I'm sure they know more about permitting than I do, but there's been a monetary factor to consider in the places I've lived. E.g., any home improvement greater than X dollars requires a permit, even indoors.
Nope. I was looking at that thing thinking I could knock that out in a weekend, with the most expensive thing being materials. (the wood/drywall version anyway)
Preparing the ground isn't mentioned. If you've never tried to make a chunk of ground perfectly level and compacted so that your shed won't sink and tilt... you won't get it right by yourself. Not the first time, anyway.
Is that included in the price? I was under the impression that this was going to be assembled somewhere else, then drop-shipped. From their site:
"After the units are built in the factory, they are fork lifted into a truck and driven to your property address. Once the truck arrives, a forklift will take the unit out of the truck and place it in place on your property."
This does not sound to me like they are doing anything beyond just building and finishing a box, and the price is fairly absurd for that.
I can almost see a more traditional tech company buying a bunch of those for their workers in the current climate, even at such a ridiculous markup, just to guarantee a "standard" workspace.
Depends. I don't know which glass they are using but I did some back of the napkin calculations for a project I was dreaming of that had some "glass" and it would cost $8-9k just for the glass alone. It was not that much glass. Probably a bit more than this cube.
That's if you are looking for some premium glass that won't shutter into a thousand pieces and hurt you. Same for steel, aluminum, high quality wood, etc...
So yes, it can be very expensive. A cheap wooden dwelling can be pretty cheap though.
Yeah penny wise, pound foolish there by these people.
$9k seem expensive, but I don't know the price of these things so half willing to accept it. Then seeing they are charging $31 for a power cord now makes know they are charging too much for the the main thing they are selling.
> You have several options when it comes to temperature control. Depending on your climate needs, you can save money by using a floor fan or go with a AC unit. Since the mini-office is...mini...it is a lot easier to heat and cool a small space.
For the price, you'd think it would come with a central A/C and a mini beer fridge.
I don't know, if its reasonably insulated a person and a laptop can get a space comfortable fairly quickly and a little space heater has no problem with something that small in all but the coldest weather.
Feels like an easy pivot to quarantariums where you can keep family and friends safely contained for 2 weeks before allowing them into your home while being able to keep an eye on them.
Is there some context to who designed this and why? That framing doesn't look like anything a carpenter would produce and I'm 99% sure it wouldn't be code compliant in Oregon at least.
It was meant (I guess) as a DIY project and really it's a shed so the process is similar and the 100 square foot print is usually the largest structure you can build (in a lot of jurisdictions) without a permit/inspections/code.
I mean, just because you're technically exempt doesn't mean that building codes don't matter. It's still generally a pretty good starting point for how to build a safe structure that you shouldn't deviate from just for the heck of it.
"workout area" because nothing inspires productivity more than the lack of fresh air and the stench of post-workout body as you sit back down at your desk in your shed.
Costco actually sells a couple of these with a very similar idea [1]. Surprisingly very expensive too (9K+). But they sell sheds too that are 2K- so I'm not sure what the benefits are? Maybe better built quality and finishes?
> Surprisingly very expensive too (9K+). But they sell sheds too that are 2K- so I'm not sure what the benefits are?
At a glance, better looks and insulated exterior doors like you'd have as an exterior door on a house, rather than thin shed doors that aren't designed for temperature control at all. Probably the windows are better, too. Hard to tell what else. Dunno what about it justifies that much higher a price but better doors & windows, wall insulation, some kind of interior wall cladding rather than just exposed studs, better sealing like you'd have on a house (guessing on the last three, see no evidence of it) and you could get up around a couple grand more on the materials cost.
The Costco one is "installed". I can't tell if it's insulated, but it looks like it -- and that along with properly sealed doors/windows (like you'd have in your house), finished interior walls, electrical/lights (?) are a big difference from what you get with a $2000 shed intended for storing your lawnmower.
Another good distinction is Dwellito says "delivered to your front door". I don't know about you, but for me that would be.. quite inconvenient. Getting an assembled 10x10 (? not sure exterior size) shed into my backyard would involve either disassembling a large part of a shared fence (which is 50% my neighbour's), or using a fairly large crane to lift it completely over the house.
It looks like all the ones in the $1-3k range are unfinished to some degree. You'd need to get electrical wiring, insulation, drywall and flooring. It gives you a few different options for exteriors and space to buy one and more customization options, you're going to need to put in some manual labor somewhere along the lines so the question becomes: is it better to spend ~$10k for a fully finished product, $1-3k + parts & labor for a prefab or hire someone to build the whole thing from scratch? I don't know what it would cost to hire a contractor to make something like this, but these pre-made options give you a good idea of where you might want to draw the line on pricing.
