This is a collaborative post: A home office is a great place to work from. Working from home offers a great work-life balance, but if you clients to meet, then how can it work for you?
Not everyone is able to, or wants to, welcome clients directly into their workspace. With confidential papers, work clutter and even the noise of other colleagues trying to get work done, it could give a less than positive impression and make having serious discussion tricky.
A local café is an option; but again, you can’t control your environment; it could be very noisy and you might not be able to get a seat!
For many business owners, a dedicated meeting room is much less distracting and more professional environment to conduct business, whether this is in person or a quiet space to conduct Zoom meetings or work collaboratively without interruption.
If you’re using a room in your residential house as an office, then it might not be possible to have a separate client area, but if you have a home garden office then it’s definitely something you can achieve; a massive win for garden offices!
Welcome clients into your garden office
The great thing is that when you design and build your own garden office, you can be entirely flexible.
As long as you have the space to build it in your back garden and it is not a listed building or Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, then it is likely that you will not need planning permission unless it is taller than average, or you want to build over 50% of the area of all your garden. However, always check the government planning regulations before your commence your build.
If client meetings are an important part of your work, then it’s entirely possible to build a home garden office large enough to partition to gain meeting space.
If you meet with clients often then a reception area with a bespoke reception desk and chairs, a coffee machine or water dispenser and some nice artwork can be really professional and make a fantastic first impression.
Separate ‘office’ and ‘meeting room’ areas could provide you with the space you need to impress clients and get work done.
It is even possible to plumb in a home garden office
This means that you can create a small kitchen area, and even a toilet so that you don’t have to traipse back into the house when you have to go; and more importantly one you can offer clients to use, which could save a lot of embarrassment.
Plumbing in a garden room will obviously take more build time and work out significantly more expensive than a straightforward one-room home garden office, but it could be an excellent investment which would help your business go from strength to strength over a number of years.
Other things you need to consider
A multi-room home garden office which has been plumbed in can have many alternate uses, should the business discontinues or perhaps it outgrows the premises and needs to move.
With separate rooms providing privacy, it could become a well-used living area, or even a place for visitors to sleep occasionally, and could easily add value to the house too. However if you’re considering moving at a point in the future, then think about how you would cope without your office during the move, especially if you have other employees to consider, as relocating the business to new premises comes with its own considerations.