Remodeling Your Home Office: 3 Imperatives

Working from home can be a pleasure, no matter what your job. Today, with technology allowing more and more people to either start a business from scratch or telecommute in to work, the home office has become a staple of many households. If you aren’t satisfied with your current office, or you need to transform the unused home gym into a place where you can get some work done, some remodeling is in order. The best way to go about this is to find a good contractor with experience with just such a job. But whether you hire the work out or decide to do it yourself, here are three imperatives you don’t want to forget.

Hookups
Remodeling a room to make a home office isn’t like anything else. You have to make sure the room is functional before you worry about niceties such as aesthetics and comfort. Now, make no mistake about it: those things are important. But to begin with, you’ll need to make sure you have complete accessibility to the things you’ll need to do your job and make sure that no further plans interfere with that. You’ll need access to the internet, of course, and you’ll probably want to make sure you have at least one phone line available. If using DSL, then at least two. 

Organization
When it comes to productivity, organization is king. Don’t wait until the remodeling job is finished to start thinking about it. Create the room with organization in mind. If you need shelves, make sure they are in a space where they can be easily accessed. Make sure you have enough room for a desk and everything you need to work. If you’re like most people, the slightest distraction can throw your work schedule off for the rest of the day. Many distractions can’t be helped, and are simply a part of working from home. But you don’t need to build them into the room. If you’ve been thinking about adding things like a pool table or an arcade machine to your home office, you should probably reconsider.

Separation
There are a lot of great things about working from home. Unfortunately, there are a few downsides as well. One of these downsides—if you live with others—is that people find it strangely difficult to take your job seriously. You could be making $100,000 a year from home and people making minimum wage would still scoff at your “job”. While this is just random silliness when you’re out and about, it can be a real problem within the house if your wife or kids don’t respect the fact that while you’re working, you’re not to be disturbed. Make an effort to incorporate a real separation between your office and the rest of the house during your remodeling. This will help set boundaries and make your family understand that when you’re in that room, you are working.