I built a small (8x10) shed in our backyard from scratch, mostly as a stress reliever from actual work. I realize the irony in doing more work to relax from work ... but carpentry is so tangent to computer work that it felt like an escape. A sort of real world Stardew Valley.
In terms of material cost it was maybe $2k at the end, but could have been cheaper (I splurged on slightly nicer versions of some things like plywood instead of OSB).
If you're even slightly handy it's a nice project to undertake. All the work is light enough on a shed that size that you can one man all of it.
It's hard to describe the primal feeling I get when I'm inside this shelter I built with my own hands. For all the back breaking work of it and all of its mistakes the feeling of satisfaction is immense.
Ever since the shelter in place order went up I've been out there working on little woodworking projects. Recently finished two small tables for around the house (https://i.imgur.com/ea67ANO.jpg) and a few misc house improvements.
I did the same[1] Great relief from work. Its worth it s weight in gold as I have a separate building to commute to in the morning. My costs £2,497. As I wanted a bigger shed split into two parts. With double insinuation and lots of power outlets. Plus a big (MDF) desk.
Yeah, insulated mine as well to help out with summer heat and cut the noise down a bit (don't like bothering my neighbors with power tools and such). Planning on covering the wall cavities with some 3/4" plywood soon for even more sound isolation.
Looks great! I see you're working with a small backyard, which explains the weird 17x6.5 foot dimensions, but I like the space in which you fit your shed.
For anyone else looking to build a shed, I recommend sticking with dimensional lumber defaults (generally, multiples of 4 feet) and going as big as your space and local licensing allows. Check your local laws, but in many townships in the US, you can build a 200 sqft accessory building before you have to deal with permits and all that rigamarole. Rather than selecting odd numbers, build something 12x16 = 196 square feet.
The biggest upgrade I'd recommend to make the thing a lasting enhancement to your property rather than something the next occupant will want to tear out would be to pour a concrete slab foundation.
> Check your local laws, but in many townships in the US, you can build a 200 sqft accessory building before you have to deal with permits and all that rigamarole
So others know, I just called my city's building department and asked what the rules were. They were very helpful! (It was max 120sqft in my area and something like 10' maximum height)
I had a friend in Missouri who said they had to get a permit for a shed of any size, so consulting local regs is super necessary. Heck, the Dwellito people should already be able to help with this as a part of the sales process, having zip-code level PDFs of requirements or something.
One other thing is that the dimensional restrictions often apply only to "permanent structures." You can sometimes get away with larger buildings because in many locations if you don't have poured footings or a foundation, the structure isn't considered to be permanent.
Did you build the shed entirely from your own design? Or did you find some useful resource/plans that helped you know what to buy and do? Seems like an interesting project, but I don't even know where I'd get started with something like that.
/r/woodworking is more about finishing and fine work to me, I'd suggest starting at /r/homeimprovement. heck, i wouldn't doubt that there's a /r/backyardbattlestations sub too, though!
I watched a lot of videos to learn, mostly from the HouseImprovements channel which specifically had a series on building a shed (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpJ1vJPFqImom-NN2fkBS0A). That gives the basic idea. You can find plans online easily, but I did do my own design in the end (in SketchUp).
Carpentry is very systematic; once you've learned the rules for framing walls/floors it's all straightforward from there.
Couldn’t agree more on the idea of woodworking as stress reliever. I am hooked with it, sometimes I got physically tired by working in the garage, but mentally I felt every minute is a treat.
"It's hard to describe the primal feeling I get when I'm inside this shelter I built with my own hands. For all the back breaking work of it and all of its mistakes the feeling of satisfaction is immense."
Totally get it. The making (and using) tangible things vs. abstract coding outcomes is quite a different experience.
> I realize the irony in doing more work to relax from work
I love work. Love it. I'd likely do 20-80 hours of work a week (it'd probably vary a ton week by week) even if I didn't need to have a job for income. Not as an employee, might not even manage to make money off any of it though I'd probably try sometimes, but it'd still be work.
I don't much like doing the same kind of work 40ish hours a week, week after week after week. Kinda hate that, actually. So I think doing "more work" to relax from work makes perfect sense. Work of a sort that I, in the moment, want to do is relaxing.
Brandon Sanderson has written that he attributes his productivity to the fact that he can (mentally) take a break from one book by working on another book.
Thank you! It's sitting on a few 1 foot square paver stones, with about a cubic foot of gravel + some sand under each paver. Good enough for the weather around here (no freezing temps).
Ah, that was a good solution for your climate. Site prep here, PNW, would be more substantial and has always deterred me. But maybe your experience will kindle my motivation.
Awesome work. Thanks for sharing. I have a friend who is a university professor. He works as a carpentry laborer some during the week (hot sweaty hard manual work) and says that the satisfaction he gets from helping build a deck or porch is immense and helps him do better research at the university.
