Ross Levin, of Accredited Investors in Edina, Minn., is one of very few advisors who has consciously thought out the message he wants his office space to send to clients. “We’re competing most often with banks and trust companies for our clients,” he says. “So we decided to make our office look more like an ad agency than a traditional money management or law firm.”

When Accredited doubled its three-year-old space this past January—the staff of 33 now occupies 16,000 square feet—Levin had the public areas decorated with what he describes as “fun” colors (mostly bright yellows and blues) and “quirky” contemporary art, and installed big flat-panel television screens in each of six staff conference rooms and eight client meeting rooms. This, he says, emphasizes his company’s creativity and uniqueness, which are its strengths, and de-emphasizes what could be considered a weakness—not being part of a multinational financial services conglomerate that takes out Super Bowl advertisements.

Curt Weil, of Lasecke Weil Wealth Advisory Group in Palo Alto, decided to make his office space special by moving his staff into a 1940s-era house a few blocks down the street from Stanford University. Clients can park in a preferred spot—which Weil describes as “pure gold” in downtown Palo Alto—in the first half of the driveway; the staff parks in the paved back yard. The lobby area is a living room environment with a custom-designed front desk for the office manager/receptionist (green, to harmonize with the carpet), fireplace, three comfortable armchairs and flowers set on a credenza. “We get consistently positive feedback about our space,” Weil says, adding that clients describe it as “elegant but not formal,” “warm and welcoming,” “professional and yet home-like.”

Kathleen Rehl, of Rehl Financial Advisors in Land O’Lakes, Fla., prefers to take differentiation with large financial services institutions to another level and works out of her home. “I love my 10-second commute,” she admits.

Her office, however, is a bit different from the normal converted bedroom or space over the garage. When she moved from Ohio to Florida and built her current residence, she integrated the office structure she wanted. “I now have a house in my office, rather than an office in my house,” she says.

Half of the building is dedicated to her planning firm, including her own office, which is connected to a room where her two assistants work. Rehl also has an overflow office that’s used for special projects, such as assembling seminar workbooks and preparing mailings, as well as storing office supplies. The kitchen has become shared home office space, and the great room, with its large conference table, doubles as a waiting area. “I guess you could say that my clients are treated as guests in my home,” says Rehl. “Some of my out-of-state clients have stayed in my house overnight.” Turns out that the table in the overflow office folds into a comfortable queen-size bed, making an extra guest bedroom.

With the real estate decline well into its second year and the (thus far) unconfirmed recession working its way through the economy, financial advisors are facing an unusual opportunity to renegotiate their leases or move into new quarters at reduced rates. This offers a chance to redesign their office setup; however, very little has been written about what an ideal planning office should look like, or what to consider beforehand when setting up the work environment.

As Levin, Weil and Rehl demonstrate, there is a lot of variation in what advisors consider ideal. But these and other advisors are also pioneering what may become the first standards for professional planning office design in the marketplace.

First Impressions

What does a client or prospect experience when entering your office? Weil says that his clients have to climb only one step from ground level to walk into the front door, and the walk from the parking lot to the office is short—a boon for elderly clients. Once they enter the office, observes Craig Phillips, of Client 1st Advisors in Clearwater, Fla., many advisors create exactly the wrong impression right off the bat. “I’ve seen a number of planning office lobbies with TVs tuned into ‘financial pornography’ such as CNBC,” he says. “Ditch the TV and have a few high-end, nonfinancial periodicals to read,” he suggests.