There has been an increased interest in shared offices Toronto and co-working office spaces over the past few years. This is because more and more small businesses are expanding and are beginning to see the advantages of working in a professional setting rather than a home office. But the question is, which is better?

A shared office space is generally housed in an office business centre that offers shared offices, as well as private offices, semi-private and team office space for lease Toronto. Another term for this type of office situation is serviced offices – because office furniture, boardrooms and meeting rooms and reception services are included. As well, shared office tenants have the same access to photocopiers, network printers and other technology on a pay-per-use basis as those with private or semi-private offices.

Outside of the monthly shared office rental fee, telecommunication costs and pay-per-use printing and photocopying, businesses who sign up for this type of office environment only have to worry about growing their business. While having access to a desk space when they need it, shared office space users do have limited storage space for permanent items. They often find that the shared office space is not always occupied by one or more shared office users at the same time. This is mainly due to the fact that most only use the office space for administrative purposes on a scheduled or sporadic basis. This means that oftentimes, shared office users may find that their schedule and the schedules of other users will allow them times where they have the entire space to themselves. Being in a shared office space that is within a facility that also has semi-private and private office spaces, means that as a tenant’s office space needs to expand, he or she can move to larger space within the same facility without the need to change their business address or telephone number.

Co-working office spaces are often large work rooms that are shared by many others. They are basically intended to be hives of interactivity and collaboration between companies hailing from a cross-section of fields and business types. The idea is that working in a room occupied by other businesses, breeds an atmosphere of differing work attitudes and fosters collaboration. These types of spaces can be ideal for entrepreneurs looking to expand the depths of their business scope and potentially be inspired by the input of others. The only problem with most co-working office spaces is that once your business begins to grow and you need a more professional private or semi-private office space, you need to move and change your established business address and possibly your business phone number (if you have been just renting an extension at your co-working office provider).

The one other common characteristic shared offices for rent and co-working office spaces have, is that they both will generally give you access to boardrooms and meeting rooms – but at what cost and how available are they? These are important questions to ask when signing up for shared office space Toronto or co-working office space.

What about shared office space versus co-working office space versus semi-private office space Toronto? Well, lets explore that in the next blog.