Introduction

 

The LogiSon® Cost / Benefit Estimation Tool allows you to quickly estimate the financial value of using the LogiSon Sound Masking System. Whether you will be the end-user of the system or you are advising a client to use it, the worksheet should prove useful in highlighting the economic rationale for investing in the Network. The worksheet is intended to be used for quick, high level estimation. While we cannot guarantee the exact results of the estimate, the direction of the benefit will certainly be clear.

 

The worksheet allows you to estimate the initial investment in the LogiSon Sound Masking System and to quantify estimates of the resulting project, real estate, and productivity savings. A summary section at the end of the worksheet provides a snapshot of the economic rationale.

 

As you complete the worksheet, we caution you that care must be taken in determining if each item applies to your situation and to what extent. It is entirely up to you to include or exclude elements of the worksheet from your analysis. The following instructions describe the nature of each of the elements on the worksheet and give some general guidance as to completing an estimate. Our distributors will be pleased to help you complete the worksheet in as accurate a manner as possible.

 

Instructions for completing the worksheet

 

You can choose to read these instructions completely or proceed immediately to the worksheet.

 

Investment in the LogiSon Sound Masking System

To determine the size of your investment in the LogiSon Sound Masking System, enter the number of square feet or square meters and the average cost per square foot or meter. To obtain the average cost, contact the distributor for your region. The worksheet also includes a space for the estimated cost of any audio equipment you will require (if paging or music functions will be used).

 

Project cost reductions

 

Obviously the greatest project savings can be realized if you are building a new office space and design that office with the LogiSon Sound Masking System in mind, however savings can also be realized with renovation or retrofit projects.

 

Paging / music system

 

The LogiSon Sound Masking System eliminates the need for a separate public address or music broadcast system. Using LogiSon paging functions allows you or your client to save on the cost of a second speaker system and on the cost of audio equipment. (Since the Network is self-amplified, amplifier requirements are greatly reduced.)

 

Wall construction

 

The LogiSon Sound Masking System can add up to the equivalent of 10 STC points to the walls between private offices. We have worked with clients who have traditionally constructed closed offices to exacting standards and who have been able to reduce those standards, with no loss of performance, upon making the decision to install sound masking. One common benefit, where multiple layers of drywall are used in wall construction, is to eliminate one or more of these layers.

 

The worksheet allows you to enter a single value for wall construction savings. After determining the wall requirements with and without the LogiSon Sound Masking System, ask your contractor for an estimate to complete the project with each standard. The difference between the high and low quote is your savings.

 

NOTE: You must be very careful when estimating this benefit. It will only apply in situations when high construction standards are used. It would be advisable to speak with one of our distributors to ensure that the end result will meet your requirements.

 

Plenum barriers

 

Plenum barriers are often used above the ceiling around closed offices. Using the LogiSon Sound Masking System can allow you to eliminate or reduce the use of these barriers. The worksheet requires that you enter the amount of the savings. This figure can be obtained from your contractor. You may be able to perform a quick estimate if you know the cost per linear foot or meter of the barrier material and the number of linear feet or meters of barriers that will be used in your space. Again, it is advised that you speak with one of our distributors.

 

Acoustical return air ducts

 

If plenum barriers are used, additional HVAC equipment must be installed to ensure proper ventilation, heating, and cooling. Acoustical return air ducts are usually installed because they allow airflow, but minimize the transmission of noise through the duct. As indicated above, using the LogiSon Sound Masking System allows you to eliminate or reduce the use of plenum barriers. This eliminates the need to install acoustical return air ducts. The worksheet allows you to enter the amount you would save.

 

Maintain continual suspended ceiling grid

 

Separate t-bar ceilings in individual rooms will cost more than a single ceiling. Walls that are built from slab to slab will break the ceiling grid and require that a new grid be started. With the use of the LogiSon Sound Masking System you can eliminate or reduce the requirement for slab-to-slab walls and therefore save the additional ceiling installation cost. The worksheet provides a space for you to enter an estimate as to the amount of the savings. This figure can be obtained from your contractor.

 

Reduced panel heights

 

With the use of the LogiSon Sound Masking System you may be able to reduce the height of the furniture panel heights with no loss of acoustic performance. The worksheet allows you to enter a single number for the estimated savings. This estimate can be provided to you by your furniture provider.

 

NOTE: The height of furniture panels cannot be reduced indefinitely and you are advised that any panel heights below 1.25 meters (50 inches) provide essentially the same acoustic benefits as an unpanelled office (from one workstation to another).

