Are his kids really that loud? Why doesn't sound proof his office and discipline his kids for being too noisy. (I'm sure this would please his neighbours as well).
I feel like this idea is best executed with a co-op instead of a profit model. That's honestly how I feel about most co-working spaces. I don't really want to work somewhere where I don't have a say in who's there (if I'm paying the rent).. unless it's an 'executive suite'
I can tell you that what makes coworking magical is it's ability to connect people and create friendships that would otherwise not happen.<p>Coworking's weakness is the landlord business model is extremely low margin. In the suggested model in the article, $400 per member X 20 members = $8,000 per month. Now consider the rent of a warehouse downtown, utilities, paying someone to run the place, and buildout. It's a quick way to go out of business.<p>Now, if the coworking space is run as a loss leader for another business, that's another story.<p>At Conjunctured our other business is happy hours at Rio Rita's. We haven't found out how to make that profitable yet, but we're gonna' keep trying by god! :p<p>-Conjunctured Co-Founder
There's a great space in Santa Monica called CoLoft (<a href="http://www.coloft.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.coloft.com</a>) that sounds like exactly what you want. Startup weekend was just hosted here this past Saturday.<p>If anyone is in the area stop by; I've been working here for around 3 weeks and it's been great. Definitely a lot more productive than at home, and the environment, people, and networking is great. Has two conference rooms, a "kitchen area", free organic coffee...
I <i>love</i> the idea, but I'd be surprised if nice space like that can be built in Austin, for $300-$400/month, with room for profit.<p><Brainstorming><p>Do you have a garage? (Or, could you build another?)<p>Amortizing your monthly allowance, you could put some cash into the garage, and you're improving something you own.
This looks like the same idea as the hub:<p><a href="http://kingscross.the-hub.net" rel="nofollow">http://kingscross.the-hub.net</a><p>It's a little more expensive, but that's London for you...
The only thing that makes the coworking model work is the community ties. That's also what makes it better than executive suites.<p>This guy just wants a cave, but a cave outside of his home.<p>That's not coworking, that's desk rentals.