With the pandemic, we've seen a great uptick in work at home and people wanting to move to smaller towns.

I wonder if it would be worthwhile to rent office space for home workers who would rather actually go to an office even if not at their business. It would include some network support as well as some chance to see other people. It seems to me that people who work at home would feel a bit adrift being cut off from their colleagues.

Some people do prefer an office setting and I think there is a space for something like this for people who are independent contractors to have a more professional work space for meeting clients. But it definitely already exists and several companies already do this. There is a documentary on the rise and fall of WeWork you'll want to check out that lays out the downside of this business (basically property be expensive and this type of business requires massive amounts of capitol).

My wife and I rent office space at a local coworking space. They have 3 levels from private office, dedicated cubicle, and hot desk/open space. Along with that, you also get the following.

-physical address for shipping/mail
-custom email address
-use of 2 conference rooms


Its pretty nice and has a very modern feel to the space. There's a shared kitchen, free coffee, and free beer if you want it. Most of the people that work there are independently employed but a few are WFH. There is also a third party Amazon delivery company that has offices there. We are good friends with the owners and they plan optional events from time to time for the members. Little things like a cook out on opening day, happy hour fridays, and usually a catered lunch for big holidays. Pretty much like any office.


It can work, but its is a really tough business to get going. Turnover for these places is often very high and the reason this space works is because of location. Its in a suburb and the rent is pretty affordable. One of the big things that killed WeWork was how much money they spent on rent each month. It was astronomical and not something they could cover given what they were charging.

I'm speaking on his behalf but eric lives out in in the boonies of West Texas, if I'm not mistaken. So, yes, while this idea is largely saturated in mid to large urban areas it's probably not common in smaller locales. Same idea was pitched to my wife as a business idea in a smaller community that we live in part-time in as well. I'm just not confident it will work.

Our smaller community has some major money in it and most people there have simply upgraded their home audio/video and built out home office spaces because they can.


edit: interestingly enough, WeWork has turned around their financials since their scandal surfaced with founder. They are now making money.

Exactly.

There are a few work from home people around. Some of them would likely do better if they could get out of the house to do their work.

In this area, buildings can be relatively inexpensive. Someone wanting to work from home might not want to buy a whole building, but having some place to go could add structure they need to their work by removing distractions.

I know of a couple of office buildings in town that are way underutilized with offices that are just sitting empty or which are being used for the most minor of storage. In both of them, renting out individual offices to others on a monthly basis wouldn't add much at all to their expenses.

eric76 said:

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Exactly.

There are a few work from home people around. Some of them would likely do better if they could get out of the house to do their work.

In this area, buildings can be relatively inexpensive. Someone wanting to work from home might not want to buy a whole building, but having some place to go could add structure they need to their work by removing distractions.

I know of a couple of office buildings in town that are way underutilized with offices that are just sitting empty or which are being used for the most minor of storage. In both of them, renting out individual offices to others on a monthly basis wouldn't add much at all to their expenses.

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I think it is a tough balance right now.

I think it works best in places that people do commute, but it is life sucking - so outer-burbs around major cities. These are places where people already live that likely have the ability to WFH.

While I think the shift is going to continue for a while, I don't think it has been long enough to see meaningful movement to the communities that are way away from major cities and most of the folks living in those areas now have work situations that wouldn't be your primary market.

Once that shift starts to take hold - and keep in mind, it isn't just the ability to WFH - it is the ability to find similar employment in the future that also lets you WFH - then I think you'll see more of these situations work well in smaller towns.

Until then, I think you're just going to have way too few people to make it make sense, unless it is just a side opportunity on a property you already rent out or something.

I think a lot of it depends on the cost and value you bring.

As others have mentioned coworking spaces are pretty common in larger cities, I'm in Austin and there are tons of them here. I've visited a few and even considered joining one a few years ago right before I got a job that required me to be on site.

What made that space valuable wasn't just the space or services, but the idea that everyone there was also a resource. I'm a designer and there were other designers there who specialized in different disciplines as well as developers, marketers, and other people with skill sets that complemented each other.

All these disciplines overlapped in a variety of ways that were advantages for everyone's business. The owner was a huge networker and loved connecting people, and her passion for that was really obvious and pretty contagious to everyone in the space. It resulted in a place that was very authentically collaborative.

I saw buildings similar to this in Atlanta. Developers were putting small "business parks" with restaurants, bars, etc in with offices, to serve the neighborhood.

I think your talking about a small office building, with a doorman/mail room, similar to how apartment complexes are set up.