What it costs to run a coworking space - pt. 2
In my previous post on what it costs to run a coworking space, the question came up about how many members do we need to break even. The answer to this is a bit complicated.
Workantile only has shared desks, we don’t have permanent desks and have no plans at this time to have any. This give us a lot of flexibility in how the space is used.
We have four membership levels:
Full member - $160/month gets you 24/7 access to the space, the ability to receive mail, the ability to host outside events, and the ability to reserve the conference rooms, not to mention the opportunity to hang out with awesome people and attend our equally awesome social events. There is an expectation that full members will contribute work for the good of the community, including cleaning, marketing, and other activities that increase the livability of the space and financial viability of the community.
Full member with “get out of work” pass - $230/month. Same as above, but the without the work expectation.
Affiliate member - $25/month gives you one free day pass/month, plus the ability to purchase additional day passes at $10/day. Affiliates cannot receive mail here, nor host outside events. Affiliates can reserve conference rooms, and can attend all our awesome social activities without burning a day pass. There is no work expectation.
Student members - $35/month. Same as a full member, but available only to people enrolled in an accredited college or university.
Our break-even point depends on the mix of membership types and how many day passes affiliate members purchase per month. With our current mix of members, and assuming affiliates purchase four day passes per month, our break even point is 52 members.
We have 28 desks. Based on current usage patters, we think that 70 members is about the upper limit before collisions will be a real issue, but we are not there yet. It may be lower or it may be higher.
