Stan Krawitz, President of Real Facilities

AUGUST 13, 2001 BY STACY KING

You've got a great idea for the next killer application and the right talent to build and market it. Now all you need is a space for them to work. With the venture capital you've secured, that should be a cinch - provided you don't mind spending the next few months negotiating with contractors, designers and furniture suppliers instead of focusing on your real work.

Up until now, that's been the common problem faced by both start-ups and established companies looking to move into new digs. Traditionally, real estate brokers help a company locate and lease the right office space. Everything else, from designing and building the space to picking out chairs, is left up to the company.

Sound frustrating? Companies like Siebel Systems certainly think so. When Siebel opened a new office in Toronto, intended to integrate their existing Toronto staff with employees of the recently acquired Janna Systems, they went looking for a better way to handle the process. What they found was Real Facilities Inc., a Toronto-based startup that offers a new twist on corporate real estate.

"Traditional brokerages leave clients with a new space, but not one that's workable. There's no technology and no design," says Stan Krawitz, President of Real Facilities. "Dealing with space issues is not the client's core competency, yet they are forced to take over that aspect of their new space because the broker relationship ends with the lease signing."

Rather than dropping clients at the door of their new - and unfinished - office space, Real Facilities offers a solution they call FLOW: Find, Lease, Outfit and Work. By incorporating project management into their brokerage offerings, the company is able to lift the burden of facilities development off their client's shoulders.

"The biggest problem is that clients and brokers have different goal lines for the relationship. The client's goal is to have a workable space, but the broker's goal is to have a signed lease. That weakens the relationship, because once the client signs the lease, their relationship with the broker comes to an end."

Seeing the problem also led to seeing a new business opportunity. Taking the idea a step further, Krawitz decided to use the Internet as a means of bringing clients into the process without overwhelming them with regular progress reports and update meetings.

"Our online services provide clients with access to insider brokerage data on spaces that are available in their chosen location and which match their needs," says Krawitz. "Most brokers view that information as proprietary data. We're not selling information, however. We're selling an end-to-end solution."

"The value add for our clients is that we understand what the buildings are, what their needs are, and how to build a work space that combines the best of both."

"There are different levels of access depending on the classification of the team member," says Krawitz. "This provides security and reduces distractions, since each person can only see as much information as they need to for their role, while still allowing the CEO to log on to the system at any time and oversee progress. The CEO can be up at four a.m. and get an update on all aspects of the project from wherever they are."

"Our goal is to provide clients with a single point of contact from start to end, and to build an ongoing relationship with continuous service after the initial lease signing," says Krawitz. "We want to provide real people with warm, productive and comfortable environments."