I completely agree that this number needs some reconsideration. If for no other reason, the calculation "per person" isn't really per person, it's per workstation.
Let's try to make it people based. I got prodded by Chad about this earlier in the week, here's what I came up with so far to get it people-focused instead of desk/workstation focused. We can comfortably have about 55 people working from Indy Hall simultaneously right now. It's probably another 10 if you count our conference rooms as usable workspace, which they're often used as by teams up to 5. But that's a rarity for us, and I'll be conservative with my estimates. Also for reference, our current workspace is ANYTHING but cramped - there's LOTS of room for moving around, socializing, etc. For the moment I'll ignore that we're at about 63% full time member utilization (that is, 63% of the 55 individuals at any given time are full time members), and the remainder areour various flex memberships. Every member has access to all of the common areas, so they become subdivided accordingly at capacity. 4400 square feet / 55 people = 80 sq ft per person (aggregate of workstation + common areas). For membership price-wise, if every spot was occupied by a full time membership ($275 as well), that'd be ~$3.40/sq ft. That gives us some pretty great headroom from our cost of $1.36/sq ft we pay in rent. And that's the LEAST efficient membership in terms of revenue AND utilization. Our flex memberships provide even more...I'm just not sure how to calculate it yet. -Alex /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 1:45 PM, Glen Ferguson <[email protected]> wrote: > I've been wondering: 100 sqft per person is the legacy standard for > conventional office space. That generally would be cubicles and private > offices. According to an architect here, much of that 100 sq ft number comes > from rated safe floor load capacity with heavy desks and filing cabinets. Is > the 100 sqft in the coworking world a carryover from this, or is it the > desire for an open floor plan and not wanting to feel cramped like working > at a Starbucks table? Or is it that coworking has more "unoccupied space" - > hallways, bathrooms, closets, foosball playrooms? Do you count your > conference rooms as unoccupied space or as a regular workspace? What size > desk/table top do your members use? I've seen some posts say their location > has 5 foot tables, others have 4 foot ones. > > To ask it another way, did we arrive at this number from actual experience, > or was it the architect saying 100 sqft, the city permitting office saying > you're an office so occupancy is at no more than 100 sqft and we've gone > with those numbers rather than "fight city hall" and seek out our own > optimum density? > > I'm working through some occupancy issues with my city at the moment - we'd > like to be able to hold an occasional lecture or conference, and that can > change some of our space usage to 7.5 sqft per person - so space usage and > occupancy are on my mind right now. > > > - Glen > > > On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 8:41 AM, John Burns <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Alex- >> >> As stated in a previous post, it kinda is already in the wiki >> >> http://wiki.coworking.info/w/page/16583920/PricingExamples >> >> The above isn't exactly like how Jasper did his calculations, but >> gives a good starting point >> >> On Aug 5, 12:11 am, Alex Hillman <[email protected]> wrote: >> This is some of the best simple Coworking math I've seen in a single >> post. >> It certainly belongs in the wiki. Thanks Jasper! >> >> -Alex >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Coworking" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. >> >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
