New business idea - What do you think?

[Statsanddata]

I'm thinking of setting up a new business.

If you are a remote worker or a freelancer...or basically anyone who works from home, would you work in a coworking space?

Whether it was every day, once week or a few times a month, or even sporadically, would it be something you would consider?

I'm thinking of somewhere with free tea and coffee, good internet, proper desks, good location, meeting rooms etc.

I've done some research and I think I can see more pros than cons, but wanted to ask people directly what they think about it.

Is there anything specific that would attract you to working in one or anything that would put you off?

I think you could be into something.

There has been a huge shift in the workplace and companies are finding themselves locked into contracts for offices/buildings that are far too big and far too expensive

You could hire a massive workplace and then sublet it to companies say they could purchase 20 spaces or whatever?

I mean I can’t see the employee wanting to cover the cost of using your space - maybe self employed would?! Also you’d need a meeting space?

sound proof booths for teams meetings?

It’s appealing because if a employer has say 40 employees - at most only maybe half are in most days as they are operating a hybrid model - doesn’t make sense to pay a fortune to landlords for a 40 space office!

You might need a lot of ££££ to set this up though

There’s places near me that do this so it must work.

Also Flown is an online version where you can check in with other home workers for some company/accountability.

You need to think about confidentiality - not everyone’s work is suitable for working alongside any old person. Eg insurance and banking are bound by customer data rules and there’s professions/roles like risk, legal, strategy etc where companies don’t want their private business exposed.

Have you thought of the cost of heating that sort of space at the moment? These places do exist, but I think they would be very expensive to set up. There is also the problem of privacy and confidentiality.

Google hot desk near me to see how many are already available. There are loads near me.

I live in Spain. There are many Co working spaces here after isolation of lock down I think some people want to be able to separate work from home. However they are quite expensive here and has priced many out of it

I've tried it in a few places in the city and personally I couldn't get on with it. Lots of people chattering on calls, noisy slurping of coffee etc its just like working in the actual office.

There's two or three near us that do that.

They don't do free drinks though, and they operate as ordinary cafes and have space set up at the time.

People use the local Costa too and other cafes that aren't specifically set up for it too. Generally local cafes have struggled since lockdown too, as people just haven't gone back in the same numbers.

You need to have a look at WeWork - they’ve been doing this for a while but it’s not been all plain sailing. If there isn’t anything near to you but lots of home workers and small businesses then it might be viable.

But check out the competition first. Regardless of some of the more problematic aspects of the WeWork corporate arrangements they are now well established in quite a few places and their offering is intentionally high standard.

Definitely potential but confidentiality is the issue

For example, I'd quite like somewhere that wasn't my home to work, even though I do have room here but ......I have confidential work papers, need to make confidential video calls and - possibly- the IT department might want confidential WiFi. And I wouldn't want to be carrying everything home and back again each working day.

If I was a writer maybe but when I did work from home i had to take phone calls and my husband seems to be in endless meetings working from home which would be hard I nan open space

Plus if I can work from home why would I pay to work somewhere else?

But I genuinely love the the idea,of what you are trying to do and really do wish you well

Lots of places do this already, notably WeWork. What makes yours stand out?

What would set you apart from all the many other coworking spaces that are already out there?

I already work in just such a space. The market is already large.

You need break out areas, meeting rooms, sound proof booths, excellent furniture, great coffee, a space for people to eat / prep lunch and, most vitally, and I can’t emphasise this enough the right location

Yes and no.

There's a co working space in Plymouth with a cafe, bar and gym on site. I'd like to try it but it's very very pricy for someone like me. https://blockplymouth.co.uk/membership

I've suggested to several pubs and bars in my area (and the local country / golf club) that they implement this since the first Covid lockdown was lifted. Open at 9am, or even 10am. Free tea and coffee on a table by the bar all day (so staff aren't having to run around). Lunch included in the daily fee - soup, sandwich or a salad type dishes and a pint at the end of day. They could easily charge £20- 25/ day with fancy extras included like nice plated lunches, cold drinks, pints etc or go as low as £10/day of you just want tea, coffee and WiFi. They already have the infrastructure of tables, chairs, WiFi, kitchen facilities, loos etc. It's not gong to be high end stuff like a Regus office or that Block office above, but for a normal day for me where I'm not in Teams meetings and can manage calls that don't need to be in a secure environment, it would be nice to be out with people occasionally.

