Mobile Offices

We already talked about what a mobile office is at its basest form. It is a temporary building that serves as an office. There can be permanent mobile offices as well, though those will be discussed in a later section of this article.

You have probably seen mobile offices, mostly on constructions sites or places that are being expanded. While improvements or expansions are being made, rental trailers are used to house students, employees etc until their normal building is finished. Since remodeling or other projects can take weeks and sometimes even months or years to finish, it makes sense to erect some kind of temporary building that will serve as a new office until the old (or perhaps new one) is complete.

These offices should have the complete function of a regular office, though likely in much smaller quarters. They may not be well decorated and many look like construction trailers but they are easy to transport and can generally be setup in just a matter of hours or days to accommodate everything from planned needs for the rental trailers to last-minute or even emergency same-day needs as well.

Many people who have not had the opportunity to work in or at least visit a mobile office will often ask if they are safe. From the outside, some of the very basic models looks like they were hastily put together. There is generally little if any decoration and sometimes it is not even painted due to last-minute delivery (such as in natural disasters where temporary housing might be needed same or next day).

If you look inside one of these mobile offices, you will not see a huge difference from a regular office. They are just as safe and well-constructed as any other building. Though they do have a feeling of being temporary, that is because they are! You won't fall through the steps that lead to the construction trailer, nor will you fall through the floor once you walk in. The same precautions and safety measures that you would find during the construction of a regular office building are the same ones you will find with a mobile office. The size and location should be the only really distinguishing factors.

You can also get well-decorated rental trailers that look like permanent buildings. Called permanent modulars, these will be discussed later on in this article.

People know little about them and you may not understand the amenities that you would find in rental trailers. Amenities mean the features and add-ons that you can expect once you start housing your business or office inside of a mobile office.

The truth is you should expect almost the same amenities as you would in a regular office building, though admittedly reduced in size and aesthetics. Many ask a very valid question—do construction trailers have bathrooms in them. The answer to that is both yes and no. Yes, some have a bathroom while others do not have a bathroom inside of them.

When you order your mobile office, you can request that it have a bathroom in it. These bathrooms would have a toilet and sink in them like you would find in any bathroom. Once again, they would likely be much smaller due to the closed quarters as compared to a regular building's bathroom. Many construction trailers do not come with a bathroom because at construction sites, there are generally portable bathrooms on site. For this reason, there is no need for extra bathrooms, so companies may forego a bathroom in the mobile office in order to save money and resources from someone having to come and clean out an additional septic tank.

We already briefly touched on construction trailers. These are usually the same as a mobile office, minus a few amenities. The bathroom is one of the things that a construction trailer may not have. As previously noted, since there are always portable restrooms (port-a-potties) on a construction site, there is no need for one more. Of course, this is not always the case. If the foreman of the site would prefer a bathroom available to them in the construction trailer, you better believe they will get one.

Construction trailers are generally very sparse in appearance—that is they don't have a lot of decorating going on. White walls, unfinished wood and the like may be what you see. They will still have all of the electronics and office furniture and gadgets needed to get their job done. From phone lines to computers, Internet access to cable or satellite television, you will almost not want to leave considering all of the goodies you may find inside of a construction trailer.

If you are in need of a rental trailers, it is likely for a single event. This event could be construction of a new building, expansion of a current one or even just a fundraiser that requires a temporary building to run it. There are many reasons why each company who has a mobile office on site needs it. The one thing that ties them all together is that the reasons they need mobile offices are often only temporary.

What this means is that most people are going to rent their mobile offices. Whether by the week or month, there are some very good rates to be found for rentals. Often, company accountants wonder if it would not be cheaper just to buy the mobile office instead of renting one. This is especially true if the rental trailers in question will be needed long-term. For example, if the construction of the building or extension to your regular office takes more than a year, then renting mobile offices can add up quickly. This is especially true if you need several, or if they are the more highly-appointed mobile offices instead of very basic models.

The only problem with this line of thinking is that eventually, you will no longer need the rental trailers. At that point, what do you do with them? You could rent them out to someone else and make some of your money back, of course. Once those people no longer need them, you will be responsible for their transport and storage until you find someone else to rent. Of course, this could all be alleviated if you just sell them after and recoup what you spent (and perhaps make a profit). This idea leads us into the next session of this article—other uses.

If indeed you find yourself stuck with mobile offices you no longer use or if you are in the mobile office industry and wish to sell off your inventory, there are quite a few ways you can go about this.

First, you must find a buyer. Finding buyers is easy if you advertise in areas that will need them. For instance, schools are always expanding as the population grows. In fact, you might even know a school in your area that already has rental trailers to hold class in. You can try renting or selling to them, as the school district might be interested in doing so.
Areas where natural disasters happen often need a construction trailer to get recovery services a home to work out of. FEMA often buys these types of buildings to set up on a moment's notice, so be ready to try and sell at a good price if you are near one of these incidents.

Many people take rental trailers and make them a permanent home for their business. As long as it has running water and electricity, they can add on other amenities to it later. Look around for businesses that are mostly outdoors like say nurseries and the like and see what their needs are and if they would be willing to sell or rent from you.

We just touched on how many companies may want to take a rental trailer and make it a permanent structure. They can go through the trouble of redecorating and putting in more features, or they can simply buy or rent a type of mobile office known as a permanent modular.

Permanent modulars are basically mobile offices that are fancy and full of features. They are considered the high end of rental trailers. In fact, people often can not tell the difference between permanent modulars and a regular building. This is because they can be painted on the outside, tiled or even stucco can be used to give them a warm, inviting look that does not look anything like a temporary trailer.

The inside can have either carpet, hard wood or tile to make it look like it was meant to be a true office instead of a mobile one. They will have full-sized bathrooms in them and many times have closets for customers' coats or even storage closets and cubbies built into the walls for a look of permanence that you just would not find with a construction trailer. Of course, given all of these extras, there is likely a much higher price tag attached to these structures. You should keep in mind though that that higher price tag may still be cheaper in the long run than renting or constructing your own permanent office.

Since mobile offices can be very large in size, you might be wondering how they are transported, and what the cost of that would be. They are generally transported by a large tractor trailer that can handle that big of a load. These are the same types of trucks that can transport tons of goods across the country, the type you would see at rural truck stops.
Depending on your dealer, you can get a mobile office delivered same or next day. Of course, this would be a little pricier than if you went ahead and just took standard shipping of the rental trailers, but it can help you out if you truly need something last minute.

When it comes to the price of the actual rental fee, which can vary greatly. We have described to you several types of mobile offices—from the very basic construction trailer without a bathroom to mobile offices that are better appointed and include a bathroom all the way to luxurious permanent modulars that don't look like a mobile office at all. The price of the rental fee will reflect exactly how luxurious you want your mobile offices to be, and will vary from company to company.

Mobile offices are a convenient way to house your business and/or offices should you ever need a temporary home for them. They can run from high-end permanent modulars that look just like a regular office to construction trailers that are sparse but still very functional. The price of either buying or renting these structures will vary depending on which type of mobile office you choose.

Rental trailers can be transported to you in just a matter of days or even hours using a tractor trailer to get it to you. After it is delivered, the company can either advise you as to how to hookup your power and other amenities, or they can simply do it for you if it comes as a part of the service. Once you no longer need a rental trailer, the company you rented from can take it from you and you can move your offices or business into your permanent structure.