Planning A Home Office Is More Important Now, But Do It Right
By Bill Primavera
The Home Guru
As Published in The Examiner, The Putnam Examiner and The Yorktown Examiner
Just as this article was being wrapped up, I tuned into one of those cable home finder shows, to which I attempt to resist addiction, and a woman was telling her real estate agent that the home being shown would not do at all because there was no place for her and her husband to have their separate offices, “and we work much more at home now,” she added.
Time was when a home office might have consisted of a corner in the kitchen, space carved from the master bedroom or even a linear closet, where the office disappears when the doors are closed. But, whether the result of downsizing or new entrepreneurial efforts, people are working more from their homes, either telecommuting, working part time, or looking full time for a job. The home office and its proper planning have jumped higher on the list of homeowners’ preferences.
The location actually depends on whether the user must focus on the task at hand or if he or she is multitasking, such as a working mom who is keeping her eye on her children as she works. But most people would prefer a private space where the door can be closed and the work and worries are out of site when enjoying the sanctity of home life. In showing houses, the two most popular locations I find are in a spare bedroom or a finished basement, but if clients visit, it may be necessary to create direct walk-in space, with a direct door from the outside.
Statistics show that a mid-size office construction at an average price of $28,000 would recoup 54% of its investment in resale, but it can be done much cheaper if the physical space allows. It could be a simple matter of filling in work surfaces, filing cabinets and decent lighting.
My home has served as a professional office for many years and, as a public relations practitioner, I’ve had many clients who visit me, so from the beginning I needed direct access to my parking lot where guests can visit without actually coming into my home. At one time, an entire wing of my house was devoted to the PR business, with a staff of 10 occupying cubicles creatively arranged within the framework of an historic house, and yet my living quarters remained completely detached from my business operation.
While I enjoyed modular walls and desks, each with a computer, most people need room just for one or two work stations, and the space should be planned for the type of work being done and how the occupant wants to do it.
If the business owner is a move-about type, he or she may not want a traditional desk which would seem to dictate a very confined space in which the work will be done. When I first started, I employed a big conference table as my desk so that my team could all gather around me for our brainstorming sessions and I kept all my files and computers behind me. For the latter, I bought 28-inch high filing cabinets from Sears and covered a bank of them with a hefty plank of wood-finished formica, and that worked just fine for many years.
Now that I work as a consultant with one assistant to help in my marketing and real estate businesses, I’ve re-planned my office so that two desks back to back serve as a large partners desk, with our facing each other and working in close harmony without having to move or even strain our necks. And when clients come to the office, I move to that trusty oval conference table. I am of the mind that clean work surfaces make for clear thinking, so I have plenty of file storage surrounding me and try to put everything away after a day’s work (or night’s work, as is frequently the case with a home-based business, especially real estate).
Whether at a traditional office or a home office, there are six very important planning factors for a practical and comfortable home office.
The first is to have the computer monitor large enough so that you’re not hunched over it and looking down all day, which is why many prefer a desktop computer over a laptop. To ensure the right height, the monitor may need to be propped atop a stand, preferably not the big Webster’s Dictionary that I used for years. If a laptop must be used, it would be better to have a separate keyboard kept at the proper level.
Next, you should have a chair, and it doesn’t have to be expensive, that has three adjustments so you can raise and lower the height of the chair, tilt the seat and control its back. Your objective would be to always keep your feet planted flat on the floor with your knees no higher than your hips. And, the chair must have arms to decrease neck and shoulder pressure.
While I much prefer natural lighting during the day, another critical factor for a well-planned home office is supplemental lighting for cloudy days and at night.
Filing should be planned into three categories. The most accessible should be for what you need right now; normally this is in the desk or workspace where you sit. The second category is what you anticipate needing but isn’t urgent, and that might be within a stretch of your immediate needs. And, when I finish a project, I store it in my archive files in the attic if I feel I should hang on to it.
Supplementary furnishings should provide secondary work surfaces for a scanner and printer (I have three, both for redundancy and choosing either ink jet for its deeper color, or laser for its speed. My black-only laser printer is for my assistant’s notes, record keeping and other functional needs)
Of course, you can’t do without high-speed technology, whether hardwired or wireless, and enough electrical power to handle all your growing technical needs with enough outlets. My immediate space was a jumble of wiring on the floor under my desk until a nice computer technician who had come to fix a problem took the initiative to organize them all and tape them to the wall. That was the greatest benefit from his visit, and I haven’t tripped over something since then.
And finally, add a bit of visual and auditory pleasure to the mix. I’ve angled my desk so that it faces my summer perennial flower garden and on my computer screen, I click on my iTunes icon and select my mood music according to the kind of project I’m involved with. And with my comfortable chair, it hardly seems like work.
Bill Primavera is a Westchester, NY-based realtor ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and marketing practitioner ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) who can be reached for questions or comment directly at 914-522-2076.
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