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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

#261

Post by ghaff »

rootusrootus wrote: post #255
ghaff wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or have plausible deniability. When I've have had some new windows installed a couple of times, the installer tacked on a lead mitigation fee which was fine because they knew there was probably lead paint buried somewhere but I don't actually specifically know about lead paint buried under layers of newer paint and the like and most of the interior has been reworked to a significant degree. If you personally really c…

Yeah you have to be committed to buy an old house. It's fun but can be a lot of work. I was selling the home I grew up in after my mom passed, so getting it sold was my only priority. We ended up not doing anything but refinish some old floors (not because they really needed fixing per se, but because an original doug fir floor in good condition here brings way more in value than it costs to have done). The electrica…

>The electrical was a mix of modern and knob & tube. Buyer didn't bat an eye, they knew the score.

That's sort of the key. If you have your eye on a >100 year old home, love on unless you're OK with a lot of what probably comes with that.

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

#262

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

legitster wrote: post #260
kslambert wrote: post #128

Author here. Thanks for the comments everyone! There are many comments on the price point. I would like to comment on one thing. "$20k is too much" I agree $20k is an investment. Could I have done it for cheaper? Absolutely. Would a DIY shell been cheaper? Would doing more of the work myself have been cheaper? Could I have saved by putting in the smaller stock windows and not having a skylight? Of course! But I am a…

If I would give a bit of pushback, it's really, really hard to understand the value assessments if you've never done the work yourself. Part of the reason someone DIYs isn't that you're just trading time for money, it's that you understand the value of what you pay for in expertise. Even if you contract out in the future, you'll be better at getting value. To put it another way, DIY is an investment in yourself. The…

For myself, the biggest cost to doing DIY over many, many years has been an unwillingness to hire contractors because I know I will do the job better than them.

There are a few exceptions:

1. pouring a concrete pad (too dirty, too much work, needs a crew to really be done right) 2. adobe mud plaster (once you've seen people who know what they're doing do that thing, you'll know why) 3. diamond and venetian plaster (same as #2) 4. 3-phase anything (i understand the concept, but that's not enough)

but electrical, plumbing, framing, finish carpentry, flooring ... I'm sorry guys, but I'm better and I care more than most of you.

What I'm not: faster than you.

I'm sure there are amazing trades folk out there who could put anything I do to shame, but finding them and being able to pay them is another story altogether.

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

#263

Post by psadauskas »

KPGv2 wrote: post #233
psadauskas wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Protection racket. They guys doing the installs now would make much less money if just anyone with some tools could start competing with them.

I don't want just anyone with some tools competing with them. This is a machine full of gas that is awful for the environment. And yes, I'm well aware that in developing countries, a lot of installers just vent coolant into the atmosphere during install rather than doing it properly.

Sure, so have them take a week-long course and register with the county and get a license. 160 hours of class and 2 years of apprenticeship means you have to find someone to apprentice _to_, so the incumbents get to gatekeep how many competitors they're willing to have, and limit it to only the people they like.

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

#264

Post by oblio »

sokoloff wrote: post #229
oblio wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't really matter. Why would it be better to be around a construction site that at a soft play center? Since you cannot remember anything voluntarily, anyway? I understand the choice of a different activity for a 4 year old or something, or even for a very calm and prudent 2 year old. Just for the photo? Who cares? You could have had the same grainy photo at the soft play center and it would have been as nostalgi…

> I hate these ill intentioned judgemental comments like yours. Do you have a mirror handy by any chance?

Yes, I do. And that's why I came down hard on the previous commenter.

Someone shared their benign personal experience and the FIRST reply was the Holier-Than-Thou typical garbage of "akshually, you're a bad parent because you did not do X Y Z parenting micro-optimization".

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

#265

Post by oblio »

phil21 wrote: post #259
oblio wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are more than enough years past the first one for the "father to build impressive things", though.

Hard and very vehement disagree from me. So long as it is safe, a kid even at 1 years old should be tagging along with the adults doing things. Like building, working out in the yard, helping friends with projects, whatever. It is very settled science that brain connections happen rapidly in these years. Bubble wrapping your children is not the way to go in my opinion. Everyone is going to have a different take on th…

A half-mobile 1 year old can be quite hard to control. There is more than enough time for them to bond during a construction project in the following as-many-years-as-they-want-to-tag-along-until-adolescence-hits-hard".

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

#266

Post by oblio »

n4r9 wrote: post #249
oblio wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are more than enough years past the first one for the "father to build impressive things", though.

The 1yo stage is surprisingly convenient for that sort of stuff. At ages 2-4 they're much more mobile and experimental and harder to watch. Then from 4 or 5 upwards they're at school a lot and starting to lose interest in what their parents want to do. Also, the first 18 months establish a good deal of a person's attachment security, connection to parents, and emotional intelligence. The brain continues to be flexibl…

Everyone's experience is different but:

> Then from 4 or 5 upwards they're at school a lot and starting to lose interest in what their parents want to do

I had to disagree with this. Thought this might be a European experience, in the US there probably isn't a lot of time to interact with the kids during the typical work week.

I would say that interest in what we do has stayed steady if not increased after about 3 years old because now they understand more things.

At this rate I expect the "losing interest part" to start during the tween (8-12) or teenage years.

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

#267

Post by DANmode »

bellowsgulch wrote: post #252
MattGrommes wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beyond the fact that there's absolutely no reason for you to post this, I'm not sure what you're looking at. I'm not a pro but I've been building sheds and things for decades and based on the pictures here I don't see low quality. Maybe I'd put more joists in the roof but Portland doesn't get a ton of snow so I'm sure it's fine. $2k is a fine price for that slab, especially compared to the pain of lifting 80lb bags o…

That you think HN is any better than Reddit is funny.

That you don’t is a problem.

The expectation is higher.

PS I was saying that $20k is too little to spend for this type of thing - not a great price for this result.

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

#268

Post by fdgwhite »

kslambert wrote: post #128

Author here. Thanks for the comments everyone! There are many comments on the price point. I would like to comment on one thing. "$20k is too much" I agree $20k is an investment. Could I have done it for cheaper? Absolutely. Would a DIY shell been cheaper? Would doing more of the work myself have been cheaper? Could I have saved by putting in the smaller stock windows and not having a skylight? Of course! But I am a…

For everything you included and contracting most of it out I’m amazed at how cheap this was. Nice job

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

#269

Post by 0xffff2 »

blackguardx wrote: post #119
0xffff2 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone has different opinions about this stuff, but I for one found _working_ in the office to absolutely be the worst part. And since Covid, my workplace has torn down old buildings and reduced square footage per employee, so if I went back to the office it would be even worse.

Do you work at Microsoft or is this a broader trend?

I don't know how broad the trend is, but I am a contractor for the US government. I'm told that agencies are actually required by law to reduce square footage. So when they tore down my old building (which absolutely needed to go), they simply could not as a matter of law build a new building with the same square footage even if they had the budget.

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

#270

Post by olwmc »

hermitcrab wrote: post #234

This post from 2009 shows the offices of lots of indie software developers: https://successfulsoftware.net/2009/07/27/where-i-program/ Might have some ideas for people thinking of setting up a home office. When I moved house I renovated an old summer house in the garden now and use that as my office. It is great. I just wish that I had put in an air source heat pump, rather than an electric radiator.

As someone born after the year 2000 this stuff is like looking at both a future that never was, and a past that couldn't have been.
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