5 ms·

Cubes are not cheap. Price them some time. The last time I saw figures, the were considerably more expensive than offices made of sheetrock and steel 2X4s plus

Cubes are not cheap. Price them some time. The last time I saw figures, the were considerably more expensive than offices made of sheetrock and steel 2X4s plus modest desks. They do increase potential density of employees.

VLM 13y ago
This would imply you could make floor to chest height walls of sheetrock and studs even cheaper than cubes. I'm not seeing it. There is a long term savings in that reorgs of cubes means a couple hours for a couple guys with screwdrivers instead of week or so of carpenters / electricians / painters.
- jleader 13y ago
  Reorgs of cubes are a couple hours IF you are using exactly the same numbers of each component (unlikely), or IF you can get additional parts compatible with the cubes you have. Every place I've worked that tried to reconfigure their cubes found that it was much more expensive and time-consuming than they'd expected. In one case the vendor had either gone under, or discontinued that model of cube components (I forget which). My current employer seems to have a small stockpile of extra cube components, so maybe they'll avoid this pitfall, we'll see.
  - johnward 13y ago
    When I worked for FedEx there was a specified amount of space you would get based on your job title. So when the guy next to me was promoted to something that is like a technical fellow they expanded his cube 2 feet. This makes the next cube over unusable so they just stuck a cabinet in it. When a senior manager was promoted to VP they took down a wall and moved it out 2-3 feet and rebuilt it and put in all kinds of expensive furniture...
Florin_Andrei 13y ago
I'll make my own cube. Hell, I'll make my own closed office. I'm awesome at DIY projects. I'll paint it nice and everything.
johnward 13y ago
I find it hard to believe a cube with cardboard walls could be more expensive. Assuming that is true. What about the fact that you can jam 4 cubes into a single normal sized office space? You could probably get 8-10 in some VP level office. All of that space adds up in expensive real-estate. Open offices are purely about jamming as many people in a space as possible.
- cma 13y ago
  Cubicles aren't cardboard boxes; that would never pass fire code.

VLM 13y ago

This would imply you could make floor to chest height walls of sheetrock and studs even cheaper than cubes. I'm not seeing it. There is a long term savings in that reorgs of cubes means a couple hours for a couple guys with screwdrivers instead of week or so of carpenters / electricians / painters.

jleader 13y ago
Reorgs of cubes are a couple hours IF you are using exactly the same numbers of each component (unlikely), or IF you can get additional parts compatible with the cubes you have. Every place I've worked that tried to reconfigure their cubes found that it was much more expensive and time-consuming than they'd expected. In one case the vendor had either gone under, or discontinued that model of cube components (I forget which). My current employer seems to have a small stockpile of extra cube components, so maybe they'll avoid this pitfall, we'll see.
- johnward 13y ago
  When I worked for FedEx there was a specified amount of space you would get based on your job title. So when the guy next to me was promoted to something that is like a technical fellow they expanded his cube 2 feet. This makes the next cube over unusable so they just stuck a cabinet in it. When a senior manager was promoted to VP they took down a wall and moved it out 2-3 feet and rebuilt it and put in all kinds of expensive furniture...

Florin_Andrei 13y ago

I'll make my own cube. Hell, I'll make my own closed office. I'm awesome at DIY projects. I'll paint it nice and everything.

johnward 13y ago

I find it hard to believe a cube with cardboard walls could be more expensive. Assuming that is true. What about the fact that you can jam 4 cubes into a single normal sized office space? You could probably get 8-10 in some VP level office. All of that space adds up in expensive real-estate. Open offices are purely about jamming as many people in a space as possible.

cma 13y ago
Cubicles aren't cardboard boxes; that would never pass fire code.