For something like a shed you can get away with just basic tools (hammer, drill, level, etc) and a circular saw. A nail gun and compressor are nice to have; same goes for a miter saw.
There’s a rumor some company in SV, some time around the new millennium, was looking for a routing/router expert. I have no idea how the interview proceeded, probably done by a non SME, anyhow, they ended up hiring a guy who really knew routers, except the ones to work on wood. I think they kept him and he learned on the job...
I was looking for a hobby that, for once, did not involve sitting at a monitor and keyboard. So I decided to build a sailboat. Chesapeake Light Crafts sells kits. Basically, like a wooden model except 1) it's full-size, and 2) you are going to actually put your body in it and hopefully not drown. It's all thin plywood, which you assemble with wire (temporarily) and then epoxy. And sanding. Lots of sanding.
I have zero wood-working experience, so I went with the kit, providing pre-cut pieces, as opposed to buying plans and doing everything myself.
It's been slow of late, because my work area has been too cold for epoxy. I've been documenting my progress here: http://geophile.com/boat. (Can you tell I'm a backend developer?)
About that getting away from a keyboard thing: Funny how that worked out. As a complete newbie, I am very reliant on their excellent support people (phone, email, forum). At one point, I ran into a problem in which the parts didn't seem to line up with the manual. As it turned out, I had the 2.1 parts with the 2.0 manual. So they sent me the updated manual. This weird interlude was much closer to a software experience than I could have imagined.
That looks like a great boat to start with. I wanted to suggest another beginner boat;
The Puddle Duck is another beginner-focused sailboat. It's more of a sailing barge with squared off corners, but it's designed to fit standing on end inside a normal house against the wall, possibly as a bookshelf, when not in use. And it sails fairly well/better than expected given the design constraints.
Puddle Ducks are sort of the epitome of "I immediately understand how this goes together, even I can build this". It's not horribly efficient, or pretty, but it's designed to be built by anyone in a weekend and get you out on the water by sunday night. There is always time later to build your "dream boat".
I built Hull #62 back during a period of underemployment in a garage in Texas, was hugely helpful during that period. Looks like hull #1071 was recently completed in Germany.
Puddle Duck is sort of a scaled up, plywood version of an Optimist.
Optimist is a fantastic youth one design sailboat. It is good for two 7 year old children or one teenager up to about 140 lbs.
Puddle duck has significantly more form stability, as a result you can fit one Fat Dad + their kid + a dog comfortably in the boat.
The other biggest difference (besides total passenger weight) is that with mostly 90 degree angles, it can be built with a hand saw and some nails in a weekend. Optimist requires considerably more woodworking (or preferably, fiberglass) skills.
I had the same feeling. I'd been working on building software for so long that I wanted to build something with my hands. But I ended up building a whole house instead. It probably wasn't a good idea in retrospect to be so ambitious, but it turned out pretty cool: https://parkcitygreenhome.tumblr.com/
I ended up doing about 60% of the actual labor on a 7000 square foot house by myself with one laborer as an assistant. I did most of the foundation, framing, finish carpentry, flooring, stone masonry, siding, and electrical work myself.
Framing lumber is ok there. Even then it's a bit of a hunt and peck but you can get by. Nice woodworking lumber is a problem especially if you don't have a full shop with planer and jointer.
You might enjoy the book (or Audiobook) of Michael Pollan’s “A Place of My Own”, wherein he builds a writing shed with the help of a handyman and some plans from an architect. It was really enjoyable — one of those stories you can sink into and not want it to end.
Same! I built one in my backyard a couple of months ago, and it was one of the most gratifying things I've ever done! I highly recommend it to anyone if you're willing to put in some hard work. Pics https://imgur.com/a/11ECQWK
You read about pound dogs that are finally adopted, and they can run and frolic outside... but they still have to sleep in a crate because otherwise they suffer from anxiety.
> but they still have to sleep in a crate because otherwise they suffer from anxiety.
Do you sleep on the kitchen floor when it strikes your fancy, or do you sleep in a bed? You may notice that sleeping on the kitchen floor never does strike your fancy, which is instructive. Would you rest well in other random locations in your house?
My point is, wanting to sleep in the crate isn't modern canine neuroticism, it's just normal mammalian behavior. We like to sleep somewhere secure and comfy, and we like for it to be consistent.
I don't disagree, but I don't want to sleep on the kitchen floor because it's uncomfortable.
I also wouldn't want to sleep in a bed _in_ a cage, given the option of sleeping in a bed _outside_ of a cage.
And I think that we agree on the underlying reasoning; the consistency. I am just arguing that cubicles aren't an optimal place to spend your time, merely a convenient one for those that want to warehouse you while you work. The fact that it's consistent doesn't make it good.
