Hello,
I am planning to launch a Coworking space and am trying to see what other Coworking companies spend on average for their renovations, broken down by SQFT. Knowing this will dramatically help me in my planning process. Any information would be much appreciated!
Thanks for your time and for contributing to this awesome community!
This number depends wildly on your local market, the space you’ve found, what needs your members have, and more.
I’ve got numbers associated with square footage (so you can do a little math) on our fixed and variable costs from opening and expanding our space twice but in both cases, our actual renovation costs were fairly low because we didn’t need to build much. Over time, we’ve actually REMOVED more things than we’ve added. That should tell you something about things you think you need to spend money on. 
In the last year, I’ve spent time on the other side of this equation - looking at spaces that are not even close to move-in ready. We’ve run figures on buying and renovating buildings. We’ve run figures on different rental options. And I’ve done a LOT more homework on these costs than I ever had to in the past.
Be careful about planning based on other peoples’ numbers because NOT ALL SQUARE FEET ARE CREATED EQUAL.
With that said, I have some data points I can share:
A relatively light renovation/build of a business partners’ office right up the street from us was just completed and I got to get pretty close to the process.
In addition to the usual stuff, their renovation included all new flooring, track LED lighting, some significant electrical work, a full kitchen renovation, and moving a couple of walls. Their finished product is AWESOME, fully custom, and came in at ~$15/sqft. *Note that this doesn’t include ANY furniture - only build out. *
A big part of this project coming in at that price and on time is because of the right contractor, though. Having been through hell building the house I just moved into and renovating my partners’, I can starkly see the difference between a contractor who’s worth their salt and the ones who aren’t. Get lots of quotes. Avoid working with people without talking to prior clients. Basically, don’t skimp on due diligence. NOTHING is worth rushing a space being open, even members who are beating down the door, to waste time and money dealing with the kind of builders that I’ve interacted with in the last couple of years.
The other main data point I can share is going to be much clearer in 2-4 months as we prepare into our newest home for Indy Hall.
More on that very soon, you’ll have to stay tuned
-Alex
The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.
Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com
Listen to the podcast: http://dangerouslyawesome.com/podcast
Where will you be on April 21st?
On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 1:01 PM, JJ Englert [email protected] wrote:
Hello,
I am planning to launch a Coworking space and am trying to see what other Coworking companies spend on average for their renovations, broken down by SQFT. Knowing this will dramatically help me in my planning process. Any information would be much appreciated!
Thanks for your time and for contributing to this awesome community!
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Do you mean cat a (refubishment- anything that’s attached to walls, floors or ceilings) or cat b (desks and chairs and stuff that would fall out if you turned the building upside down?). We spent about £30/sq ft on cat a and £40/sq ft on cat b
On Tuesday, 22 March 2016 17:06:19 UTC, JJ Englert wrote:
Hello,
I am planning to launch a Coworking space and am trying to see what other Coworking companies spend on average for their renovations, broken down by SQFT. Knowing this will dramatically help me in my planning process. Any information would be much appreciated!
Thanks for your time and for contributing to this awesome community!
Hey Tom and Alex,
Thanks for your responses - it is much appreciated!
Do you think you can send me the websites for both of your companies? I would love to look at some pictures of your spaces =)
Cheers!
On Thursday, March 24, 2016 at 2:58:29 AM UTC-7, Tom Lewis wrote:
Do you mean cat a (refubishment- anything that’s attached to walls, floors or ceilings) or cat b (desks and chairs and stuff that would fall out if you turned the building upside down?). We spent about £30/sq ft on cat a and £40/sq ft on cat b
On Tuesday, 22 March 2016 17:06:19 UTC, JJ Englert wrote:
Hello,
I am planning to launch a Coworking space and am trying to see what other Coworking companies spend on average for their renovations, broken down by SQFT. Knowing this will dramatically help me in my planning process. Any information would be much appreciated!
Thanks for your time and for contributing to this awesome community!
We’re at www.theguildhub.co.uk
See our video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCbq9DQYkmk
And have a walk around our Google Streetview inside tour- http://bit.ly/25yPq4M
On Sunday, 27 March 2016 20:58:00 UTC+1, JJ Englert wrote:
Hey Tom and Alex,
Thanks for your responses - it is much appreciated!
Do you think you can send me the websites for both of your companies? I would love to look at some pictures of your spaces =)
Cheers!
On Thursday, March 24, 2016 at 2:58:29 AM UTC-7, Tom Lewis wrote:
Do you mean cat a (refubishment- anything that’s attached to walls, floors or ceilings) or cat b (desks and chairs and stuff that would fall out if you turned the building upside down?). We spent about £30/sq ft on cat a and £40/sq ft on cat b
On Tuesday, 22 March 2016 17:06:19 UTC, JJ Englert wrote:
Hello,
I am planning to launch a Coworking space and am trying to see what other Coworking companies spend on average for their renovations, broken down by SQFT. Knowing this will dramatically help me in my planning process. Any information would be much appreciated!
Thanks for your time and for contributing to this awesome community!