How to Choose a Coworking Space in Adelaide
Adelaide has a healthy spread of coworking spaces now, from corporate towers to converted warehouses. They are genuinely different from each other, and the right one for a fintech team of six is the wrong one for a freelance designer. Yes, we run one of them, so read this with that in mind. But most of what follows applies to choosing any space, including deciding against ours.
Start with your actual week, not the brochure
Before touring anywhere, answer three questions. How many days a week will you realistically show up? Do you need the same desk every time or just a desk? And do you take calls all day or need quiet? Your answers rule out half the options immediately. A beautiful space you visit once a fortnight is an expensive gym membership. A buzzy open-plan space is torture if you are on video calls six hours a day.
Mache Coworking’s top floor open Resident Desks with member Alex, coding to his heart’s content while bathed in natural light.
The things that actually matter day to day
Natural light. You will not notice it on the tour. You will absolutely notice its absence by week three. Spaces with deep floor plates and few windows feel fine for an hour and grim by Thursday.
Acoustics and call spaces. Count the phone booths and meeting rooms, then count the desks. If the ratio is off, you will spend your days hunting for somewhere to take a call.
Coffee and kitchen. Sounds trivial. It is not. The kitchen is where the community happens or does not.
Access hours. If you are a 6am person or a 9pm person, check whether your membership tier actually includes 24 hour access or just business hours.
The internet. Ask what happens when it goes down, not just how fast it is. The answer tells you a lot about how the place is run.
Mache Coworking’s upstairs kitchen at sunset. The perfect place for a cuppa and/or a chat.
The thing that matters most and is hardest to assess
Community is the word every coworking website uses and the thing almost none of them can prove. Here is how to test it on a tour: watch whether people talk to each other. Look at the noticeboard or Slack. Ask how long the average member has been there.
Churn is the honest metric. Spaces built around rows of hot desks tend to have revolving-door memberships. Spaces where most members have their own desk or office tend to keep people for years, because people who commit to a space commit to each other. When you tour, ask what proportion of members have been there over a year. A confident answer is a good sign. A vague one is also an answer.
Questions to ask on any tour
What is the notice period to cancel or change membership?
What is included versus billed extra? (Meeting room hours are the usual gotcha)
Who runs the space day to day, and are they on site?
What happens after hours if my key card fails?
Can I do a trial day before committing?
Any decent operator will answer all five without flinching. If a space will not let you trial a day first, be curious about why.
Location, honestly
CBD fringe versus deep CBD versus suburbs is mostly about your clients and your commute. If clients visit you, a recognisable central address earns its keep. If they never do, do not pay a premium for one. And check the parking situation before you sign anything, not after.
The shortcut
Every space in Adelaide will give you a tour and most will give you a trial day. Shortlist two or three, work a real day in each, and the decision usually makes itself. The space that felt right at 3pm on a Tuesday is the right one. If Mâché (mash-aye) makes your shortlist, we would love to show you around. Book a tour here. If it does not, genuinely, pick the place where you will do your best work. A city with good workspaces is good for everyone in it.
Thanks for reading. I’m Dans the founder of Mâché (mash-aye), a coworking community I’ve built since 2016. Say hi on LinkedIn.
