Big Ambitions: First Office Lease and Sign Guide
Sign the right office lease in Big Ambitions without renting retail by mistake. Here is how to pick HQ vs law firm, check the three numbers before signing, fit out workstations, and staff in the right order.
Core goal: Sign a lease on a real office building, not retail, so you can open either your first headquarters or a client-facing office firm, without burning cash on empty desks or picking a building that cannot run the business type you want. The tutorial pushes an office early, but most players rent the wrong building type, open too early, or furnish it wrong so staff never actually work.
1Decide What This First Office Is For
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1
Headquarters (most common first office)
Purchasing agents, HR, logistics. No customers. Open this only after 2-3 shops already run without you. Community rule of thumb: wait until you are around $7k-$10k+ daily profit and tired of personally restocking. Open earlier and you just pay rent for empty chairs.
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2
Law firm, web firm, or design firm
Customer-facing office. Demand, traffic index, and customer capacity matter. One employee generally maps to one customer slot. Cramming extra desks does not raise income on these.
2Find and Sign the Right Lease
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1
Open the phone map and filter for Office buildings
Open the phone map, go to Buildings for Rent, and filter for Office, not Retail. This is the single most important step to avoid the wrong building type.
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2
Check three numbers before you sign
Building code and size: small A-type offices cap around 4 staff, C and D around 8-10, large K-type up to approximately 50 for client firms. Traffic index: matters for law and web firms, almost irrelevant for HQ. Customer capacity: hard cap for client offices.
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3
Pick the right location
First HQ: cheap and convenient beats Midtown prestige. Rent follows square metres. First law firm: players report Midtown and Hell's Kitchen pay higher hourly rates. Garment can work if demand is empty.
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4
Sign the lease, then set the business type immediately
Set HQ vs law or web right after signing. An empty rented shell is not a valid move target later. If you skip this step, you cannot staff or open the business.
3Fit Out Workstations Before Hiring
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1
One complete workstation per person
Desk plus computer plus chair that stay linked as a set. If you pick up the desk and the chair or computer do not come with it, the station is broken and staff will not work.
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2
Skip executive desks on the first HQ
Candidates who demand executive furniture will not fit a starter office. Buy standard desks and chairs first.
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3
Buy from IKA BOHAG or Mr. Scott's Office Supplies
Use store deliveries at approximately $250 instead of hauling everything in a tiny car. Stagger delivery slots because you cannot receive two pallets at once.
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4
Check bathrooms by office size
Later patches require bathrooms scaled to office size. If the office earns $0 after an update, check toilets and sinks. They sometimes appear at the delivery spot instead of being installed automatically.
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5
Optional: pay Kingdom Office to install the interior
Once you have spoken to Kingdom Office in person, you can pay them to install the interior. This saves time if you have the cash.
4Staff It in the Right Order
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1
Call City Workforce Inc., the office recruiter
Not the retail recruiter. Order lawyers, programmers, or HQ roles like HR managers and purchasing agents with a short delivery window.
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2
Assign each person to a complete workstation and the schedule
Both steps are required. A person at a desk with no schedule entry will not work. A person on the schedule with no desk will not work either.
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3
For purchasing agents, assign them to importer contracts
They must be at a desk on the clock. Then you visit or call an importer and assign that agent to the contract. Without this step, imports do not flow.
5Key Decisions You Will Face
6Common Mistakes to Avoid
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Renting retail, then wondering why Law Firm is not in the list. Filter for Office buildings only.
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Opening HQ at one shop or low daily profit. Wait until 2-3 shops run without you and you hit $7k-$10k+ daily profit.
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Extra desks beyond customer cap on a law or web firm. You pay wages for no extra clients. One employee maps to one customer slot.
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Unpaired furniture so schedules show no stations. Desk, computer, and chair must stay linked as a set.
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Fancy executive furniture before cashflow. Candidates who demand executive furniture will not fit a starter office anyway.
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Forgetting bathrooms after size-based toilet rules. If the office earns $0 after an update, check toilets and sinks first.
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Trying to move HQ into a second building with no office business type set. Set the business type immediately after signing every lease.
Office Lease and Setup Videos
Opening the office and warehouse: where to click for the lease and first furniture loop.
How to open and optimize an office business: location, staff, and opening steps. Mechanics have changed since early access, so treat these as navigation guides, not current dollar numbers.