None of them have implemented it though, so it makes me question the basis of the business model I have in my head!

£10 a day to include heating, coffee and Wi-Fi? How on earth is that a viable proposition?

None of them have implemented it though, so it makes me question the basis of the business model I have in my head!

A pub near us trialled it and got lots of complaints: who wants to listen to people yabbering away about Project Viking and the profit and loss sheet for Q1 on their mobile phone or Teams calls all afternoon whilst they’re trying to eat and drink and read the newspaper in peace? Plus £20-£25 for a whole table to be occupied all day by somebody only having the free tea and coffee and free lunch would only work in a pub which has no custom whatsoever before about 5pm. I’m in London and it would be an absolute loss maker, as I imagine it would in most pubs in cities and busy areas.

OP I think there’s a reason why the big boys like We Work and Runway East have the monopoly on this. It’s very difficult to get adequate facilities and turn a profit without the economy of scale.

Well, no I wouldn't.

The point of being able to work remotely is that you can work from home.

I have no interest in working remotely and ending up in another office-type environment with the same constraints as traditional offices and having to pay for the privilege...

I am not sure there is a demand/niche for this anymore.

If I've understood your business plan, then there are already other business who do this, such as Regus

https://www.regus.com/en-gb

I think you'll need to do a little more research.
What other business offer this service?
How will you be different?
Will your prices be competitive?

Based on what others have suggested, maybe what could be different is a co-working place that is less "corporate".
Maybe coffee shop-esque. Relaxing, home-like environment

We've had a couple of these set up in our town after covid, neither lasted long before closing down. One of them was a local guy, all over facebook etc before he did it and was inundated with people saying it's exactly what they wanted, etc etc. Trouble is, they didn't like the prices and I think were expecting to only pay a tenner a day or something stupid like that as they don't expect to pay much for just a seat and a desk - they may as well just go to Costa Coffee or the local university for free!

There's another place nearby in an old converted mill that had around 20 "proper" office units, i.e. locked offices that you could rent longer term, with communal kitchen, loo, book-able meeting rooms (at a cost), a receptionist, communal copiers/printers (at a cost), that is far more popular and usually all rented out, and at comparable cost to renting standalone premises, such as a converted shop front.

We have a number of coworking spaces close to where I live, they are already fairly well established as a concept.

When they all started to crop up (5+ years ago) they seemed to do really well, I used to walk past a couple on the way to work and you could see they were well used, one had a sort of veranda breakout area and that was usually pretty full in the summer. Since the pandemic one has closed and the other is looking a bit worse for wear.

I think the adjustment to WFH has been quite permanent for a lot of people and that they are acclimated to the concept of a home office now more than before. Yes there will always be people who want to be in an office environment for whom co-working appeals, but I no longer know anyone who does it. Most people I know now have the option to go into an office or are being asked to once a week and heavily complain about the fact!

Work yourself up a business plan, with accurate costs for set up and running and then forecast what income you’d need the business to bring in to be profitable. Something like 75% of new café businesses fail within the first two-five years largely because of the high fixed costs involved: rent, business rates, utilities, insurances, staffing, certification, all of which have to be paid whether you have a full café or only two or three customers in. What you’re ultimately proposing is running a café, just with a different name, a fairly niche customer base, and without even having the opportunity to make a profit in the usual way cafes do, on drinks which cost pennies to make but sell for pounds.

Anyone else now have adverts for office space hire in their side panel?

I think its a great idea in principle. Like every good or service, it's not going to be in demand / needed / wanted by everyone; and of those who are interested, they'll all have different ideas of what's "good' in such a place, and what they'd be prepared to pay.

There's a couple of points I'd take from the comments above :

• what else is there in your area? Comments about sitting all day in Costa are very valid, or the golf club - so what else are you competing with?
• Price. What would you need to charge versus what are people going to pay?
• Can you build this into another offering? My local bar - small town, brand name - offers this. £10 per day, unlimited tea & coffee, wifi / power and beer at end of the day. I don't for a minute imagine the £10 covers their genuine costs - however if they've taken the business decision to be open during these hours anyway, then presumably they're taking a longer term view. So if this is "all" your business offers, can you afford to compete - why would I pick yours? (and it doesn't have to be tea / coffee / beer!)