Home Office or "Store Front" Office

So you DON'T

think he meant "location"?

Office away from home for me. When I graduated after four years to an office away from home, near the center of town, my business really kicked off.Have had a backlog of work ever since.

Home based office in basement. Separate outside entry. 3/4 of the basement is the finished office. 1/4 is the HVAC area and steps to the main level. I'm 100% solo. In my office area I have a conference room with a table and seating for 6. I have an antique couch with a Gurley transit set up on one side and a Pentax total station set up on the other. Attached I have separate personal office where my drafting table, computer, file cabinets, printer, books, office supplies in closets are located. I also have a huge bathroom with a shower. The area could be used as an apartment after the office is of no use.

Every morning I leave my "house" (living area) and get in my vehicle and "drive" to my "office" (usually just start the survey chariot and coast it to the office door. I also have a circle driveway right in front). That little bit of disconnect is HUGE in making the separation between working where a TV is available, etc. and being in the office. I don't have a lot of drop-by clients, but I do have a few that I want to come by to show them different options on my computer rather than sending them 2 or 8 PDF files. We have to have plats notarized here for new divisions/adjustments, so then we usually meet at a local bank.

It works for me. I pay the town for a business license and I also have a "home business permit" (or something like that) from the town also. Basically it says I can't have more than 3 cars at a time here or more than 10 clients in a week (or something like that). I've never, ever been close to the maximum.

Carl

Been there almost done that, just never pulled the trigger!

As the Real Estate people say, Location, Location, Location.

In the Hampton's, NY to be a player you need to have an office. The clients you want to have look at home office as a none starter. I have four to six clients a day come to the office with appointments or just dropping in.

For example last Wednesday I had a real estate agent call and say she had to talk to me on Thursday about a subdivision of a 11 acre parcel she has the listing on. The parcel is in the estate section and is in the multi million property range. At the time of the appointment the first person to walk in is the person under contract to buy the property, followed a few minutes later by the agent and her boss. After a hour meeting it was decided to go with a two lot subdivision as opposed to a three lot subdivision which zoning would allow but the neighbors would be in an uproar about. At which time my new client wrote a retainer check for 50% of my five figure fee for the subdivision. With the clients I deal with a home office will not work.

As I said in the beginning, it's all about Location.

it all depends on your personality.. I've worked from home, but am easily distracted, so I like having an office to go to. It's probably the cheapest place in town, but that's ok. it's close enough to everything but not in the high dollar retail area.

I may go back to a home/garage office, now that I'm a bit older and more "mature"! haha.

Remoting In ?

When working at home to a remote location it is best to download what is needed then work independently at home with saves to the home computer. After every so many saves you should be setup to transmit the most recent saved copy to the office while working on your home copy or a different project. Too much time is lost with the back and forth after every remote action.

To simplify this it may be necessary to rename the files throughout the day.

Paul in PA

Remoting In ?

I have perpetrated every possible (and even a few unimaginable) screw-up with tossing files back and forth and renaming them. I continue this practice with nothing more in mind than driving my employees stark-raving mad. One has denied me access to his file systems. (Employees are soooo cute when they get mad!)

In a simplistic knee-jerk we have set up "holding" folders for off-site work. Each transfer mandates some sort communique with a hooman beun on each end. Kinda like football...some are good passers, some are good receivers.

Every once in a while two of us work on the same project (different dgn) at the same time. :pinch:

It can get tedious, but if they want me to keep my grumpy butt out of their hair they're going to have to put up with me and my crap. B-)

Remoting In ?

> It can get tedious, but if they want me to keep my grumpy butt out of their hair they're going to have to put up with me and my crap.

I second that! I once heard my son telling a new employee "You'll get the speech from Dad about ATD, Attention To Detail, but what that really means is you have to do it like he told you, or somebody else will be doing your job". Now I hear him giving the ATD speech to people.

Carl gets the "Commuter of the Year" Award

That's pretty cool, Carl. And I truly understand the "disconnect" required when working close to one's own domicile.

I just get this humorous vision of someone getting in their car and coasting 25'...then getting out and going to work. 😉

Carl gets the "Commuter of the Year" Award

> That's pretty cool, Carl. And I truly understand the "disconnect" required when working close to one's own domicile.
>
> I just get this humorous vision of someone getting in their car and coasting 25'...then getting out and going to work. 😉

It's closer to 60'± (7'± + 34'± +20'±) but that's exactly what I do to get INTO my office. Of course, from there I decide if it's going to be an office day, field day, or research day. 🙂

Bad thing is this though... Today, I didn't have the drivers door all the way closed, with my left leg hanging out, and I smacked the 6" x 6" deck post with the door and it caught my leg pretty good. That makes twice in 5 years though, so I'm doing pretty good. 😉

Carl

Remoting In ?

