Why eight, and why monthly
Coworking is a simple business underneath: seats times price times how many are filled, minus what you fail to collect. The numbers below cover each of those parts plus the pipeline that refills them. Review them on the 1st, when the previous month is closed, and keep them in one sheet so you can see twelve months side by side. Targets here are rules of thumb from running a small space; your city and your rent will move them.
1. Occupancy
Formula: seats occupied ÷ total sellable seats × 100.
Count cabins by seat, not by room, so a 4-seat cabin with two people in it counts as 4 occupied if the whole cabin is rented. Exclude seats you cannot sell (a cabin under repair, a desk blocked by a pillar). Track cabins and open desks separately; cabins at 90% with desks at 40% is a different problem from the reverse.
Rule of thumb: below 60% you are losing money most months; 75 to 85% is healthy; above 90% for three months running means prices are too low or it is time to take the next floor.
2. Rent roll
Formula: the sum of every active member's monthly licence fee, before tax, as of the 1st.
This is what you should invoice this month if nobody joins or leaves. It is the cleanest single number for the size of the business. Note it alongside last month's figure; the difference is net new rent, which is joiners minus leavers minus any discounts you gave at renewal.
3. Collection rate
Formula: rent received for the month ÷ rent invoiced for the month × 100, measured on a fixed day, such as the 10th or month end.
Measure it twice: by the due date (how disciplined your members and reminders are) and by month end (how much you actually got). A space with 95% on the due date rarely has an arrears problem. Our rent collection routine is built around moving this number.
Rule of thumb: 85% by the due date, 97% or better by month end. If month-end collection is below 90%, stop marketing and fix invoicing and reminders first.
4. Arrears
Formula: total outstanding across all members, split by age: current, 1 to 30 days, 31 to 60 days, over 60 days.
The total matters less than the ageing. One member at 60 days owing two months is a leaving risk and a deposit conversation. Ten members at 5 days is a reminder problem. Write down the names in the over-30 bucket every month; it should rarely be more than two or three.
Rule of thumb: total arrears under 5% of rent roll, and nothing over 60 days without a written plan.
5. Churn and the notice pipeline
Formula: seats that left in the month ÷ seats occupied at the start of the month × 100.
Also track the notice pipeline: seats that have given notice and will leave next month or the month after. That is your early warning; the churn number only tells you what already happened. Tag each exit with a reason (moved to own office, cost, grew out of the cabin, unhappy) so patterns show up.
Rule of thumb: monthly churn of 3 to 5% is normal for cabins; above 8% for two months means something is wrong with the space or the service, not the market. Members leaving because they outgrew you is the good kind; make sure you have a bigger cabin to offer before they go looking.
6. Revenue per seat
Formula: total revenue for the month (rent plus bookings, virtual office, extras, before tax) ÷ total sellable seats.
Note that it divides by all seats, not occupied ones, so it blends occupancy and price into one figure. Compare it with your cost per seat (rent, salaries, power, internet, housekeeping ÷ seats) and the gap is your margin per seat. This is the number to watch when deciding on a price rise or a new floor.
Rule of thumb: revenue per seat should be at least 1.4 times your all-in cost per seat before you consider expanding.
7. Meeting room utilisation
Formula: hours booked ÷ hours available × 100, per room, for your opening hours.
Split paid hours from free member hours. A room at 70% utilisation that is 60% free hours is a perk, not a product. If paid utilisation is above 40% at peak times and the room is always full on Tuesday mornings, raise the peak price or add a half-day rate. If it sits under 15%, the problem is usually that nobody knows it can be booked, which a public booking page fixes.
Rule of thumb: 25 to 40% overall is good for a small space; much higher and you need another room.
8. Enquiry-to-signed conversion
Formula: agreements signed in the month ÷ new enquiries received in the month × 100. Also note enquiry-to-visit and visit-to-signed separately.
Most spaces lose enquiries between the first message and the visit, because the reply came hours later or the price was not clear. Record every enquiry with its source (Google, walk-in, referral, aggregator) and what happened to it.
Rule of thumb: 40 to 60% of enquiries should visit, and 30 to 50% of visits should sign, giving 15 to 25% overall. Below 10% overall usually means slow replies or pricing that is out of line with neighbours.
Putting it on one page
| Number | Healthy | Act when |
|---|---|---|
| Occupancy | 75 to 85% | Under 60% or over 90% for 3 months |
| Collection by due date | 85%+ | Under 70% |
| Collection by month end | 97%+ | Under 90% |
| Arrears | Under 5% of rent roll | Anything over 60 days |
| Monthly churn | 3 to 5% | Over 8% twice |
| Revenue per seat ÷ cost per seat | 1.4 or more | Under 1.1 |
| Room utilisation | 25 to 40% | Under 15% or over 60% |
| Enquiry to signed | 15 to 25% | Under 10% |
How to collect the numbers without a spreadsheet marathon
Every one of these comes from four records: a list of seats and who is in them, invoices and payments, bookings, and enquiries. If those four live in one system, the numbers are a report, not a project. Coworking OS shows occupancy, rent roll, collection, arrears and the notice pipeline on its home screen for exactly this reason. If you use a spreadsheet, keep one tab per record type and one summary tab with these eight formulas; the discipline is in doing it on the 1st, every month.
Three habits that make the numbers useful
- Write the number and one sentence about why it moved. "Occupancy 78%, down from 82%: two cabins left for own office" is worth more than the figure alone.
- Pick one number to improve each month and do one thing about it.
- Share the page with whoever handles the front desk. People collect rent better when they see the collection rate.