Price doesn’t always equal value received.
In order to make sure you are buying quality furniture, without overpaying, you need to understand how much to budget for your next furniture purchase.
Check out this video for a quick explanation of what office furniture costs or scroll past for a detailed breakdown of what to budget for task chairs, desks and workstations.
Task Chair Prices
Ultimately what determines how much you should spend on an office chair is how much you plan on using the chair. Are you looking for a chair that you can keep using for years to come? Do you plan on using the chair every day? Will you be sitting in the chair for the bulk of the workday? If you answered yes to these questions, you should budget between $450 and $1000 for a task chair.
So why are some chairs more expensive than others? Here are the three factors that can significantly impact a chair’s final price point:
1. Durability has a price
If a chair retails over $450 it is typically supported by extensive warranties and you should expect a useable life of at least five to ten years.
2. More features mean more money
There are dozens of ergonomic features and customizations available these days, but many are accompanied by an upcharge of $20-50 each.
3. Finish choice can significantly impact the final cost
The list price is almost always for the standard grade finish and not for more premium finishes. For example, if you upgrade the base of a task chair from plastic to polished aluminum and the fabric from upholstery to leather, the cost of the chair can as much as double.
Desk Prices
The typical desk these days is a 6’x6’ L-shaped configuration case good. You should typically count on spending between $900-$7000 for a 6’x6’ desk. While the range is rather broad, ultimately, it can’t be narrowed until you make two choices:
- How much storage do I want to incorporate into my desk?
- What kind of finish do I want / Do I want a laminate or veneer work surface?
Storage
The amount of storage capacity incorporated into a desk or workstation is a significant factor in its overall cost. When deciding how much storage you want your desk to have, take the opportunity to think about how much you actually need.
Finishes
There are two common types of finishes for desks these days, laminate and veneer; your choice can have a significant impact on the final price you pay. Veneer is unmatched in appearance and selection options but is very much priced as a premium option. Laminate is a lower cost and lower maintenance option but does not have quite the same aesthetic impact of a veneer worksurface.
Workstation Prices
Similar to desks, workstations have shrunk in size in recent years and are most commonly seen in 6’x6’ L-shaped configurations although the nature of systems furniture does allow for a lot of creativity in the exact layout design. A safe budget range would be approximately $1800-$5000 per workstation.
Once again, where you land within this range is largely determined by how much storage you desire and what finishes you select.
Storage
As with many things, the more you add, the more it’s going to cost. Before committing to a particular configuration, we suggest you take the opportunity to evaluate just how much storage you (and your team) really need at your workstation.
- Do you need to have a space for storing binders at your desk or can you use a shared bookcase instead? What about paper documents and files?
- Do you need that storage tower for your coat and umbrella or would it be more efficient for the office to share one centrally located closed?
Finishes
Here are a couple of the common upgrades that many new customers may not realize can quickly run up the cost of your workstation(s):
- Upgrading the panels from a single colour fabric to laminate or veneer
- Built-in writeable whiteboard surfaces on the panels
- Adding a glass (clear, glazed or framed) to the top of the panel for a little additional auditory privacy while maintaining the same open visual feel.
Office Storage & Filing Prices
Since storage furniture can come in so many shapes, configurations and sizes, providing an accurate estimate is quite difficult. So, instead of giving you one price range as we have with other furniture, we are going to give you a price range for a few of the most common storage units our customers buy: mobile pedestals, wardrobes, and lateral files.
A mobile pedestal is a small storage unit that usually slides underneath your desk or workstation. For a mobile pedestal, you should budget $460-$750.
Wardrobes are a full-height unit that is often used for coats, boots and other large objects. You should budget $750-$1500 for each wardrobe.
The third common storage unit is the stereotypical lateral file, or as it’s more commonly known, filing cabinet. A budget of $550-$1300 will cover the typical lateral file.
As with most other office furniture, determining where you land within these ranges depends on how large your units are, how they are configured, and what finishes you select. A wood veneer-panelled wardrobe will cost much more than one built from pressboard and laminate. A popular configuration with our customers is for the units to be fabricated with painted steel but have the fronts or sides covered with laminate panels as this balances sturdy construction with a great aesthetic.
Most importantly though, when considering purchasing new storage furniture, the number one question you need to ask yourself is: what exactly do I want to store? Answering this question will help guide which furniture is the best fit and how it should be configured.
High-Density Storage Systems Prices
As with most of the furniture we have discussed already, the price of a high-density storage system is highly variable. There are a variety of factors that can impact your final price, but typically, you should expect to pay at least $50 per square foot for a high-density storage system.
What factors most impact your total cost?
What is being stored?
The first question you need to ask yourself when looking at a storage solution is, what exactly do you want to store? A system designed to store files, binders and other paper-based documents will look, operate and cost quite differently than a system designed for uniforms, bed linens, sports equipment or product samples.
Total cubic footage
The physical size of your high-density storage system is the most direct factor that will increase, or decrease, the cost of your system. Unlike most office furniture, storage systems are measured by both total volume in cubic feet (length x width x height) and floor space occupied in square feet (length x width) rather than solely linear feet such as moveable walls or square feet such as desks.
The ceiling height in your space is an important consideration that is easily overlooked when considering a new storage solution, but also one that can drastically change what kind of solution may actually be feasible for your office.
The type of system
Does a mobile shelving, modular mobile or industrial mobile system best suit your needs? Is your system going to be electric-powered, manual-assist or manual? Each type of system operates differently, has different pros and cons, and is has unique pricing. Which system you select could significantly impact your final price.
Need a More Detailed Explanation?
All the information on this page was actually pulled from our blog series titled What Does it Cost? For a more in-depth explanation of each furniture category, check out the series or send us your question directly!