🪑 Co-working space business — investment, profit & project report
Plan a co-working operation: seat capacity, blended hot-desk/dedicated/cabin pricing, fitout capex, lease rent, break-even and 5-year profit. Currency-aware (₹/$/€/£/¥ — pick from the header dropdown). Includes downloadable project report in Word & PDF for loan applications.
📸Gallery
📋Eligibility — by region
🇮🇳India
- Shop & Establishment Act licence + GST registration. Commercial-property zoning approval mandatory.
- Fire NOC from local fire dept. RWA NOC if operating in a residential-converted property.
🇺🇸USA
- State business licence + Building Department Commercial Occupancy permit. ADA accessibility compliance.
- Local Fire Code (NFPA 101) + IBC for office assembly use.
🇬🇧UK
- Council Premises Licence if serving alcohol. Building Regs Part L (energy) + Fire Safety Regulatory Reform Order 2005.
🇪🇺EU
- Country commercial-tenancy regulations (e.g. France bail commercial 3-6-9). EU EPBD energy-performance certificate.
🌏Australia / Canada / others
- AU: National Construction Code (NCC) + state Local Council Development Application.
- CA: Provincial + Municipal Building Code + Office Tenant Insurance.
🏗️Setup requirements (capex breakdown)
Edit any value to match your local prices — totals update live and flow into the calculator below.
| Item | Specification | Cost (₹) |
|---|---|---|
| Office fitout | Acoustic partitions + cabins + 3 meeting rooms + breakout | |
| Furniture | 80 desks + chairs + storage + cabin desks | |
| IT infra | Gigabit fibre + WiFi APs + printers + AV in 3 meeting rooms | |
| Branding + website + app + access-control | Logo + member app + RFID | |
| Lease deposit | 6-month rent | |
| Working capital | First-month fitout buffer + opex | |
| Total capex | ₹64,50,000 | |
| Year | Revenue | Cost | Profit | Cumulative |
|---|
⚠️Risks & mitigation
- Long-lease vs short-tenancy mismatch (WeWork problem): Negotiate revenue-share or short-tenor leases with break clauses; build 9–12 months opex reserve.
- Enterprise-client churn: Diversify revenue across SMB / freelancer / enterprise tiers; cap any single client at 25% of revenue.
- COVID-style remote-work demand shock: Add virtual-office + meeting-room-by-hour micro-products for cashflow resilience.
- Premium-fitout depreciation: Budget 1.5% of fitout-capex per month as refresh sinking-fund.
💰Funding & support programs
🇮🇳India
- MUDRA Tarun: up to ₹10L collateral-free for the lighter fitout co-working units.
- Stand-Up India: ₹10L–1Cr for women / SC-ST founders.
- PMEGP: 15–35% margin-money grant.
- Startup India + 91springboard / Y Combinator franchise tie-ups for accelerator partnerships.
- SIDBI Real Estate: term loans for commercial fitout.
🇺🇸USA
- SBA 7(a): up to $5M for leasehold improvements + FF&E.
- SBA 504 Property Loans: for purchasing the building.
🇬🇧UK
- Innovate UK Future Workplace: grants for hybrid-work R&D and pilots.
- British Business Bank: Recovery Loan + Growth Guarantee Scheme.
🇪🇺EU
- EIB SME: via local bank intermediaries.
- Country PropTech grants: e.g. France Bpifrance / Italy Smart&Start.
🌏Australia / Canada
- AU AusIndustry + Innovation grants for digital workspace pilots.
- CA BDC Real Estate: commercial leasehold and fitout financing.
📄Generate project report (Word + PDF)
Fill in your details — defaults are pre-populated. Click Print as PDF for a browser-printable PDF or Download Word for an editable .docx file usable in bank loan applications.
❓FAQ
What's a healthy seat-utilisation target?
75–80% blended utilisation is healthy. Anything above 85% means you've under-priced or under-built; below 60% means demand or location problem. Cabin utilisation runs higher (90%+) due to dedicated contracts.
Should I franchise a brand or build my own?
Franchising (e.g. 91springboard, IWG) gives instant brand + ops playbook but takes 20–35% of revenue as royalty. Own-brand needs 18–24 months to build a community moat but keeps 100% of upside.
How big should the first venue be?
5000–7000 sqft / 60–100 seats is the sweet spot. Smaller (under 40 seats) loses fixed-cost economies; bigger (150+ seats) needs proven demand and a fundraising round.
Hot desk vs dedicated vs cabin — what's the mix?
Typical mix: 30% hot, 40% dedicated, 30% cabin. Cabins yield the highest revenue/sqft but limit walk-in flexibility. Run sensitivities on this mix in your model — it's the #1 driver of profit.
How do I price meeting rooms?
Members get 2–8 hours/month free; charge ₹500–2000/hour above that. Walk-ins pay 50% higher. Meeting-room hourly revenue is 10–15% of total revenue in mature venues.