Paul,

Thankfully, I don't have to worry about that. I am the only one access my files, and I use Dropbox to keep things organized.

He was using some sort of remote in protocol to be able to do some work because of the unexpected ice storm we got over the weekend.

It is nice having everything here at the house. Maybe one day I will spread my wings, but for the time being I am okay being a small operation.

Joe W. Byrd, post: 304534, member: 10015 wrote: I did the home office thing for 12 years. Started off with a table in the bedroom corner with a computer and an HP 4V printer. I guess my area is different, most of my clients insist on meeting me at an "office", so it became very inconvenient to meet in my living room. When we were sitting down to eat Thanksgiving dinner and a client drove up trying to get me survey their property by the next Monday, that pretty much made the decision easy to get an actual office. Been renting space for over 10 years now and wouldn't even think about going back to the house unless that was the last resort. I average 15 to 20 people a week coming to meet with me or to pick up their paperwork and pay their bill. Its also nice to be able to lock the door and get away from work for while.

Amen, especially the bit about getting away from work for awhile.

there is only one good choice for everyone:

Being the silver-tongued devil that I am I managed to talk the wife into let me convert her kitchen into my office wing at the house. Of course, that involved remodeling the rest of the house and giving her a new kitchen elsewhere in the house.

I have a separate entrance and can isolate myself from the house. It suits me well as I am always working on something anyhow and keep some pretty long hours in my work days. I have a handful of clients a year stop by for an office visit and they all seem to enjoy the remote farm setting.

When I worked for other surveyors, they had a separate office in a town or city. One of those was no more than a storage shed with utilities.

Operating under my own has always been a home office.

The store fronts were mainly because many people passed thru the office. Mostly PR and owner social activities and one weekly ladies chat & coffee day (Ex-wife of owner retained 49% of company).

I actually see 10% or less of my clients face to face and there is a brick on the outside table to hold pickup and delivery, so home office is best for me.

The choice is purely according to your personal and family needs. BTW, you can save a lot of traveling and other expenses by not paying for a second site.

I believe it is much better to have an office space other than in the house even though I've always used the extra bedroom(s).

B-)

Since going on my own in 1997, I first had a bedroom at my house. My older daughter and her "cousin" who was living with us at the time kicked me out, they were tired of sharing a bedroom with her younger sister. Then I rented an apartment (2 bedroom) from a friend. That is when I took on a partner. We moved to a larger rental that used to be a doctor's office. Then we bought a small office building. After he decided to leave, I "downsized", sold the building and actually moved in to a 5 bedroom house that was on property I owned after the tenant stiffed me for $4000 in rent and sewer bills.

I designed my current house (built in 2008-2009) on the same property as the 5 bedroom, which I had to tear down. I have a two room office (me and one employee) above a three car garage. I also have a 15' X 22' workshop in the basement, one of the three garages (no vehicles, just gear), and a large barn, all of which are for work. The office has its own entrance and stairs, as well as a bathroom. It is its own HVAC zone.

I don't do surveys for individuals, and most of my clients are from out of town, so I don't have clients visiting the office. The office is separate from the rest of the house. My daughter (22) comes in all the time to talk to me when she is home (she is in law school starting in August and has an apartment). My wife NEVER comes in to my office, although she sends the cleaning lady in every Wednesday to clean the bathroom.

The only drawback is fighting the traffic every day on my way in here, which consists of walking around two cars in the double garage. Seriously, I have never missed not having an office away from home. It is my refuge. The best part is that I pay myself rent rather than to someone else. That covers about 1/3 of the total mortgage/taxes/insurance cost.

I've done both as a solo practitioner, and 8 years ago decided on buying a home with a separate building as my office. My hometown used to not allow home occupations in an accessory structure but after I bought the house a few of us petitioned town meeting and got that by-law revised.

That vote was too close for comfort. Should have been 7-0. Too many boards have too many small-minded people on them. They think they are extremely important because they have a title, when in fact they are the same little, unimportant people they were before they received the title. The title holds the importance and respect, not necessarily the individual temporarily holding that title. Someday that title will pass to someone else, along with the importance and respect.

I actually went alone to the board at first, and they voted me down right away. I do understand the purpose of the regulation, the entire town consists of a lot of subdivisions with 1/4 acre lots, there are maybe one or two other tracts like mine remaining. They don't want someone putting a shed in their front yard. That hardly applies in this case. I hired a lawyer, appealed to County court, and the judge said it was ridiculous and to go back to the board and restate my case. That is when I had the idea to say where the front was, and it worked.