Finding the right coworking space for your needs can be a challenging but rewarding experience. When searching for a coworking space, thoroughly research your options and priorities to find the best fit. This coworking space guide will help streamline your search.
Assess Your Needs
First, outline what you require in a coworking space such as Brick House Blue (brickhouseblue.com). Consider amenities like dedicated desks or open seating, meeting rooms, office equipment, wifi connectivity and bandwidth, food options, parking availability, and more.
Define any must-haves like private phone booths. Also, factor in when you plan to use the space if just during regular business hours or evenings/weekends. Understanding how and when you work helps match spaces fitting your work style. Rural, urban, and suburban areas offer different commutes and coworking perks.
Search Online Listings
Leverage sites to browse spaces in your target locations. Filter by amenities, availability, membership options, and pricing to compare offerings. Most spaces provide virtual tours and photos along with detailed explanations of their features. You can also search review sites like Yelp to read first-hand experiences from past and present members on factors like office design, community, events, or responsiveness of staff.
Schedule In-Person Tours
Once you compile a list of promising options, schedule walkthroughs to get a feel for the spaces in person. Tour at times you’d occupy the coworking space to gauge noise levels, availability of amenities, and more during your regular working hours.
Engage with current members about their experiences and notice interactions between members to assess community vibes. Ask questions about application processes, payment options, contractual commitments, and perks.
Define Your Budget
Coworking provides flexible and likely affordable alternatives to traditional office leasing, but prices vary widely from basic desks in a shared space to multi-room private suites. Typically, hourly drop-in rates start around $10-25 per day for open seating while dedicated desks average $200-500+ monthly.
Private offices also span in price generally based on size and accommodations. Beyond the base membership fees, consider any extra charges too, like phone service, meeting room rental, parking space rental, and printing and copying fees which can quickly increase costs.
Research Membership Options
Most spaces offer part-time, full-time monthly memberships, or multipass bulk options. Part-time memberships provide limited access but lower commitment and costs. Full unlimited memberships have higher monthly fees but greater flexibility and value for regular users.
Many also allow hourly drop-in use or day passes in addition to standard memberships for ultimate adaptability. Consider your budget, anticipated usage, and need for consistency in determining suitable options.
Understand Agreement Terms
Study membership agreement terms before signing contracts. Be aware of automatic renewal clauses, minimum commitments, fee increases, cancellation penalties, and other considerations that impact flexibility. You want to avoid getting stuck in agreements no longer fitting should your needs change over time.
The standard coworking model strives for collaboration over competition, but you’ll still want to understand expectations over soliciting other member businesses, privacy, etiquette, and codes of conduct.
Secure Proper Business Insurance
Check if you need to provide your general liability insurance when working from a coworking space. While the space should hold an insurance policy covering the facility, it may not protect your business activities within it. If required, secure an affordable insurance plan to protect yourself without draining your wallet.
Get Involved in the Community
A core advantage of coworking is surrounding yourself with a community. Be proactive in introducing yourself to coworkers through any organized events or informal gatherings in kitchen areas. Maintain an openness to collaborating on projects that often organically sprout in shared work environments. Besides the networking perks, building connections can make the workdays more enjoyable.
Leverage Space Amenities
Review provided amenities and tools available to maximize value from your membership fees. Most spaces offer business equipment like printers, copiers, projectors, and more that would cost significantly more independently.
Coworking spaces also strive to engage members through hosting special speakers, events, classes, and workshops which likely benefit your continued skills development without added expenses. Consider how you can optimize included perks.
Weigh the Commute
Pay attention to commute times to and from potential coworking spaces during typical travel windows. Even if a space checks all your functional boxes, lengthy or traffic-prone commutes can quickly lead to frustrations outweighing benefits. This is especially important for part-time memberships with limited accessible days.
Minimize headaches by calculating commutes from your home during rush hour using tools like Google Maps.
Adapt as Your Needs Change
Be prepared to change coworking spaces if your needs shift. Growth of your business may necessitate more dedicated space, conference rooms, or new amenities not originally required, or fluctuating project-based work could alter your budget or monthly time commitments.
Don’t get trapped into rigid agreements if situations change. Reassess at milestone points and consider alternate spaces if current options no longer suit your work requirements.
Choosing the Right NeighborhoodThe location of a coworking space in relation to where you live and who you serve plays a pivotal role in fit. Carefully evaluate not just commute time but neighborhood vibes and safety based on when you’d be coming and going.
Urban coworking spaces allow walking access to meet clients at nearby cafes or restaurants. They promote networking with other businesses headquartered downtown. However, parking availability, traffic, and rental rates might deter suburb dwellers despite their proximal location to clients. Suburban spaces offer cheaper costs, plentiful parking, and less congested commutes from local residential communities.
Some hybrid suburban spaces lie adjacent to major highways for accessibility. Rural coworking spaces charm those seeking scenic outdoor access or retreat-like settings. Nevertheless, isolation from clientele and critical amenities proves challenging.
Remote workers living in the suburban outskirts nearby make prime rural space candidates. Carefully analyze your client base location, commute times from both home and their offices across different traffic conditions, and parking ability, and weigh neighborhood preferences to inform space viability.
Finding the best coworking space takes research and reflection on your budget, work style, business needs, and preferences in an office environment. Touring spaces in person ultimately provides the best indicator if a particular one offers the right vibe and facilities to help you maximize productivity.
Coworking presents an affordable way to gain a collaborative, amenity-rich office setup suited to remote workers, independent professionals, and entrepreneurs alike. Follow this guide when evaluating spaces to help land the perfect fit.