Flexible Workspace: The Competitive Edge for Today's Commercial Real Estate Brokers

Commercial real estate brokers have historically been tasked by their corporate clients with securing a large space for a company headquarters, negotiating a 5-10-year lease, receiving a standard commission payout, and then moving on to the next client opportunity. Brokers had long been the primary source of market intelligence, which made them a valuable part of the transaction process.

As the industry continues to evolve through forces that can’t be ignored, brokers have had to evolve strategically as well. Tools like CoStar and, more recently, AI have put data into the hands of tenants, giving them more visibility into the market. And as more companies adopt a flexible workspace strategy, brokers not only have to remain market experts, but also need to fluently understand other ways to transact that combine shorter terms, greater flexibility, and a wider array of choices.

For commercial real estate brokers, this creates both a challenge and an opportunity.

Flexible workspace (also called flex space) includes private offices, coworking memberships, meeting rooms and on-demand workspace available on shorter, more flexible terms than a traditional lease. It gives brokers another tool for solving complex real estate requirements without compromising the larger client relationship. It can provide a practical answer when a traditional lease isn’t the right fit, allowing brokers to address immediate needs while continuing to guide clients toward the right long-term real estate strategy.

In other words, flexibility doesn’t have to compete with brokerage. It can make a broker more valuable.

How Flexible Workspace Gives Brokers Another Answer

A client doesn’t always come to a broker with a straightforward requirement for a five-year lease.

They may need 20 desks for a project team for six months. They may be entering three new markets but aren’t ready to commit to permanent offices. They may have employees distributed across the country who need occasional access to professional workspace. Or they may need somewhere for a team to work while their permanent office is being built out.

Without a flexible option, the broker may be forced to tell the client that the requirement doesn’t fit a traditional transaction.

With flexible workspace in the toolkit, the answer can instead be: “I can help solve for that.”

Solving Multi-Market Office Requirements

One of the biggest challenges brokers face is helping clients that need office space in multiple markets simultaneously.

A company might need offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Denver and Seattle, or even on a larger global scale. Finding the right solution in each market can take significant time, and the company’s requirements may not be identical from one location to the next. A broker may only know one or two of those markets well, which often means searching blindly in unfamiliar ones.

For brokers working with national or multinational clients, partnering on the search can be incredibly valuable. A flexible workspace network such as Preferred Office Network can help brokers identify workspace options across markets while allowing the broker to remain the primary advisor and point of contact.

Layer in account management services with streamlined agreements and billing, and brokers can bring a full-service offer back to their clients.

Short-Term Office Space Doesn’t Have to Mean Short-Term Relationships

One concern brokers may have about flexible workspace is what happens when a client takes a short-term office instead of signing a traditional lease. But a short-term requirement doesn’t necessarily mean a short-term client relationship.

In many cases, flexible workspace is temporary by design. A company might use flexible space while it:

• Enters a new market
• Tests a new location
• Completes a build-out
• Integrates an acquisition
• Launches a project
• Determines its long-term headcount
• Transitions away from an existing office

The broker can solve the immediate problem while continuing to work with the client on the next stage of its real estate strategy.

Flexible workspace is often a bridge to the next real estate decision, not a replacement for it.

Distributed Teams Are Changing What “Office” Means

The traditional assumption that every employee needs to work from one centralized office is becoming less universal. A company may have a headquarters in one city, employees working remotely across several states, and teams that come together periodically to collaborate.

Flexible workspace gives brokers a way to address those requirements without trying to force a distributed workforce into a traditional office model.

A client might need a small private office in one city, meeting space in another and occasional coworking access in several others. Rather than approaching each requirement separately, brokers can offer clients a holistic approach, leaning on a single platform that also shares back valuable metrics, like utilization, to help inform future decisions.

The Broker Stays at the Center of the Client Relationship

Perhaps the most important point for brokers is that incorporating flexible workspace does not mean handing the client relationship to a workspace operator. The broker remains the hero.

The broker understands the client’s business, knows the market, advises on real estate strategy and determines which solution makes sense. A flexible workspace network can support that process by providing additional options and helping execute the workspace component of the strategy.

Preferred Office Network works alongside brokers rather than asking them to step out of the relationship. When a broker has a client with a flexible workspace requirement, Preferred can help identify solutions across its network while the broker remains the client’s primary point of contact.

The goal isn’t to replace the broker. It’s to give the broker more tools to get the job done.

The Cost of Not Offering Flexible Workspace

There’s also a competitive consideration.

When a client has an immediate workspace need, they may not wait for a broker to develop a traditional solution. If the broker can’t offer an answer, the client may find one elsewhere.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the broker loses the entire relationship. But it can create an opening for someone else to become the client’s resource for that requirement, and potentially for future requirements as well.

Offering a flexible option closes that gap.

A broker who can say, “Here’s what we can do right now, and here’s how we’ll approach your long-term requirement,” can keep the conversation centered on the client’s broader real estate strategy.

Flexibility Is a Capability, Not a Transaction

The strongest commercial real estate brokers aren’t defined by the type of transaction they complete. They’re defined by their ability to solve their clients’ real estate problems.

Flexible workspace expands that ability.

It gives brokers another solution for short-term needs, project teams, market entry, distributed workforces, and multi-market requirements. It can help clients move quickly when circumstances change, while giving them time to make better long-term decisions.

And importantly, it allows brokers to remain at the center of those decisions.

The future of commercial real estate isn’t necessarily traditional leasing versus flexible workspace. For many clients, it will be a combination of both.

The brokers who recognize that, and know how to deploy each solution at the right time, will be better positioned to serve clients as their needs evolve.

Flexibility doesn’t take the broker out of the equation. It gives the broker more ways to stay in it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is flexible workspace?

Flexible workspace includes private offices, coworking access, meeting rooms and on-demand workspace offered on shorter, more flexible terms than a traditional commercial lease. Companies use it to scale up or down, enter new markets, or bridge the gap to a long-term office.

How can commercial real estate brokers use flexible workspace?

Brokers can use flexible workspace to solve requirements a traditional lease doesn’t fit: short-term project teams, market entry, office build-outs, acquisitions, distributed teams, and clients that need space in multiple cities at once.

Does offering flexible workspace mean losing the client relationship?

No. When brokers work with a flexible workspace network like Preferred Office Network, the broker remains the client’s primary advisor and point of contact, while the network helps source and execute workspace options across markets.

Is flexible workspace a replacement for a traditional lease?

Usually not. Flexible workspace is often a bridge to the next real estate decision. For many companies, the right strategy will be a combination of traditional leasing and flexible workspace.