Modular workstation buying guide for offices

Buying modular workstations for a new office looks simpler than it is. A floor plan gets approved and the seat count looks right on paper. Then the furniture arrives and someone realises the screen height gives zero visual privacy, or the cable raceway is too narrow for the monitor setup. 

This guide covers what to specify before the order goes in, not after delivery.

In this article

1. Sharing vs non-sharing: the first decision
2. How much floor space per workstation
3. Screen type and height
4. Wire management: the spec most buyers skip
5. Material grade: what to confirm in writing
6. What modular workstations cost in Jaipur
7. Frequently asked questions
8. Ready to furnish your office in Jaipur?
9. 
   

Sharing vs non-sharing: the first decision

This decision shapes seat density and budget before anything else gets specified.

Non-sharing workstations (Urban Office's UO-WS105) give each person a dedicated desk surface, 900mm wide, with privacy screens on the sides. They use more floor area per head but suit roles that need concentrated focus: finance and client-facing staff, or any team where people are on calls for most of the day.

Sharing workstations (UO-WS106) put 2 or 4 people on a pod with a shared central divider. A 4-seater sharing pod at 1800×1200mm gives each person a 900×600mm surface, the same as a non-sharing single seater, but the overall footprint per head is tighter. They work well for IT development teams and sales floors where people spend a lot of time away from their desks.

Most offices use both. Zone by work type: concentrated roles get non-sharing, collaborative or rotating roles get sharing pods.

How much floor space per workstation

The desk footprint is only part of the calculation. A 900×600mm desk needs roughly 800mm behind it for chair recline, plus aisle clearance behind that. Multiply across a row and the usable floor area per seat is considerably larger than the desk spec alone suggests.

Work backward from total floor area to seat count, not the other way around. Forward-from-seat-count planning is how offices end up with technically correct density that feels cramped on day one.

On large-scale projects like Formidium Corp's 20,000 sq ft fit-out in Malviya Nagar, workstation layout goes through multiple floor plan iterations before seat density and aisle widths are in balance with emergency egress requirements under NBC 2016. Getting a proper space plan done before placing a furniture order prevents retrofitting desks 6 months later.

Screen type and height

Fabric screens absorb some ambient sound. Glass screens let light pass through the floor, which matters in Jaipur offices with deep floor plates where perimeter daylight doesn't reach the centre of the space. Both are available on Urban Office's WS105 and WS106 series. The right choice depends on whether acoustic separation or visual openness matters more for your team.

Height is where most specs go wrong. A 400mm screen above the desk surface (roughly 1,150mm from the floor) works for collaborative pods but gives almost no visual privacy. A 600-700mm screen above the desk (1,350-1,450mm from floor) blocks sightlines for seated users while keeping the floor relatively open. Anything above 800mm starts to feel like a wall.

Specify the screen height as a millimetre measurement above the desk surface, not a label. Suppliers interpret "low" and "high" differently, and the difference between 400mm and 700mm is the difference between an open collaborative pod and a usable private workstation.

Wire management: the spec most buyers skip

A standard Jaipur office seat runs 2 monitors and a UPS line at minimum, before desk phones or charging hubs. That's 4 cable runs per person going through the desk structure.

Urban Office's WS105 and WS106 series carry a 150mm built-in wire management raceway along the desk frame. That's wide enough for a 4-cable setup without routing cables over the desk surface. Budget-range workstations often come with 50-80mm raceways, which look fine at handover and become a cable problem within a month.

Ask your supplier to state the raceway width in the product data sheet, not in a brochure. If it isn't listed, ask why.

Pro tip: if your office uses UPS units under the desk, check that the raceway has clearance for the UPS cable gland before signing off the order. Most UPS units need a dedicated exit point with a cable gland fitting, which is wider than a standard cable slot. Add 20-30mm to whatever cable count you think you'll need. Teams always add equipment after move-in, and retrofitting cable management through an occupied office is the kind of job nobody wants.

Material grade: what to confirm in writing

2 specs matter most for Jaipur offices.

The first is board thickness. 25mm pre-laminated particle board is the commercial standard for workstation tops. Boards below 18mm deflect under monitor arm loads and show edge damage within a year. Ask for the board thickness in the product data sheet, not verbally.

The second is frame surface treatment. MS (mild steel) square tube legs are standard on Urban Office's range. In Rajasthan, the cycle between a 42°C May exterior and an air-conditioned interior stresses painted finishes more than it does powder coating. Ask specifically whether the frame is powder-coated or painted. That distinction doesn't always appear in spec sheets unless you ask for it.

Both specs should come in writing before you sign off on the order. A supplier who can't produce a material data sheet is worth a pause.

What modular workstations cost in Jaipur

These are verified starting prices from Urban Office's modular furniture range. Final pricing varies with screen type and finish. Order volume also affects the per-unit cost, so get a measured quote for your actual seat count rather than multiplying the unit rate.

Task chairs are priced separately. Urban Office's UO-OC series covers mid-back mesh task chairs (UO-OC101 to UO-OC109) and high-back executive chairs (UO-OC110 to UO-OC118).

Frequently asked questions

How do I decide which workstation configuration to use in an office with mixed roles?

Zone the office by work type rather than applying one configuration across the floor. Finance and accounts teams do better with non-sharing desks; IT and sales teams often work fine on sharing pods. A space plan done before the order goes in makes this call easier and cheaper than adjusting post-installation.

Can I expand my workstation run later without replacing the existing desks?

Yes, if the workstations use frame-based expansion connectors. Confirm this with your supplier before installation. Urban Office's WS series is designed for on-site expansion; the expansion points are specified on the as-built drawing at handover.

What's the right desk depth for a dual-monitor setup?

600mm depth is the practical minimum for a dual-monitor arm. Shallower desks push screens too close to the user. Urban Office's standard depth across the WS105 and WS106 series is 600mm.

How long does a workstation installation take for a 50-seat office?

Installation time depends on whether civil and electrical work runs alongside it, and how much customisation is involved. Urban Office's team will confirm a site schedule as part of the project plan before any work begins.

Ready to furnish your office in Jaipur?

Urban Office manufactures modular workstations in-house and has fitted out 300+ offices across Jaipur, Ajmer, Alwar and Sikar, all with 3 years of post-handover support. 

If you're planning a new office or adding seats to an existing one, get in touch for a free consultation and we'll put together a seat-by-seat spec before anything goes to production.