How Coworking Can Reduce Your Business Overheads in Glasgow
Every business has overheads.
Some are essential. Others are simply a consequence of the way the company operates.
Office space can be one of the biggest examples.
Renting traditional commercial premises doesn’t just mean paying rent. Once utilities, internet, furniture, maintenance, cleaning and other expenses are included, the real cost of maintaining an office can be significantly higher than the figure advertised on the property listing.
For Glasgow startups, freelancers, consultants, SMEs and growing businesses, this creates an important question:
Do you actually need to operate your own traditional office?
Coworking and flexible workspace provide an alternative.
Rather than taking responsibility for an entire commercial property, businesses can access professional office facilities within a managed environment.
That can reduce upfront expenditure, simplify monthly costs and help businesses avoid paying for facilities they rarely use.
Here’s how.
The Real Cost of a Traditional Office
Imagine finding an office advertised at what appears to be an affordable monthly rent.
At first glance, the numbers look straightforward.
Unfortunately, rent is only the beginning.
Depending on the property and lease structure, additional expenses may include:
- Deposit
- Legal fees
- Utilities
- Broadband
- Office furniture
- Cleaning
- Maintenance
- Repairs
- Security
- Service charges
- Insurance
- Kitchen equipment
- Meeting room equipment
- IT infrastructure
Businesses therefore need to compare total occupancy cost, not simply monthly rent.
A cheaper-looking traditional office can become considerably more expensive once everything required to make it operational is included.
1. Coworking Can Reduce Initial Setup Costs
Starting a new office from scratch can be expensive.
Even a relatively small business may need to purchase:
- Desks
- Office chairs
- Storage
- Meeting tables
- Reception furniture
- Kitchen equipment
- Networking equipment
- Screens
- Signage
Then there are installation costs.
Broadband may need to be arranged.
Furniture needs to be delivered.
The office may require decoration.
All of this happens before the business has generated a single pound of additional revenue from its new premises.
A fully equipped coworking or flexible office can remove much of this initial expenditure.
The infrastructure already exists.
You arrive and begin working.
For startups and growing businesses, preserving capital can be far more useful than investing heavily in furniture and office infrastructure.
2. Utilities Can Be Included
Electricity and heating are unavoidable office costs.
They can also fluctuate.
A cold winter or changes in energy prices can make forecasting difficult.
In many flexible workspace arrangements, utilities form part of the overall office package.
Businesses therefore don’t need to manage separate accounts for every service.
This can make monthly expenditure easier to understand and forecast.
Always check exactly what’s included in the workspace agreement, but consolidated costs are one of the major attractions of flexible offices.
3. Business Internet Without Separate Installation
Modern businesses cannot operate effectively without reliable internet.
Arranging connectivity for a traditional office can involve:
- Installation
- Hardware
- Monthly contracts
- Support arrangements
- Backup planning
For some businesses, even a short connectivity problem can cause significant disruption.
Professional coworking environments generally provide connectivity as part of the workspace infrastructure.
This means the business doesn’t have to arrange an entirely separate broadband service simply because it has moved office.
Again, businesses with specialist networking or security requirements should discuss them directly with the provider.
For most small companies, however, included business connectivity removes another expense and another piece of administration.
4. You Don’t Need to Furnish an Entire Office
Furniture represents a surprisingly significant office expense.
Good-quality desks and chairs aren’t cheap.
Then consider meeting-room furniture, storage, reception seating and communal areas.
And what happens when your business grows?
More furniture.
What happens when you relocate?
Everything needs to be moved.
Flexible offices generally come furnished.
This doesn’t just save the initial purchase price.
It also reduces:
- Delivery costs
- Installation
- Maintenance
- Replacement
- Removal costs
The workspace provider takes responsibility for creating and maintaining the office environment.
5. Share Meeting Rooms Instead of Paying for Empty Space
Meeting rooms demonstrate one of the biggest inefficiencies of traditional offices.
A business may use its meeting room for perhaps six hours during a typical week.
Yet it pays for that floor space:
24 hours a day.
7 days a week.
52 weeks a year.
That isn’t particularly efficient.
Coworking environments solve the problem by sharing meeting facilities between multiple businesses.
