Heisler: It's definitely a consideration, and in many markets it's something that's always on our minds when we're meeting with a client. We like to know what the budgetary constraints are, and we're always looking at what's truly reusable and what has longer-term value that we can re-use, rather than redo everything. We're always trying to be prudent about what's in place to day and harness what's there before we actually demo everything. It depends how much of a cultural shift that company wants to make and how dated that space is in terms of what we can re-use or completely redo.

GlobeSt.com: Please explain your firm's proprietary planning tool for office design and how it best serves the client.

Heisler: We're really trying to help our clients think through the process and provide a more thought-oriented, pragmatic approach to designing the space. Some designers pick a trend and try that suit on their clients, so to speak, but instead of doing that we would rather help them make decisions for what their space should reflect—the corporate culture and values. Part of it stems from our philosophy, which is really basic but often missed, that the office environment should have an appropriate aesthetic. It shouldn't be just a strong personality at the helm or someone in the C suite having input, but it should reflect the entire organization. Figuring out how to work with leadership to help them discover the best choices along the way is tricky. They have a lot of opinions and wield a lot of power. They're smart people and have a lot of good ideas, but getting the ideas in the right order to execute an appropriate design plan is challenging. That's what we do, and people get really excited about it.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about new trends in office design?

Heisler: It's never been about one size fits all. A lot of people try to pare things down to that, but customization and thinking to the brand is a concept that we preach to a lot of our clients. This is especially important because right now so much is being written about progressive or creative space in a generic sense, not necessarily thinking through what works best for your business. The clients we work with have a higher level of satisfaction with their space because they've gone through that process. The key for us is when they realize that all of the thought that went into the space makes it worthwhile. Those who don't go through that process often end up retrofitting their spaces because employees are unhappy. The key takeaway is that companies need to put more time into that and rush less. Think through what makes the most sense for their organization. Good corporate alignment makes sense.