How to find the best coworking space in Lahore.

The checks

Ten things that tell workspaces apart.

Each one comes with the question to ask on the tour and our own answer underneath it, so you can hold this building to the same standard as every other building you walk into.

1. 01

   What the monthly figure actually buys

   Two spaces can quote you the same number and mean completely different things by it. Internet, tea and coffee, printing, room time, a locker, the power when the mains go: each of those can sit inside the monthly figure or turn up later as a line on an invoice. Until you know which, you are not comparing prices, you are comparing fonts.

   Test it on the tourAsk for the full monthly total for one desk with every service you would genuinely use, and then ask which of those lines is allowed to change while you are a member.

   Our own answerEvery WorkBench plan has 11 things sitting inside it, and rather than make you ask for that list we have printed the whole of it further down this page. Nothing on it is billed separately. See the pricing page

2. 02

   Backup that carries the whole floor

   Backup is the word that hides the most. It can mean a battery that keeps the routers and the lights alive while the air conditioning dies, or a generator somebody has to go downstairs and start. Through a Lahore summer that distinction decides whether an outage costs you a flicker or an afternoon.

   Test it on the tourAsk what happens the moment the mains drop, then put the same question to whoever is sitting at the next desk. If a cut happens while you are standing there, you have been handed the answer for free.

   Our own answerA generator and a UPS, both named on our amenity list and both counted in what every plan includes. We publish no runtime figures, because we have none we could stand behind.

3. 03

   A connection you have tested yourself

   High speed internet is a phrase, not a specification. Ours says it too, and a phrase is not a number, while a number on a poster is still not a number at your desk at four in the afternoon on a Tuesday. That last measurement is the only one you will ever have to live with.

   Test it on the tourRun a speed test on your own phone, at the desk you would actually take, at the hour you would actually work. Then ask who you tell when it drops and how long the last outage lasted.

   Our own answerWe say high speed internet and deliberately publish no megabit figure, because a number we cannot promise at every desk on every day is worth nothing to you. Bring a phone and take your own reading on the tour.

4. 04

   Meeting rooms, included or metered

   This is where the quiet money lives. A desk rate can look sharp right up until every client call costs an hour of room time on top of it. The policy matters more than the furniture: who may book, how far ahead, and what happens in the week everyone wants the same slot.

   Test it on the tourAsk the hourly rate, ask what a member is allowed, ask to see the booking system rather than hear about it. Ask what is on the wall too, since a screen and a whiteboard are not a given anywhere.

   Our own answerThe meeting room, the huddle rooms and the pod rooms come inside every plan, against a monthly quota the team is flexible about rather than an unlimited promise the front desk would have to break. Non members pay by the hour, from PKR 1,000 to PKR 2,500 for the board room. Two things worth knowing before you arrive: the board room is the only room with a screen, and there is no whiteboard anywhere, because the glass is what gets written on. Every room and rate

5. 05

   The hours the door genuinely opens

   Round the clock access is one phrase covering several different arrangements, and which arrangement you are buying is the thing to pin down. Work out the hours you genuinely need before you ask, because a vague question earns a vague answer and you will only find the gap in it on a deadline.

   Test it on the tourAsk who lets you in at 11PM and whether the answer changes with the plan you buy. Ask separately when the front desk is staffed, because that is a different question and it deserves its own answer.

   Our own answerOpen 24/7 for members, and reception is a separate thing that we will not blur into it: staffed 9AM to 9PM, Monday to Saturday. Shared desks are sold by shift, morning, evening or night, while the floor itself never shuts on a member.

6. 06

   Security at the hour you will use it

   Anywhere feels safe at 3PM with thirty people in it. The real question is what the building is like at 2AM with three, and whether you would be willing to leave a monitor on your desk across a long weekend without thinking about it again.

   Test it on the tourWalk the entrance and count the cameras. Ask who is on the door overnight. Ask, plainly, what has actually gone missing, and listen to how quickly the answer comes.

