Coliving is relatively new, mostly unknown, and in my opinion not fully understood. Many travelers doubt between coliving or shared flat…
Coliving is not a shared flat, you don’t go to a Coliving to “rent” a room to sleep, you don´t pay for the “bed”, and if you go to a Coliving for these reasons, then you are making a big mistake, or even worst, you will get disappointed…
Coliving is a community experience, the main reason is to share, learn, and collaborate with other people in an open space… It is not about being in the room, but outside of the room…
Perhaps you are asking yourself If I don´t pay to rent a room then, what do I pay?
Basic needs
To enjoy and commit to a community experience, we need some basic needs. First, we have to be comfortable.
A proper room with clean sheets, electricity, wifi, a table and chair, maintenance, and lock.
We would like to add to this list a clean toilet and clean kitchen…
Colivings are usually very clean because cleaning is done professionally twice a week. Besides some cleaning amenities are included in the price.
- The expenses of keeping a cleaning Coliving depend on the number of rooms but can go from 500 euros to 1000 euros a month, including check-ins and check-outs, laundry, cleaning products, etc…
- Maintenance depends on the house, but we will say a minimum of 150 euros a month for a normal house, but for a big house could go to 300 euros a month on average, including painting rooms and common areas every 3 or 4 years, not spending that kind of money means facing a ruined house sooner or later…
- Electricity, wifi, and water are no less than 250 euros a month, I know it is more because prices are going up…
- Amenities like toilet paper, dishwasher, shampoo, etc.. like 35 euros a month…
Community areas
If you don´t pay exclusively for your bed, then proper common areas to connect in the community are needed.
Community areas in any Coliving are the strength of the space, compared with a shared flat. Keeping community areas clean and in good shape costs a lot of money a year, maintenance, cleaning, amenities, etc
- Coworking spaces with ergonomic chairs, full kitchens, toilets, living rooms, in some cases gardens, etc cost a lot of money to keep.
- Coffee, drink water, and other amenities cost an average of 50 euros a month, even more in some cases…
- Common goods like share bikes and surfboards, cost like 100 euros a year to keep it… In our case, bikes are free of charge, but we repair them in a workshop when need it…
Marketing
Though one, it could vary between colivings… Most spaces have a website, blog and profiles on different platforms, and Instagram…
A good web is very important because future community members need to understand why you are a community space, communicating values is key because this is not a shared flat…
- Let’s forget about the 1500 euros to 3000 euros that cost to create a web. Keeping the website running with pluggings and updating the blog monthly a few times, can cost no less than 100 euros a month.
- I can´t give info about Google campaigns and other promotions, we have never done it, but lots of colivings do it…
- Then we have social media, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc, lots of spaces pay for this, we don´t because we do it ourselves, but the amount of time dedicated to this is big, with bad results in our case because we are not good at it… I will say 100 euros a month at least…
- Dealing with community members and answering questions about the coliving is a job that takes a lot of hours a month… We don’t pay for that, but this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t charge this work hour in our costs…
Community
Here we are, the main reason most colivers choose one coliving or another is the community. The real value is created when a coliving focuses on creating a community experience of any kind or meaning…
Building a community is a full-time job, some spaces take volunteers, and others hire professional community managers, expenses vary from one community to another depending on the type of community.
- Dinners cost money, not only the food, but also somebody has to cook, in some spaces colivers help, but in others, they don´t.
- Workshops, skillshares, hikes, etc, all these activities take time to organize and money to do, from a projector to a car…
- Colivings can spend no less than 150 euros a month on their community program, and more than 30 hours of work a month, some colivings have volunteers with “free” accommodation and food, but think about the spaces that hire professionals.
More money for…
The list of expenses is bigger, think about insurance, fire extinguishers, local taxes and national taxes, sustainable practices, etc…
Conclusion for coliving or shared flat
Unless a coliving has been running for some time or has a strong reputation-community. Most of the colivings are seasonable, having 5 good months and around 7 months with empty rooms and even closing for two or three months in some European regions.
We would like to remark that all those expenses, like cleaning, marketing, and community, need to be done even in the low season when rooms are empty and prices go down…
If the coliving depends on the high season to survive the whole year, the policy prices need lots of work, otherwise, the low season can “eat” the money done in the high season.
For all these reasons comparing the price of a Coliving with the price of a share flat is not fair… The amount of time, money, and work invested if both are not the same…
The aim of a shared flat is to provide a room with a bed to sleep in, the aim of a coliving is to offer a community experience where sharing time, knowledge and goods, can help you to be happier… If you think you are paying for a room in a Coliving them you are not understanding the experience.
