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Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

imkylelambert.com

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Re: Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

#11

Post by ryandrake »

sailfast wrote: post #6

Looks like a great setup! $20K still seems like a lot to get some mosquito bites walking through the yard to work. Lack of plumbing, coffee, etc (some of those are fixable of course) is a bit of a turnoff but perhaps the walk is part of the charm. I find that with kids mostly in school and knowing the rules the exterior space isn’t a requirement, but I don’t have a ton of meetings these days so YMMV. Mostly this is c…

If you're relatively handy, a lot of what OP paid for can be DIY'ed. I would have never paid a contractor to do all of that. Probably just the electrical. Especially the Tuff Shed structure. Those things are dead simple, marketed at DIYers, and can be finished in a weekend. Insulation, drywall, trim, and flooring is also child's play. OP could have easily cut the project's cost in half if he wanted to.

Re: Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

#12

Post by dalyons »

eysquared wrote: post #10

Im jealous of the Tuff Shed or prebuilt being an option. Where I live we have incredibly high snow loads, so any structure ends up needing to be custom built to meet our requirements (even out buildings). I've found plenty of pre-fab units that claim to handle "high snow loads" that will not meet code where I am. I'm still planning on building out an office/studio, but it will be a much larger investment despite bein…

What if you just put heat tape on the roof? These sheds have small roofs, shouldn’t be prohibitive

Re: Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

#13

Post by Johnny555 »

trumbitta2 wrote: post #9

I always think about it, but then I remember I couldn't sleep knowing my tech stuff is inside a shed in the backyard. Too easy to break in and steal it.

I don't know what kind of tech stuff you have, but since you can run ethernet (or better, fiber) to the shed, you could keep most of it locked in the house and just walk out with your laptop to your workspace each day.

Monitors are relatively cheap these days, you can get a name brand 32" 4K monitor for around $300 - if someone busts in and steals it, the door/window repair will probably cost more than the monitor.

Re: Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

#15

Post by eysquared »

dalyons wrote: post #12
eysquared wrote: post #10

Im jealous of the Tuff Shed or prebuilt being an option. Where I live we have incredibly high snow loads, so any structure ends up needing to be custom built to meet our requirements (even out buildings). I've found plenty of pre-fab units that claim to handle "high snow loads" that will not meet code where I am. I'm still planning on building out an office/studio, but it will be a much larger investment despite bein…

What if you just put heat tape on the roof? These sheds have small roofs, shouldn’t be prohibitive

Heat tape isn't very effective with storms dropping multiple feet of wet snow in under 24 hours (or in general).

Re: Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

#16

Post by Johnny555 »

sailfast wrote: post #6

Looks like a great setup! $20K still seems like a lot to get some mosquito bites walking through the yard to work. Lack of plumbing, coffee, etc (some of those are fixable of course) is a bit of a turnoff but perhaps the walk is part of the charm. I find that with kids mostly in school and knowing the rules the exterior space isn’t a requirement, but I don’t have a ton of meetings these days so YMMV. Mostly this is c…

The Coffee issue is easy to solve, just bring a pitcher of water with you in the morning to pour into the coffee maker - it's what I did when my home office was in a spare room above the garage. The walk from his back yard to the indoor bathroom is probably shorter than the walk he'd have in any office.
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