Businesses that see coworking space as savior might have to adjust expectations (and rates)
The Cove coworking space in Kendall Square can cost from $79 a month for nights and weekends to $229 for full access. (Photo: Cove via Facebook)
Coworking spaces are touted as giving startups and small businesses an inexpensive alternative to renting a full office, but for some affording the spaces may feel like the difference between a million-degree fire and a billion-degree fire, a real estate firm says in a study.
“More Americans are freelancing today than ever before, adding up to 57.3 million people. But how easy is it to make ends meet as a freelancer?” asked Alexandra Farkas, a marketing communications specialist at Yardi, a nationwide commercial real estate listings platform that posts research and analysis as Commercial Café.
In its data looking at Greater Boston, the researchers found that a freelancer making $38 an hour would need to work 85 hours a week to afford housing expenses and a private office at a coworking place, but only 80 hours a week for a dedicated desk and a mere 77 hours a week for a “hot desk,” the term for shared workspace in a common area.
Looked at a different way, freelancers who insist on working only a 40-hour week would have to charge $81 an hour to afford a private office; $75 an hour for a dedicated desk; and $73 an hour for a hot desk.
“Just like in Manhattan and San Francisco, the situation in Boston is dire,” Farkas said.
The full, national report is here.
There are around a dozen coworking spaces in Cambridge and a half-dozen in Somerville, with a few such as Central Square’s InTeahouse opting to keep its rates unlisted. But the Boston Startups Guide, launched in 2011 by consultant, event organizer and Web developer Jay Neely, has identified a range of prices for the area’s shared offices.
The most expensive, such as at Somerville’s Greentown Labs near Union Square, can hit $530 for a dedicated desk, or $475 a month for a dedicated desk at Inman Square’s Geek Offices.
Prices can also go as low as $135 monthly for a small, shared space at Brooklyn Boulders Somerville between Harvard, Porter and Union squares; or just $79 a month for nights and weekends access at Cove in the Barismo Coffee building in Kendall Square.
Marc, Thanks for writing about coworking spaces in Cambridge. When Geek Offices started at 1035 Cambridge Street in 2009, only 2 other Cambridge coworking spaces existed. As more coworking spaces have popped up in Cambridge, we’ve noticed that coworking spaces have all differentiated themselves so that coworking members find the space that works for them. At Geek Offices, we focus on attracting members that are looking for dedicated workstations (8’x10′ or 8’x8′) and a heads-down working atmosphere. The space doesn’t have a library-quiet requirement, but members aren’t looking for VC’s, legal advice or an active social vibe. Using monthly $ numbers from the Boston Startup Guide that you cite, Geek Offices at $475 for a dedicated work station competes well with WorkBar at $500 for a dedicated desk and other coworking spaces that offer shared space (usually a space at a shared table): CIC for $425, NGIN for $375 and WorkBar at $350). Geek Offices also has the best deal in the Cambridge for companies with 2 to 5 employees. While the first employee pays $475, the next 4 employees pay only $175 each for dedicated work stations. A company with 5 employees can all have dedicated work stations at an average cost of $235/month. What space can do better than that in Cambridge? We also have private offices ranging from $650 to $1250 with the same discount for the next 4 employees. Currently, two private offices at $650 and $700 are available. see http://www.geekoffices.com or contact me at [email protected].
My advice to those who work freelance is to cut down expenses where you can. First, no young person right out of college should be living alone. For a good 5 or 10 years you can have roommates, preferably close to your age (because it will widen your social circle). One or two roommates. And if you spend the first 8 months or so out of college as the roommate who pays less rent because you sleep on the sofabed in the living room, so what? Young people do this all the time in the most worthwhile cities to live in. Learning to be a good roommate is a skill useful for all your life. Second, try to cook food for yourself. Dinner out should be only when you can afford it, and that goes for takeout, too. It’s healthier to cook at home, besides; Chinese takeout is laced with an excessive amount of cheap soy oil because that’s the most economical way to preserve moisture in food that is cooked but isn’t eaten for 20 or so minutes during delivery. At home you need far less oil (and butter and cheese) because you eat your food immediately. Being a good roommate and learning to cook are skills that for years and years have served young people well until their salaries increased or they could charge higher hourly fees.