Office Furniture

Workstation clusters, cubicles and benches:

open-plan offices are furnished in groups rather than desk by desk. A workstation cluster puts several people on one frame, facing each other or back to back across a divider panel, usually with a locking pedestal under each position. A cubicle is the same idea with taller panels closing it in at the sides and back, and a bench is the open version: a long shared top with no panels at all, common in newer offices and coworking floors. Single desks are listed under desks, and seating has its own place in office chairs.

Made-to-measure melamine against standard sets and panel systems:

this is what decides how much a used piece is worth to you. Much of the furniture in Panamanian offices was built to order by local workshops: a reception counter sized to one lobby, a run of workstations cut to fit between columns, a meeting table made as long as the room allowed. It fits the place it was drawn for, so measure your own space against it first. Imported standard sets, mostly flat-packed melamine, come as fixed clusters you can stand side by side but cannot link. Panel systems from Steelcase, Herman Miller, Haworth or Knoll are built to grow, but a used run only extends with parts from the same product line.

Conference tables, reception counters and credenzas:

each turns on one measurement. A conference table is judged by its length and by whether the top is one piece or comes in sections, which decides whether it fits in the lift at all. A reception counter has a raised ledge for visitors with a desk-height top behind it, and the return sits on one side or the other, so it has to suit the way people walk in. A credenza is the low cabinet behind an executive desk. Filing cabinets and storage are under cabinets.

What a workstation module or meeting table costs, new and used:

an imported four-person melamine module starts around $400 new, and a conference table for ten is closer to $900. Used, both sell for much less than their condition would suggest, because the buyer takes on the work: dismantling, moving a heavy frame and building it again. Made-to-measure pieces lose the most: a counter or a long table only finds a buyer whose space happens to match. Corporate panel systems cost far more new and hold their value better than either, provided every connector and bracket comes with them.

A used cluster or counter, counted part by part:

ask for the parts list or the original quote, and count against it: panels, connectors, leg frames, keyboard trays and the keys for every pedestal. Missing proprietary connectors are what turn a cheap panel run into a stack of loose tops. On melamine, look at the holes where the cam locks sit, because they loosen with every assembly and chipboard does not take many moves. Check the base of counters and panel feet for board swollen by years of mopping, sight along a long conference top for a sag in the middle, and on a cubicle with fabric panels ask to see the side that faced the aisle.

Selling workstations, counters and meeting tables when an office moves:

list them while they are still standing if you can: a cluster seen in use is easier to trust than one on a pallet. Photograph each set from both sides, a connector close up and any label with the maker’s name, and give the overall footprint, the size of one position, the panel height and how many identical units there are. Say plainly when something was made to measure, and give its dimensions, so the right buyer recognises their own room in it. Paper, toner and the small things on the desk go in office supplies. A counter built to measure sells most easily to whoever takes over the same premises after you, so tell the incoming tenant about it before you unscrew anything.