How to Set Up Ideal Home Offices

Traditionally, country houses had their drawing rooms, for evening relaxation, and their studies, for business use.

So home offices, per se, are not a new concept although they are experiencing a popular and significant revival.  In terms of consolidating assets and reducing business overheads, the home office is an investment that continues to save money on business rent, travelling costs and energy use for years into the future and allows your business to operate closer to carbon neutral.

Estate agents enjoy expounding the versatility of a home office, which adds to the property’s potential and floor space.

Buyers appreciate the inclusion to enable late night brain-storming or to convert into a play room for the children.  Business owners need somewhere to expand ideas and concentrate on spreadsheets without disruption from communal living rooms.

How can one set up ideal home offices?  When you have browsed the web and decided on an appealing company which designs garden rooms, consider the following:

An orangery is a wonderful place to spend your working day – there are many features for your Orangery design.

orangery or conservatory office

Wired or wireless, fast internet access is a lifeline and a necessity to the modern professional.  The latest plug-in technology ensures your working space is always connected.  Ask what system is best for you.

Telephone access, mobile or landline?  Deciding on your preference early in the design process is crucial so that wires and sockets can be included in the fixed price.

Funding options, a business asset, or an investment in your home?

Some clients may be able to fund a garden room for business purposes through their company and offset the value against taxation.  This is not everyone’s choice as homeowners often prefer to retain private ownership.

Heating, comfort, insulation, and energy bills.  BBA approved SIPS panels have been very thoroughly tested and approved, so offices made from these specially certified panels are extremely thermally efficient.  Such buildings cost the consumer less to heat and cool their room, in terms of energy usage and hard cash over the entire lifetime of the building (60 years plus).  Careful though, not all SIPS panels have BBA certification so may not be of a good, durable quality.

What size will be right?  The best way to establish this is to visit one already in use as an office.  Visualising yourself, your equipment and furniture in place will help you come to a decision on the size of room you need.  Clearly, budget restraints will also play a part.   On your visit, take a partner or friend and examine the quality of the room.  Has it been carefully finished to the ground, externally?  Do the doors and windows reflect the quality you want?  Is the owner happy with the service and guarantee?

Home offices in gardens have natural advantages over upstairs studies.

Visitors need not trail through the family home to reach the meeting place, just slip through the side gate and follow the path.  This allows professional integrity to remain intact and the meeting to evolve without interruption from the home and all it’s sounds, smells and distractions.

The psychological dominance is foremost: creating a clean separation between home-life time spent in the house and work-time spent in the garden room.

Ideal Home Offices