are permanent desks necessary?

[Rena Tom]

Hi,

Getting closer to leasing my space and trying to figure out a suitable configuration (it's maybe 1000 sq ft). I was going to have 4 permanent desks but now I am reconsidering just having one price structure and all open seating. Does anyone do this? Pros and cons?

I am actually more interested in people interaction and designing it as such (more lounge time or meeting time, less laptop time) and going after the non-tech crowd who aren't coding all day and night so I thought this might be more suitable.

Thanks,

Rena

[Eli Malinsky]

Hey there,

I think you could go either way - and I don;t think any option is
"necessary". BUT - four permanent desks feels too few to me. To have
four permanent people in a sea of (part-time) coworkers probably won;t
help the dynamic, and it does add admin complications. My own gut says
that if you're not going to have 25%+ members in a permanent desk
category, it may not make that much sense.

one guy's gut

Eli Malinsky
Centre for Social Innovation
Toronto, Canada

[Jenifer Ross]

Hey there-

Grind in NYC has no permanent seating and only 2 price plans: day rate and full time. It seems to work very well for them! You should talk to Ben Dyatt- He is one of the co-founders.

Good luck!

Jen Ross

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[Tom Brandt]

Workantile in Ann Arbor has no permanent desking. One of the nice things about this arrangement is that the space is completely flexible because we can move desks and chairs whenever and wherever we want. We can quickly reconfigure the space for social events, and reconfigure it for video screenings, then reconfigure it again for working, or whatever.

We have three price plans: full, affiliate, and student. Full members ($160/month) get unlimited access to the space, affiliate ($25/month) get 1 free day pass, and can buy day passes at $10/day, students ($35/month) get unlimited access to the space.

When we first opened, we were pretty tech-heavy, but we now have a nice mix of developers, authors, journalists, an architect, a couple of lawyers, project and operations managers, and others.

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[Alex Hillman]

Pros:

1) Flex desks provide the most opportunity for revenue (more members per desk)

2) The space itself can be used for events, etc, more easily without displacing full time members

3) People don't get as territorial with flex desks, other than preferring a certain desk on days they are in.

4) Flex memberships can be cheaper and more accessible

Cons:

1) Culturally you need to find an alternative to full time members to "anchor" the community in the space. 

2) It takes more members to provide the same amount of revenue

3) Flexible desks means that some sort of arrangement is needed in order to keep the space open for flex members. 

4) A single price structure doesn't map well to multiple levels of participation that actually exist within a community. 

There are successful models of both kinds, of course. The aspects that are likely to define your success is what your model for revenue is/needs to be and more importantly, what do the members want and need? It sounds like you have a pretty good pulse on the lounge-style needs - if that's what you've determined makes sense, rock out!

-Alex

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[Rena Tom]

Thanks all! From my conversations with people, they generally work at home but also do a lot of meetings outside of the house (usually at cafes) and want a "pit stop" option for a different number of hours a week, depending on who they need to talk to and how lonely they feel at home :) I have a lot of mom business owners who feel more productive outside of their house, too. I feel like the hanging out/community aspect will be as important as the wifi. The space is near a residential/shopping area (versus downtown, like most of the options in SF) and it is quite a small space, so we'll get a different crowd by default.

Now running numbers on price structures that depend on hours per month. I feel like that gets complicated to choose from but can provide better value for those who need really flexible space.

Rena

[Flambard]

Hi Tom,

I agree with what has been written before (pro & cons). Not much to
add, I just give you our practical experience on that matter.

At Mutinerie (Paris) we have chosen to go flex.

We can host around 70 coworkers and we originally had 16 permanent
desks. After two months of operation, we just decided to change one of
the two residents areas to a meeting room. So now we have only 8
permanent desks out of 70 desks in total. We do not suffer from that
in term of anchoring the community as we still have a bunch of people
coming very often on the flex desks, they already are the heart of
Mutinerie. Our internal pro social network (Yammer) is also a good way
for people to keep track with the community where they are not here at
Mutinerie. Our permanent desks has not been very successful as it is
located in a less sexy (less natural light, less funky sets) place
than the flex (we had to cope with the structure of the building). We
also made this choice because we lacked a quiet isolated meeting room
(we have one very dynamic stand up brainstorming room and one funny
underground forum). We think that the new meeting room makes sense for
half days or entire days for scattered team to gather punctually (it
brings potential coworkers). We felt a strong demand on that side.

For your info, here is the structure of our memberships:
- 5 Résidents
- 10 Illimités (full time but flex)
- 17 Flex (10d/mth)
- 26 Light (4d/mth)
- 17 Basic (1d/mth)

Antoine

[Skid Vis]

Hi, 

 I recently opened a similar place, 1000 sq ft / 4 desks / 16 flex, and at 2 months in I've filled all my desks and wish I'd made room for more.

I've found that people like having a place to call their own, set up big ol' monitors, and decorate with toys, neon lights, and whatnot.

It could just be that's the playful vibe of the place, but still.. my two cents.

Skid Vis

CoVis CoWorking

Omaha, Nebraska

[Mike Pihlman]

Likewise, my URDESK's are almost full....they are $15 more per month than my FLEXDESK's, but, people do like them for file's, phones, (Vonage / Magic Jack) , computers, pictures, etc... 

Mike

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Mike Pihlman

AltamontCowork / ForCarol.com, Inc.

95 W. 11th Street, Suite 203

Tracy, CA 95376

Phone: 209-757-8862

Web: http://AltamontCowork.com

Twitter: @AltamontCowork

Facebook: http://Facebook.com/AltamontCowork

Drive Safe! Never Forget  http://ForCarol.com

[Rena Tom]

Thanks for everyone sending in their take on this! So I signed my lease (hurrah!) and am off to the races. After much deliberation I will offer 1, 3, or 5 day/week options plus a 1 day pass/discounted pass option.

I imagine I'll mostly have people signing up for the 1 or 3 day/week, and adding on a locker rental if they want to stash stuff. I have talked to so many potential members and nobody wants to be there more than that. It's going to be an extremely social space - the 1 day pass/month folks will have access to the space anytime but no wifi, so that will keep things lively. I am not courting programmers or those who are heads-down more often than not; this really will have more of a clubhouse feel to it. We will see if I can make it fly *and* be viable as a business.

Rena

On Sunday, May 27, 2012 1:12:12 AM UTC, AltamontCowork wrote:

Likewise, my URDESK's are almost full....they are $15 more per month than my FLEXDESK's, but, people do like them for file's, phones, (Vonage / Magic Jack) , computers, pictures, etc... 

Mike

On Fri, May 25, 2012 at 8:54 AM, Skid Vis <ski...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, 

 I recently opened a similar place, 1000 sq ft / 4 desks / 16 flex, and at 2 months in I've filled all my desks and wish I'd made room for more.

I've found that people like having a place to call their own, set up big ol' monitors, and decorate with toys, neon lights, and whatnot.

It could just be that's the playful vibe of the place, but still.. my two cents.

Skid Vis

CoVis CoWorking

Omaha, Nebraska

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