Renovation Process So Far...

After a week of running around like a chicken under the hot sun, looking for suppliers for our office set-up, I'm finally getting some results. I managed to get the office furnitures for RM15K. It consists of 20 workstations-5ft size, chairs at RM160 each-according to the supplier will last more than 3 years, meeting table and chairs for 6 person, discussion table and chairs for 4 person, 1 wardrobe cabinet for my finance manager and a whiteboard for the meeting room. I got RM15K for all these because I didn't get an ID company to do the revonation, instead, I go straight to the source. As I mentioned in my previous blog that we can an automatic 30-35% discount when we walk-in to furniture suppliers.

Then I got 2 sets of vertical blinds RM630. Vertical blind is the cheapest. My reason is because I believe we will outgrow the current space fairly quite and I don't want to invest in blinds that can't be reuse. For RM630, quality is good, it's a semi opaque blinds because out office doesn't have direct sunlight or heat.

Next, I managed to get the wiring, cabling and networking of our telephone lines, power and network lines for about 8k. This is quite expensive and I need to negociate for a deduction. let's see how much I can bargain.

For door access, there's a trick suppliers will use. To mark up the price, they will sell the access card at RM10 when it should be RM3. Testing, installation will be chargable in order to mark up price. Bell, intercom, power backup etc will be chargable if supplier wants to hike the price. Rule of thumb: All these are suppose to be come as a package and part of the requirement. So, you should get able to get a decent door access From MicroEngine for RM900-RM1200. Anything more than that, ask the supplier to mark down the price.

Then, there's the water dispenser. I didn't know there's akaline water out there for office. I only knows of RO water. When contacted supplier, she said akaline is a better water. Better in what?? Anyone knows? But the water comes in a package of 60 bottles for RM600++. Not bad but I was thinking a bit cheaper. Malaysia has a lot fo water right?

My problem now is the telephone registration. It seems confusing and complicated. Maybe coz I don't have IT people to help me yet. I'm still trying to recruit IT department. Anyone has contact or know of friends looking for IT work? System Admin, DBA, Manager, all vacant.

Well, here's the floorplan. I will upload the before photos of the office soon. It's still empty and I need to complete it by 3rd week of November.

New company, New Challenges

I have completed my first week at work in the new office and I must say, 24 hours definately not enough. Out of the 3 CEOs I have in my career, this one is outstanding compare to the other 2. Maybe this is the new era CEO. He's brilliant in IT/technical knowledge and executions, brilliant in business and finance as well. He's very hands-on. I always hear that CEOs plan and organise, monitor and so on. But my CEO does all that and more. He gets his hands dirty and I've seen him not able to do anything yet. Even set up email accounts for his staff he's doing it himself. Like i said, he's the new era CEO. In fact, I noticed that more and more of this type of CEOs. I knew 2 who are software developers and runs their own company. Their team or staff are relatively small, less than 20 and are multitasking.

Nowadays, you can't go far if you don't multi-tasking and multi-knowledge. Multi-knowledge is fast becoming a must in global and open economic. My second CEO was much slower and sometimes indecisive in his decision. But this one is very different. He's fast in decision making and seems to be good at it too. He may not be a celebrity CEO like Tony Fenandes but I strongly believe I can learn a lot from him. Let see how it goes.

Now, I having my first experience in setting up the company, literally. I'm running around looking for best price for our office furnitures, wiring, cabling, office equipments, pantry items and so on. I found out that if you go straight to furniture manufacture for office furniture quotation, you immediately get a 30-35% discount. Can you imagine how much profit an ID company make whenever you renovate an office?