle. When you partner with CORT, you don’t make that huge upfront investment that can weigh you down — you rent the high-quality pieces you need with the ability to scale up or down, return, and reconfigure the moment your conditions change. Facility managers are no longer stuck managing stranded assets or coordinating removals under pressure.
There’s more to a CORT partnership than simply picking out the pieces you need and renting them. We help you through every step of the process. We deliver quickly, handle installation, and can return to help with reconfigurations. We also handle all returns and removals and ensure your workplace has the flexibility it needs to be viable in 2025 and beyond.
This end-to-end support provides facility managers with a system they can rely on, even when leadership’s priorities or workplace strategy shift seemingly overnight. We’ll help you manage your costs and business needs through our responsive products and services. Your furniture is there when you need it and gone when you don’t.
As Attal puts it, “There’s no better way to have a partner manage this process for you.”
Facility managers should no longer be left cleaning up after plans they weren’t included in. The workplace will always be in flux, but the burden of constant change shouldn’t fall solely on the facility manager’s shoulders.
Furniture rental offers a more innovative way to prepare for change, reduce waste, and protect both time and budget. Even if facility managers can’t influence every decision, they can implement systems that give them more flexibility and fewer surprises.
Your team deserves a workspace that supports every phase of your journey in managing any space.
Hear more insights from Eli Attal, CORT Business Development Executive here:
Explore how a partnership with CORT can help you create adaptable, sustainable environments that drive collaboration and productivity.
