Silly Money

Up until a few months ago I was happily chugging along working in a quiet house every day from my home office.  It was a sweet setup that I knew couldn’t last forever.  With the birth of our second child my wife decided it was time to hang up the career and become a stay at home mom.  In turn, I got my que to exit stage right and find some office space.

I didn’t really think finding office space would be that big of a deal but the process turned out to be a lot more frustrating and challenging than I originally expected.  So I figured I’d blog about it to provide some insight to anyone else that is or might be in the same situation.

The process was full of tough decisions and typically ended up with me deciding between least worst.  Here are some issues to consider when searching for office space.

• Availability - I live just outside Houston so one would think there would be a nice selection of small office spaces in such a populated area, right? Wrong.  Small office space, or executive suites, aren’t that easy to find (opportunity?).  I really only had 3 viable choices to select from once I narrowed down the options.
• Distance - The travel time to my new office was the primary factor that limited my options.  I was not going to travel more than 7 miles each way.  For me the costs went up exponentially  past that point considering the cost of gas, mileage on my truck and the time lost in transit every day.  The long daily commute was one of the motivating factors to become self employed and I sure as hell don’t want to bring it back.
• Direct Cost - The actual rental cost for many of the spaces I looked at were just not realistic for a one man operation.  The majority were easily over $1,000/month.  I found most of the services charged for mandatory extras such as copying, kitchen/coffee, conference rooms and a receptionist which I just don’t need.  I did find one class A option with a decent monthly rate but there was a catch.  If I wanted internet service it had to go through them for ONLY $200/month.  NO THANKS.  I simply wanted a bare bones “room” that I could get internet access to.
• Equipment Cost - One of the biggest costs in this process was the additional equipment.  I use a desktop at home so if I moved that to the new office I wouldn’t be able to work from home.  I decided to duplicate my setup in the new office with a laptop and docking station instead of a desktop.  Mind you I could have spent less but I’m a creature of habit which meant my dual 24″ HD monitors, Aeron chair and super automatic Capresso coffee machine were necessities.  Other items included 2 tables, a desk, lamp, printer, office supplies, cleaning supplies (including a vacuum), mini-fridge and a microwave.

The Result
In the end I found a happy medium for my needs.  I found an older office space in a small town less than 5 miles from my house that offered the bare bones “room” I was looking for.  I go against any traffic we have and my travel time is just right at 6 minutes door to door. I paid a full year in advance and did some hard negotiations but ended up getting my space for just over $350/month with all utilities included.  Here’s a pic I took just after setting everything up.

Final Thoughts
The price of getting your own office space is high.  It drives me nuts that I’m spending money every month and not getting equity from it.  In a perfect world I would build an office at my home detached from my house.  That wasn’t an option now but we’re looking at building a new home soon on some acreage and that would be my plan.  I will note that I do feel slightly more productive leaving the house but I’m not sure that outweighs the other costs and annoyances.