The Pros and Cons of Shared Office Space in Northern California

Posted by: Becky S.

 Office space in Northern California is a major overhead expense for any growing business, which makes the concept of shared office space appealing from a financial standpoint. Executive suites, also known as business centers or serviced office space, offer fully-equipped and furnished offices within a shared infrastructure. Choosing the right office space in Northern California is crucial to the success of your business, so it’s important to be educated about the pros and cons of shared space before making a decision.

Make No Capital Investments
The office infrastructure is already in place, including conference rooms, reception area, and break room, so you don’t have to worry about renovation costs. Furniture, business equipment, communications platform, and Internet are also provided, which saves you time and overhead from having to build an infrastructure from the ground up.
 
Pay for what you need when you need it
In a traditional office lease, you pay for idle space. For instance, you need a conference room to meet with clients or colleagues, but that room is empty half of the time. In a shared environment, your total cost of ownership is significantly lower since you are pooling the expense with other businesses. In fact, the space you need to do most of your work is probably less than 150 square feet. Executive Suites usually occupy an entire floor of a building and then lease out the individual offices to businesses like yours. Administrative services are also available on a pay-per-use basis. Bottom line is no waste.
 
 
Short-term leases
You can rent your office in Northern California for six to twelve months at a time, or even on a month-to-month basis. Most traditional office leases want to lock you in for a minimum of three years – not a functional solution for startups whose needs can change overnight. With flexible lease terms, you can add an office should you choose to hire an assistant, but if you need to trim down overhead a few months down the line, you’re not stuck which means you can manage your cash flow more effectively.
 
Your one stop shop
Your office provider acts as a main vendor for everything you need to run your business. If you were to lease your own space, you would spend time and energy dealing with separate vendors in order to set-up things like Internet and phone services. Then you would have to pay an installation fee to each individual vendor, not to mention the number of monthly bills you would receive from all these places. With a shared office space provider, your service charges are consolidated onto one invoice each month which makes tracking expenses easier to manage.
 
Credibility to your business
The amenities a shared infrastructure provides allows you to project well to the outside world. Providers in this industry need to offer the latest in technology and ensure top-notch services. In one day you can have a business address, a live receptionist answering your calls and greeting your clients, high speed Internet, E-fax, access to conference rooms and videoconferencing, and be able to retrieve your voice-mail messages via email. This is a definite upgrade from working out of your home office.
 
The Cons
Shared office space in Northern California or Executive Suites certainly has its benefits, but it needs to suit your business needs. Remember, you are sharing space with other professionals that may be completely different from the field you’re in. Your neighbors can range from the software engineer who wears jeans and t-shirts to the office everyday, to the accountant or attorney who wears a collared shirt and tie. If you are looking for a very specific type of office setting, and want to have total control over who comes in and out of your space, then a shared environment may not be for you.
 
Also, if you require office space for 25 or more, the executive suite model may start to become less cost-effective since most providers charge on a ‘per user’ basis. The idea is to leverage the services a shared environment provides until your business is stable enough to afford its own infrastructure. 
 
Kim Seipel is a Center Manager for Pacific Business Centers (PBC), the leading provider of hosted and virtual offices in Northern California. She helps Bay Area corporations, small businesses, and home-based entrepreneurs take advantage of the escalating demand for cost effective virtual office solutions. To learn more about Pacific Business Centers’ on-demand office solutions, visit: http://www.PBCoffices.com .
 

Last updated: 01.19.2009 02:11 PM