Demountable Wall Systems and the Very Real Limitations of Old Style Offices

In the past business was a slow motion experience. Technological advance meant a new typewriter, the workday started at 9 and ended at 5 and a new hire was a big deal. In such a world having walls fused to the floor and ceiling seemed like a reasonable thing. It reinforced the idea of permanence; of an unchanging reality that was predictable and reassuring. In today’s global marketplace however a company needs to have a flexible workforce, integrate new technology at a moment’s notice and be able to keep costs under control. Such a business environment calls for an office space that’s as responsive as it is functional: an office space fashioned from demountable wall systems by I-M-T.

Demountable Wall Systems: Reclaiming Competitiveness

There are still plenty of office spaces out there clinging in vain to their drywall rigidity but every year their numbers grow fewer. Increasingly companies are demanding more from their space and the limitations of drywall and even plaster are no longer cutting it. Those limitations include:

• Immobility – For better or worse the days when you could expect to spend your life working for a single company are over. Today companies expand and contract, are merged and acquired at dizzying speed. If you need to call in the construction crews every time you take on new staff or create a new work group you won’t last long. Immobility has no more place in the contemporary office than does the 3 ½” floppy disc.
• Cost – Those who pay the bills know that drywall construction isn’t cheap. Add up the costs of the demolition crew, the drywall crew, the electricians and HVAC people, the glazers, the carpet company, the painters and more and you’re looking at many thousands of dollars every time you need to make a change. Demountable wall systems are paid for once and can be quickly repurposed as many times as you need at no additional cost.
• Cost II – Immovable walls are great at two things: blocking out the sun and creating stagnant air. Most old fashioned offices are dingy affairs where the light rarely penetrates beyond the periphery and the air you breathe out in the morning is the same air you breathe in in the afternoon. As a result these spaces cost more to light and, because air movement is nearly non-existent, more to heat and cool as well.
• Waste – If you have an old fashioned set-in-stone office and you need to call in the construction crews you know you’re in for not only a king-sized bill but enormous piles of construction waste that will be tossed into the dumpster and ultimately into a landfill. Not only that but during demolition you’ll be engulfed in clouds of choking dust and dealing with noise levels that make it hard to think.
• Technological intolerance – Try running new cables through your drywall to accommodate the latest technology. You’ll need to bring in the contractors who will smash holes through the wall, disrupt your office and charge you an arm and a leg. Demountable wall systems are future proof and tech ready. Simply open the utility panel, run your cables or plug in your tech and get back to work.

The only thing that doesn’t change is change itself. While some folks are nostalgic for the days of adding machines, rotary telephones and fixed walls the realists among us need to navigate and thrive within the business climate as it exists today. That means creating spaces that respond to your needs, that help reduce overhead and that answer the technological call. That means demountable wall systems from I-M-T.