You access a professional room when you need it rather than permanently paying for a room that may sit empty most of the time.
This principle extends beyond meeting rooms.
Shared facilities can include:
- Kitchens
- Breakout areas
- Reception spaces
- Informal meeting areas
- Presentation facilities
Sharing allows smaller businesses to access facilities that would otherwise significantly increase their office footprint.
6. Cleaning and Maintenance Can Be Simplified
Someone has to clean an office.
Someone also has to deal with:
- Broken furniture
- Lighting problems
- Heating issues
- General building maintenance
- Communal areas
In a traditional office, these responsibilities eventually land on somebody within the business.
That might be the office manager.
In a very small company, it might be the owner.
Either way, someone is spending time managing property instead of working on the business.
In a managed flexible workspace, many of these responsibilities sit with the workspace operator.
That’s not merely a financial saving.
It’s a time saving.
And management time has value.
7. Flexible Workspace Can Reduce Wasted Desk Space
Hybrid working has created an interesting office problem.
Businesses may have 20 employees but only eight or ten people in the office on a typical day.
What happens to the other desks?
Nothing.
They sit empty.
But the company still pays for the space.
A more flexible workspace strategy can allow businesses to match their office footprint more closely to actual usage.
Instead of automatically providing one permanent desk per employee, businesses may combine:
- Private team space
- Shared desks
- Hot desking
- Meeting facilities
- Home working
This can potentially reduce the amount of dedicated floor space the company requires.
8. Coworking Makes Growth Less Expensive
Growth is good.
But growth can create property problems.
Imagine occupying a six-person traditional office and recruiting employee number seven.
Do you squeeze in another desk?
Move office?
Take additional space?
Any option can create expense and disruption.
Flexible workspace can make growth easier because businesses may be able to move between different office sizes within the same location.
For example:
2-person office → 4-person office → 6-person office → larger team space
Availability will always depend on the individual provider, but the flexible model removes some of the rigidity associated with conventional property.
9. Avoid Paying for More Space Than You Need
Traditional office searches often encourage businesses to think years ahead.
“We have five employees now, but we might have ten eventually.”
So the company rents space for ten.
For the next two years, half of it remains empty.
Flexible office space allows businesses to think differently.
Instead of asking:
“How much space might we need three years from now?”
you can ask:
“How much space do we need now?”
Then adapt when circumstances change.
This can make office expenditure much more closely aligned with actual business requirements.
10. Shorter Commitments Can Reduce Financial Risk
Long commercial leases can become a problem when circumstances change.
Businesses can:
- Grow
- Downsize
- Merge
- Adopt hybrid working
- Change markets
- Relocate
The office that seemed perfect at the beginning of a lease may become unsuitable later.
Flexible office arrangements can potentially reduce this risk by providing shorter or more adaptable commitments.
The exact terms vary considerably between providers, so businesses should always read agreements carefully.
But flexibility itself has financial value.
Avoiding years of commitment to unsuitable premises can be extremely important.
The Hidden Cost of Managing Your Own Office
Some office costs don’t appear on any invoice.
Management time is a good example.
Consider how much time a business owner might spend dealing with:
- Internet providers
- Utility companies
- Cleaning contractors
- Maintenance
- Furniture
- Building issues
- Deliveries
Every hour spent managing the office is an hour that isn’t being spent on:
- Sales
- Customers
- Marketing
- Staff
- Strategy
Managed workspace removes many of these distractions.
For small businesses in particular, this can be extremely valuable.
Traditional Office vs Coworking: What Should You Compare?
When comparing costs, don’t simply compare:
Traditional office rent vs coworking membership
That’s rarely a fair comparison.
Instead compare:
Traditional Office
Rent
- utilities
- broadband
- furniture
- cleaning
- maintenance
- meeting-room space
- communal space
- setup costs
- management time
against:
Flexible Workspace
Workspace fee
- any additional services not included
Only then do you begin to understand the true financial difference.
Is Coworking Always Cheaper?
No.
And it shouldn’t automatically be marketed that way.
For some businesses, particularly larger organisations with stable teams and long-term property requirements, a traditional office may provide excellent value.
A company that needs substantial dedicated space every day may prefer its own premises.
