When Is a Private Office Better Than Working From Home With a Small Team?

Having your own office is better than working from home as soon as you work with a small team and notice that productivity, collaboration, or client contact suffers as a result. For most teams, the rule of thumb is: from two to three employees onward, working from home quickly becomes a compromise that costs more than it delivers. Below we answer the most frequently asked questions about this choice, so you can make a well-informed decision.

What does working from home really cost your business in the long run?

Working from home may seem free, but the hidden costs add up. Think of lost productivity due to distractions, higher energy bills at home, the purchase of proper furniture and equipment, and missed business opportunities because you have no professional space to receive clients. For a small team, these costs can quickly add up to an amount comparable to one month’s rent for a professional office space.

In concrete terms: an employee working from home needs, on average, a separate workspace, a good office chair, a second monitor, and a stable internet connection. As a company, you contribute to those provisions through a home-working allowance. On top of that comes the invisible cost of inefficiency: meetings that don’t run smoothly via a screen, decisions that take too long because people can’t simply sit down together, and new employees who have a harder time getting up to speed without a direct environment.

In the long run, image also plays a role. A company without a fixed office location lacks a business address, a professional reception space, and the credibility that comes with a professional environment. That’s not just a feeling — it also influences how clients and partners think of you.

When is a team too large for working from home?

If you structurally collaborate with two or more employees, working from home as a primary mode of work is already a challenge. With three or more people, alignment, onboarding, and team culture become noticeably harder without a shared workplace. That is the point at which having your own office for a small team becomes more practically relevant than a hybrid work-from-home solution.

The threshold is not just a matter of numbers. It also depends on the type of work. Teams that consult daily, work together on projects, or regularly receive clients will run up against the limitations of working from home sooner than teams that largely work independently. With five or more employees, having your own office space is no longer a luxury for most companies — it’s simply a logical workplace.

Another signal: if you notice that you constantly need to rent an external location for meetings, or that employees are missing productivity at home due to a lack of a quiet workspace, the threshold has already been reached. At renting office space in Amstelveen, you can start with a unit of 25 m², which is more than sufficient for a small team of two to three people.

Which tasks work better in the office than at home?

Tasks that benefit from direct collaboration, quick alignment, or a professional environment consistently run better in the office. Think of client meetings, team consultations, creative sessions, onboarding of new employees, and tasks that require concentration and a calm, structured environment.

Specifically, you can think of:

Client visits and sales conversations: a professional meeting room makes a better impression than a video call from a home office
Team consultations and decision-making: sitting together briefly is faster and more productive than an online meeting
Onboarding new colleagues: transferring knowledge works much better when you’re physically sitting next to someone
Focused work on complex tasks: a quiet office environment without household distractions helps with that
Phone-based customer service or acquisition: a professional environment without background noise is a basic requirement

Tasks that can perfectly well be done at home: individual writing work, processing email, compiling reports, and other activities where you don’t need direct collaboration or client contact.

How do you compare the costs of an office with working from home?

A fair cost comparison looks beyond just the rental price. Set against the monthly office costs the hidden costs of working from home: home-working allowances, renting external meeting spaces, costs for IT provisions at home, and the value of lost productivity. For many small teams, the difference turns out to be smaller than expected.

A practical example calculation for a team of four people:

Home-working allowance per employee: approximately €2 per day, around €40 per month per person
Renting an external meeting room: depending on frequency, quickly €200 to €400 per month
Internet costs, extra equipment, and furniture at home: one-time or recurring
Time lost due to poor alignment: difficult to quantify, but certainly present

On the other side is an all-inclusive serviced office where internet, cleaning, meeting rooms, coffee, and reception are already included. The net additional cost is then smaller than it appears. Would you like to learn more about what Kronenburg Offices has to offer? Take a look at our office spaces in Amstelveen for a full overview.

What are the advantages of your own office for client contact?

Having your own office gives you a fixed, professional location to receive clients. This strengthens the image of your business, makes a better first impression, and ensures that conversations take place in a calm, professional environment. For many clients, a physical office is also a sign of stability and reliability.

In concrete terms, having your own office makes a difference on these points:

Reception by a staffed front desk: your client is welcomed professionally, even if you are still in a meeting
Meeting rooms available: no hassle with external locations or unprofessional home situations
Fixed business address: builds trust with clients and partners who look up your company
Peace and privacy: confidential conversations take place in a closed room, not at the kitchen table

For companies where client contact is an important part of the service, having your own office with good reception facilities is not a side matter. It’s simply part of how you present your business. With us, every floor has multiple meeting rooms that you can reserve for client meetings, without any extra hassle.

When does a serviced office pay off more than an independent rental property?

A serviced office pays off more than an independent rental property when you value flexibility, low start-up costs, and convenience more than maximum control over the space. Especially for small teams that want to get started quickly, don’t want to be tied to a long rental contract, and don’t want to arrange internet, furniture, cleaning, and security themselves, a serviced office is the more practical choice.

With a traditional rental property, you pay bare rent and arrange everything yourself: applying for internet, buying or renting furniture, organising cleaning, arranging security, hiring a receptionist if needed. That costs time, money, and attention. With a serviced office, all of that is already taken care of, and you pay one monthly amount with most costs included.

An independent rental property can work out more favourably if you have a larger team, want to commit to the long term, and want to fit out the space entirely to your own taste. But for a team of two to ten employees, a serviced office is in most cases the smarter choice: less risk, more flexibility, and no facilities hassle. You can also easily scale up within the same location, from a smaller unit to a larger one, without having to move. Are you considering a workspace in Amstelveen as an intermediate step? That can also be a good way to get started before renting your own office unit.

How Kronenburg Offices helps with the choice between working from home and having your own office

At our location in Amstelveen, you’ll find turn-key office units for teams of various sizes, with practically everything already arranged. No hassle with applying for internet, hiring a cleaning company, or searching for a meeting location. All of that is included.

Private office units from 25 to 85 m², suitable for teams of two to ten employees
All-inclusive: fibre-optic internet, cleaning, coffee, meeting rooms, and a staffed reception
Professional location in Amstelveen, directly below the Zuidas, excellently accessible by car and public transport
Ample parking at the Kronenburg business park
24/7 access and security, so you work on your own schedule
Personal point of contact: no ticket system, but direct contact with someone who responds quickly
Flexible growth: from a single workspace to your own office unit, within the same location

Would you like to know which office space suits your team? Feel free to get in touch. We first want to understand how you work, how many people there are, what you’re currently missing, and how your business wants to develop in the coming period. Based on that information, we’ll look together at which office space in Amstelveen fits best. Contact us or schedule a viewing, and we’ll show you everything.