Free tool for coworking and managed office operators
How many seats will your floor hold?
Enter the carpet area, how much goes to common areas and meeting rooms, and your mix of hot desks, dedicated desks and cabins. See the seats, meeting rooms and density for the floor.
Calculator
The floor
Usable area inside the walls.
Aisles, reception, pantry, phone booths, washrooms.
Share of the floor for meeting rooms.
Product mix and seat sizes
How the desk area is split, and the space each seat needs including its share of aisles.
Mix adds up to 100%.
The figures filled in are an illustrative 10,000 sq ft floor. The sq ft per seat values are planning assumptions, not standards: use your architect's numbers. Leave rates at 0 to skip revenue.
How it's calculated
A planning estimate. Building rules, fire norms, column grids and desk sizes change the real number.
- 1
Desk and cabin area
Carpet area × (100% − common areas % − meeting rooms %)
What is left for seats after aisles, reception, pantry, washrooms and meeting rooms.
- 2
Seats of each kind
Desk area × share of the mix ÷ sq ft per seat
Rounded down to whole seats. Each kind uses its own space per seat.
- 3
Meeting rooms
Meeting room area ÷ size of one room
Rounded down to whole rooms.
- 4
Seats per 1,000 sq ft
Total seats ÷ carpet area × 1,000
The density figure to compare floors and buildings.
- 5
Revenue at full occupancy
Seats of each kind × its rate, added up
Illustrative: the ceiling for the floor, not a forecast.
A worked example
An illustrative 10,000 sq ft floor. The space per seat is an assumption to show the method, not a standard.
- Carpet area
- 10,000 sq ft
- Common areas and circulation
- 30% = 3,000 sq ft
- Meeting rooms
- 10% = 1,000 sq ft, 5 rooms of 200 sq ft
- Desk and cabin area
- 10,000 − 3,000 − 1,000 = 6,000 sq ft
- Hot desks (30%, 45 sq ft each)
- 1,800 ÷ 45 = 40 seats
- Dedicated desks (50%, 55 sq ft each)
- 3,000 ÷ 55 = 54.5, so 54 seats
- Private cabins (20%, 70 sq ft each)
- 1,200 ÷ 70 = 17.1, so 17 seats
- Sellable seats
- 40 + 54 + 17 = 111
- Seats per 1,000 sq ft
- 111 ÷ 10,000 × 1,000 = 11.1 (about 90 sq ft of carpet area per seat)
Before you sign the lease
- Ask for the carpet area in writing. The gap between super built-up and carpet area decides how many seats you can sell.
- Plan the mix around demand in the micro-market: enterprise teams buy cabins and managed floors, freelancers and small teams buy desks.
- Check the seat count against fire exits, ventilation and the building's rules before you price the centre.
- Then test the numbers: what occupancy does the floor need to cover its costs, and what will it cost to open?
Questions about seat capacity
How many sq ft does one coworking seat need?
Should I use carpet area or super built-up area?
What share should common areas take?
Does this account for fire and building rules?
Do you store what I enter?
Plan the floor, then run it in one place.
One hour with the people who built it, using your own centres. If rivonOS isn't the right fit, we'll tell you.