   Our own answerCCTV and a security guard, with a round the clock concierge counted among the things every plan includes. The floor is open to members at every hour, so put this one to whoever you find at a desk late rather than to us.

7. 07

   The desk you would really be sitting at

   Photographs flatten sound. A floor can be genuinely beautiful and still be the wrong shape for the way you work, and no gallery will ever tell you that. Look for where calls get taken, because that single detail decides whether the rest of the room stays quiet.

   Test it on the tourSit at a free desk for ten minutes at the busiest hour of the day and do nothing but listen. Take a call from wherever calls are taken. Nobody confident about their floor will hurry you off it.

   Our own answerAn open floor of long shared desks, dedicated desks that keep whatever you left on them, private rooms with doors for teams, and pod rooms and booths for the conversation you would rather the floor did not hear. Sit wherever you like on the tour, for as long as you like. The spaces in detail

8. 08

   What happens at four in the afternoon

   Nobody picks a workspace on the strength of its tea, and you will still meet the question every afternoon you spend there. The break decides whether you stay for a full day or start packing at three, and a kettle at the end of a corridor is not the same offer as somewhere to actually go.

   Test it on the tourFind out where lunch happens and whether it means leaving the building. Ask whether tea and coffee are free or running on a tab. Ask where you are meant to sit when you are not working, and see whether there is an answer.

   Our own answerThe cafeteria has a floor of its own rather than a corner of one. Tea, green tea and coffee are unlimited on every plan, a vending machine covers the rest, and the game room has table tennis and foosball for the part of the afternoon that was not going to produce anything anyway.

9. 09

   Community, shown instead of claimed

   Community is the hardest word on any workspace website to put evidence behind, ours included. It is not lettering on a wall. It is whether anything actually happened in that building last month, and whether the people at the desks have been there longer than a season.

   Test it on the tourAsk to see photographs of the last three events and check they were taken in that building. Then talk to a member with nobody from the front desk standing beside you.

   Our own answerOur events are photographed in these rooms and put on the gallery page, and not one of those photographs is stock. The people in them are the people at the desks. Look at the gallery

10. 10

    What you are actually signing

    The terms set the price of being wrong, which matters most to exactly the people coworking exists for: the ones who cannot say what next quarter looks like. Deposit, notice, what happens when the team gains two, what happens when it loses two.

    Test it on the tourAsk for the agreement before you pay anything and read the leaving clause first. A space that will not show you the paperwork until money has moved has already answered the question.

    Our own answerWe do not publish deposit or notice terms on this website, because you should have them from the person who can sign them rather than from a page that might be out of date. Ask on the tour and take the answer away in writing. Here is what we will commit to in print: a day pass is PKR 2,000, and every one of the 11 things set out below comes with it exactly as it comes with a month, so every check on this list can be run for a single day before you sign up for anything longer.

Our numbers

Answering check one out loud.

Four prices, no bands to decode and nothing that only applies above a certain headcount. Tap any of them to ask about it on WhatsApp.

• Day Pass

  PKR2,000 for a day Ask on WhatsApp about the Day Pass, opens in a new tab

  One day, the full run of the place.

• Shared Desk

  PKR20,000 /month Ask on WhatsApp about the Shared Desk, opens in a new tab

  Morning or evening shift

  Any open desk on the shared floor, on the shift that suits you.

• Dedicated Desk

  PKR25,000 /month Ask on WhatsApp about the Dedicated Desk, opens in a new tab

  Your desk, kept all day

  The same desk, kept for you, exactly as you left it.

• Team Office

  PKR25,000 /seat monthly Ask on WhatsApp about the Team Office, opens in a new tab

  A private office for the team, billed per seat.

Take it with you

Ten things to ask for, anywhere.

Written for reading off a phone in somebody else’s reception, and for filling in while you are standing there. Answer as you go; this page remembers, on this device only, and you can keep a separate card for every building you walk.