Written by Mike Kriel, CEO of Launch Workplaces
As a building owner, you’re used to getting reports from your property management team, your leasing team, and your asset manager. You’ve built your entire ownership operation around knowing your numbers, understanding variances, and not getting surprised.
So, why would your coworking operator be any different?
After a dozen years in this business, my opinion is straightforward:
The financial reporting from a coworking operator should look a lot like what you get from your property management team.
If it doesn’t, that’s a problem worth paying attention to. If it doesn’t, that’s a red flag. Here’s what you need to know.
Why your operator’s financial package should look just like your property management reports
At a minimum, you should be seeing a monthly P&L compared against budget, and a year-to-date P&L compared against budget. If your operator isn’t providing both, start asking questions.
But the piece most landlords don’t think to ask for, and that most operators don’t lead with, is the variance report.
The variance report tells you why the numbers moved, not just that they did
A P&L tells you what happened. A variance report tells you why. That distinction matters more than most landlords realize.
If your operator missed a revenue number, you need to know whether it’s a timing issue, a collections problem, or something structural.
Those three things have very different implications:
- A timing issue resolves itself next month
- A collections problem might need a process fix
- A structural problem might mean you’ve got a bigger conversation ahead
The same applies when things are going well.
If your operator is crushing revenue, you want to know why. Maybe they sold more offices than projected or pushed rates higher than expected.
That’s information you can use, including whether it’s time to revisit the pricing conversation.
A good operator should hand you the variance report and have 95% of your questions answered before you ask them.
That’s a baseline, not a high bar.
An operator who can’t explain their numbers is already giving you an answer
If your operator is handing you a P&L and leaving you with questions they can’t answer, that tells you something.
It might mean they don’t have the internal reporting infrastructure to track variances properly or that they’re not paying close enough attention.
Either way, it’s an operator problem, not a reporting one.
You shouldn’t have to chase your numbers or wonder whether a missed target is a one-time thing or the start of a trend. You should be able to open the report, read the variance explanations, and have enough information to make a decision.
If that’s not what you’re getting, it’s worth having a direct conversation about expectations. And if the reporting doesn’t improve, that’s useful information too.
For a full breakdown of what to look for in a coworking partnership, download the Commercial Landlord’s Guide.