 

Productivity improvements

 

The LogiSon Sound Masking System provides office occupants with increased privacy, reduced distraction due to noise, and improved comfort. All of these will logically increase productivity, but by how much? Especially where environmental factors are concerned, accurately determining the quantitative value of the benefit from any improvement has proven difficult. So how should you estimate the increase in productivity?

 

Our Scamp® Sound Masking System was included in a study conducted by an insurance company in Germany. The company's call center was renovated using an improved acoustical ceiling tile, improved acoustic furniture panels, and the Scamp System. The result was a measured 30 percent reduction in the number of errors made by the call center personnel. While the entire benefit cannot be attributed to the Scamp System in this case, the improvements due to increased acoustical control are clear.

 

Others have demonstrated the strong linkage between the quality of the acoustical environment and productivity. A survey of 400 business managers conducted by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) and the University of Maryland indicated that noise control held the greatest opportunity for productivity improvements with an estimated average increase of 26 percent. A research paper from Herriot-Watt University, entitled "Study on the Effects of Background Speech and Masking Sound Upon Clerical Efficiency", concluded that intrusive conversations increased errors by over 12 percent and reduced output by over 10 percent.

 

Clearly, the magnitude of the impact of the LogiSon Sound Masking System will vary with the type of office environment, the type of activity being performed, and the personalities of the individuals in the office. Whatever the exact figure, the time savings will add up when you no longer have to:

We do not want you to make a decision based on the magnitude of improvements listed in the studies above, however, if you thought that these types of things would save you five minutes a day, then over a standard eight hour workday you would have a productivity increase of just over one percent. That is much less than even the minimum 10 percent that the studies above indicated, but one percent is where we think you should begin on the worksheet. Try entering a one percent improvement and you will likely be surprised by the result. See what happens to the payback if you estimate a two or three percent improvement (10-15 minutes saved per day).

 

NOTE: We believe so strongly that you will not need to estimate high productivity increases to justify an investment in the LogiSon Sound Masking System that we have limited the increase on the worksheet to a 3 percent maximum.

 

Real estate savings

 

Many organizations are reducing their real estate costs by switching from closed to open plan offices or by reducing the size of their workstation footprints. As densities increase in these offices, the LogiSon Sound Masking System helps to ensure success by improving the acoustical environment. There is, after all, little benefit in changing your standards to create a space which is less functional or productive. Open and high density environments inevitably have an increased need for acoustic control.

 

The worksheet asks you to enter the area of your current space and the number of occupants. It provides the density of occupants in the space. The same information should be entered for your future space.

 

The worksheet calculates your future space needs using current densities. This identifies your space shortfall using existing space and space standards and does not incorporate changes from closed to open office concepts and adjustments to smaller workstation footprints. The worksheet provides the office space savings through changes in standards.

 

Since the entire savings cannot be attributed to the LogiSon Sound Masking System, the worksheet allows you to enter the percentage of the savings which you feel is reasonable. You are faced with the question of selecting an appropriate percentage.

 

Along with the LogiSon Sound Masking System, four other major items help ensure success when moving to a higher density office: upgraded acoustic ceiling tiles, new furniture and acoustic panels, layout and design, and lighting systems. If we assume that you were to include all of these elements in the new office design, then it would seem appropriate to divide the benefit equally among them. It would be reasonable to conclude that twenty percent of the savings be attributed to the LogiSon Sound Masking System. We feel this is an appropriate place to begin your estimation even if you do not plan to incorporate all of the other elements into the new office design; however, you may feel that a higher percentage is deserved in your situation.

 

NOTE: While many organizations are moving to open plan offices and reducing workstation sizes, it is vital that you consider exactly what acoustic requirements you have before making a decision to increase density. It is also important to note that density cannot be increased indefinitely without significantly reducing the effectiveness of the office. It would be advisable to discuss these issues with one of our distributors.

 

NOTE: If you are moving to an office with decreased density, the worksheet will default the real estate savings number to zero.

 

Economics summary

 

The final section of the worksheet is a summary of the costs and financial benefits of using the LogiSon Sound Masking System. It compares the investment in the LogiSon Sound Masking System to the immediate project savings, the long term real estate savings, and the ongoing productivity savings.

 

The summary section provides you with a estimate of the payback period for the LogiSon Sound Masking System. You will be surprised by how quickly the Network pays for itself.

 

The summary section ends by identifying your total net gain after one year of using the Network, the recurring annual benefits from real estate savings and productivity improvements, and the total net benefit after three years.

 

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