The advantage of coworking is that it can be particularly cost-effective for businesses that value:
- Flexibility
- Shared facilities
- Lower setup costs
- Scalability
- Predictable expenditure
- Reduced property administration
The right choice depends on how your organisation operates.
Coworking Can Help Startups Preserve Cash
Cash is precious when launching a business.
Every pound invested in office infrastructure is money that cannot be invested elsewhere.
Imagine choosing between spending capital on:
Option A
Office furniture, decorating, meeting-room equipment and broadband installation.
or:
Option B
Marketing, product development, recruitment and customer acquisition.
For many startups, the second option has greater potential to grow the company.
Flexible workspace allows businesses to access professional facilities without necessarily investing heavily in physical office infrastructure.
Flexible Workspace Can Help Established Businesses Too
Coworking isn’t just for startups.
Established companies can use flexible workspace for:
- Satellite offices
- Project teams
- Hybrid workers
- Regional employees
- Temporary expansion
- Client-facing locations
A company headquartered elsewhere might need a Glasgow presence without wanting to establish an entire traditional office.
Flexible workspace can provide that presence with considerably less operational complexity.
Why East Glasgow Can Make Commercial Sense
Location has a significant impact on office costs.
Glasgow city centre may be the obvious choice for some businesses, but it isn’t the only option.
East Glasgow can be attractive to companies that value:
- Accessibility
- Road connections
- Parking
- Proximity to the city
- Flexible workspace options
For employees or customers travelling from areas outside central Glasgow, an East Glasgow location can sometimes provide a more convenient journey than travelling directly into the city centre.
Businesses should therefore consider total accessibility and cost, not simply prestige of postcode.
Coworking in Dalmarnock
Dalmarnock can be particularly interesting for businesses wanting an East Glasgow base.
Its position provides an alternative to conventional city-centre office locations while keeping businesses connected with Glasgow.
When comparing office locations, consider:
- Monthly workspace costs
- Parking
- Staff travel
- Customer accessibility
- Public transport
- Road access
- Meeting facilities
- Potential for expansion
The cheapest advertised rent isn’t necessarily the most cost-effective office.
The right workspace is the one that delivers the best overall value for the way your business actually operates.
Reduce the Cost and Complexity of Office Space With CubeHQ
CubeHQ provides flexible workspace for businesses looking for a professional Glasgow base without the unnecessary complexity associated with running a traditional office.
Rather than spending time organising utilities, furniture and meeting facilities, businesses can concentrate on the work that actually generates revenue.
Whether you’re:
- Starting a business
- Leaving the home office
- Building a small team
- Creating a Glasgow base
- Adopting hybrid working
- Looking for a more flexible office
CubeHQ offers workspace designed around modern business requirements.
Arrange a tour of CubeHQ and compare the real cost of flexible workspace against maintaining your own traditional office.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is coworking cheaper than renting an office?
It can be. The important comparison is the total cost of occupancy rather than rent alone. Traditional offices can involve utilities, internet, furniture, cleaning, maintenance and other expenses in addition to rent.
What costs are normally included in coworking?
This varies between providers. Common inclusions can include furniture, internet, utilities and communal facilities. Always ask for a complete breakdown before comparing workspace options.
Does coworking include meeting rooms?
Many coworking environments provide meeting rooms, although whether their use is included or charged separately varies between providers.
Can coworking reduce startup costs?
Yes. Moving into an already equipped workspace can reduce the need to purchase furniture, install broadband and establish office infrastructure.
Is flexible office space suitable for growing businesses?
It can be particularly useful for growing businesses because they may be able to increase their workspace as their team expands.
Can established companies use coworking?
Yes. Flexible workspace can be used for regional teams, satellite offices, hybrid employees, project teams and temporary expansion.
How should I compare coworking prices?
Compare the complete package. Consider workspace, utilities, internet, furniture, meeting facilities, cleaning, maintenance, parking and any additional charges.
Could Your Business Be Spending Too Much on Office Space?
Don’t compare coworking with rent alone.
Compare the real cost of maintaining your existing office with a flexible workspace where many of the facilities your business needs are already available.
Discover CubeHQ in Glasgow and find out whether a more flexible approach could reduce your business overheads.
Book a CubeHQ tour and explore your workspace options.
