Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Building a backyard office, the build and cost breakdown

imkylelambert.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 281 posts

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

#41

Post by JamesSwift »

ryandrake wrote: post #11
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.

Yeah I had the same thoughts about what they chose to DIY vs hire out. Insulation is so simple, and trim can be done at your leisure. But thats also not likely to save much overall since the contractors also know how simple those are.

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

#42

Post by ghaff »

enraged_camel wrote: post #18

Maybe it's just me but it blows my mind that this tiny thing cost $20k. I wish building stuff in the West wasn't so expensive.

Seems about right given labor. If you do most things yourself other than electrical, can probably cut cost a fair bit. But tradespeople are expensive when you can even get them.

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

#43

Post by rootsudo »

Boy things are different in Portland where you pay people to insult sheds…

But 8x10 for $20,000 just goes to show how expensive USA is for construction. There’s a point where I would review coworking space cost (not as convenient, I know) to just living and owning property abroad.

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

#44

Post by titanomachy »

Thanks for taking the time to make this detailed write-up! You got a beautiful result, and I appreciate the spirit of sharing what you learned and helping people who are considering similar projects.

I'm glad you measured CO2. I've recently noticed I tend to get headaches when working or sleeping in small poorly-ventilated spaces, and I'm surprised how often I encounter new structures without ventilation. I guess tightly-sealed buildings are still a relatively new idea.

In the PNW you could probably be comfortable >90% of days with a cracked window, fan, adjustable shades, and a little electric radiator, but if I was doing this project I'd probably opt for the modern heat pump / ERV combo as well.

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

#45

Post by onlypassingthru »

swader999 wrote: post #21
Johnny555 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Its gross but a pee bottle is what I'd do.

Really? Why not step outside and help water the plants? It is your backyard, after all.

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

#46

Post by xixixao »

rootsudo wrote: post #43

Boy things are different in Portland where you pay people to insult sheds… But 8x10 for $20,000 just goes to show how expensive USA is for construction. There’s a point where I would review coworking space cost (not as convenient, I know) to just living and owning property abroad.

In this day and age, where material stuff is so cheap, isn’t 20K for a tiny shed crazy? Clearly it is because it involves so much work, and work is so expensive, but I can’t help but think there should be a technical solution to this. Or buildings are just not automatable? I’m amazed.

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

#47

Post by tristor »

I considered doing this or buying a house that already had an ADU/casita when we were house shopping, but I have a very different situation with being mostly home alone during the day and a dedicated room in the house for an office. I still think this might be an ideal though, because having a physically separate space has both psychological and physical advantages. Particularly, I wish I could pre-wire a /lot/ of networking in the space and separately air condition it, because I prefer much colder temperatures and it'd be cheaper to keep a separate office at 68F and the house at 74F than try to keep the house at 68-70F.

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

#48

Post by skullone »

Did similar, but went 12x16, trenched power and cat6, did rockwool insulation, did pine tongue and groove paneling and an Alaskan white cedar porch. When we sold the house, I'm pretty sure the shed is what sealed the deal, people had all sorts of things they wanted it to be, even as a spare bedroom

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

#50

Post by learn_more »

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…

DIY via https://buildfreely.com
Post reply on HN