There’s a very specific moment I often see with growing businesses.

They’ve lived with a workspace that no longer fits for a while.
They know something needs to change.
There’s momentum.
There’s a budget pencilled in.
And suddenly… everything speeds up.

This is usually when the most expensive mistakes happen… not out of carelessness, but out of urgency.

Mistake #1: Jumping to solutions before defining the problem

This is by far the most common one.

The conversation jumps straight to:

new layouts
more desks
extra meeting rooms
different furniture
maybe even a new lease

All without fully understanding what the space actually needs to do better.

When that happens:

money gets spent fixing symptoms
the real friction stays hidden
and six months later, the same issues resurface in a shinier space

The fix isn’t slowing everything down, it’s pausing just long enough to get clarity.

Mistake #2: Designing for how the business used to work

Another pattern I see is businesses designing for a version of themselves that no longer exists.

The space is planned around:

old team structures
outdated workflows
pre-hybrid assumptions
roles that have since evolved

It looks good on paper, but it doesn’t quite land in reality.

The result?
A space that feels “almost right” - but never fully settles.

Designing for how your team actually works now (and how they want to work moving forward) makes all the difference.

Mistake #3: Treating the office as a one-time project

This one is subtle, but important.

When a workspace is treated as a one-off project, decisions tend to be very fixed:

everything has to be decided upfront
flexibility gets lost
future change becomes expensive

But businesses aren’t static… and your workspace shouldn’t be either.

The most resilient offices I see are designed with:

adaptability
phased thinking
and clear priorities

That way, the space can evolve without starting from scratch each time.

The common thread underneath all three mistakes

What sits underneath all of these isn’t poor judgement.

It’s a lack of shared clarity.

Without a clear strategic brief:

decisions feel heavy
opinions carry more weight than insight
trade-offs feel risky
and leaders end up second-guessing themselves

Clarity doesn’t remove all constraints, but it makes them way easier to navigate.

A better way forward

The businesses that avoid these mistakes don’t necessarily spend more.

They:

take time to understand what’s really going on in their space
prioritise what matters most right now
design with intention rather than urgency
and give themselves a framework to come back to

That’s what turns a refurbishment from a stressful project into a confident step forward.

This is exactly why the Masterclass exists

The Creating Workspaces That Work masterclass is designed to sit right here in the process.

Not when everything is still theoretical.
And not when decisions have already been locked in.

But in this in-between moment… where clarity can save you time, money, and regret.

In the session, we’ll look at:

how to avoid these common pitfalls
how to shape a strategic brief that guides every decision
and how to move forward without rushing or overcomplicating things

If a refurbishment or relocation is on the horizon, join me for the Creating Workspaces That Work masterclass before you lock anything in.

A little clarity now can prevent a lot of compromise later.