I just had a shed installed for my wife as a place for her to sew and other stuff. I luckily was able to get an electrician out to wire it up for power. All together, I spent like 6K for everything, although I need to get drywall put in. It was a 20th anniversary gift for the wife. Now it's her office while she has to work from home.
Can you imagine the echo in one of those things? Plus, for the price of one of those, I'd be tempted to pick up a used storage container and renovate that.
Not judging whether this is useful or economic in anyway, but I love the concept. Some time ago, I found a different site offering larger modular homes. [1]
Sorry you're right, I mixed up who I was replying to.
You'd talk to a regular home builder. Some may not want to do a project that small but many would be happy to. If you really want plans there are many places on the internet that sell them.
158 comments
[ 5.3 ms ] story [ 234 ms ] threadInteresting idea though, they look quite nice providing you've got the space outside.
And as a bonus, they'd know your local codes and inspection requirements.
Preparing the ground isn't mentioned. If you've never tried to make a chunk of ground perfectly level and compacted so that your shed won't sink and tilt... you won't get it right by yourself. Not the first time, anyway.
"After the units are built in the factory, they are fork lifted into a truck and driven to your property address. Once the truck arrives, a forklift will take the unit out of the truck and place it in place on your property."
This does not sound to me like they are doing anything beyond just building and finishing a box, and the price is fairly absurd for that.
I used to know someone whose entire house (about 900 sq ft in Beltrami county, MN) cost less than that!
That's if you are looking for some premium glass that won't shutter into a thousand pieces and hurt you. Same for steel, aluminum, high quality wood, etc...
So yes, it can be very expensive. A cheap wooden dwelling can be pretty cheap though.
Couldn't just make that $0 with a $9k purchase?
$9k seem expensive, but I don't know the price of these things so half willing to accept it. Then seeing they are charging $31 for a power cord now makes know they are charging too much for the the main thing they are selling.
> You have several options when it comes to temperature control. Depending on your climate needs, you can save money by using a floor fan or go with a AC unit. Since the mini-office is...mini...it is a lot easier to heat and cool a small space.
For the price, you'd think it would come with a central A/C and a mini beer fridge.
The single room air conditioners by mitsubishi would be a great option for a space like this though.
[edit] pg 130 identifies the boundaries of 'Tentville' which is/was just north of the UA campus
https://www.tucsonaz.gov/files/preservation/TucsonHealthSeek...
Plans: http://redcoverstudios.com/MD100/MD100-plans.pdf
https://www.truemodern.com/about-us
It was meant (I guess) as a DIY project and really it's a shed so the process is similar and the 100 square foot print is usually the largest structure you can build (in a lot of jurisdictions) without a permit/inspections/code.
But yeah, that's still expensive for a box.
Or you might not have the space in your house to dedicate to exercise equipment.
Having the outbuilding serve as both an exercise room and a separate office solves both these problems.
[1] https://www.costco.com/installed-sheds-by-yardline---flatiro...
At a glance, better looks and insulated exterior doors like you'd have as an exterior door on a house, rather than thin shed doors that aren't designed for temperature control at all. Probably the windows are better, too. Hard to tell what else. Dunno what about it justifies that much higher a price but better doors & windows, wall insulation, some kind of interior wall cladding rather than just exposed studs, better sealing like you'd have on a house (guessing on the last three, see no evidence of it) and you could get up around a couple grand more on the materials cost.
Another good distinction is Dwellito says "delivered to your front door". I don't know about you, but for me that would be.. quite inconvenient. Getting an assembled 10x10 (? not sure exterior size) shed into my backyard would involve either disassembling a large part of a shared fence (which is 50% my neighbour's), or using a fairly large crane to lift it completely over the house.
http://duffycrane.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Combined-Du...
In terms of material cost it was maybe $2k at the end, but could have been cheaper (I splurged on slightly nicer versions of some things like plywood instead of OSB).
If you're even slightly handy it's a nice project to undertake. All the work is light enough on a shed that size that you can one man all of it.
It's hard to describe the primal feeling I get when I'm inside this shelter I built with my own hands. For all the back breaking work of it and all of its mistakes the feeling of satisfaction is immense.
Photo (was still working on the doors when this pic was taken): https://i.imgur.com/FogNzBP.jpg
Ever since the shelter in place order went up I've been out there working on little woodworking projects. Recently finished two small tables for around the house (https://i.imgur.com/ea67ANO.jpg) and a few misc house improvements.
[1] - https://www.barwap.com/projects/shedshedshed/finished-shed/
> With double insinuation
Yeah, insulated mine as well to help out with summer heat and cut the noise down a bit (don't like bothering my neighbors with power tools and such). Planning on covering the wall cavities with some 3/4" plywood soon for even more sound isolation.
Yep - noise as much as heat.
I have the siding, then (paper) waterproof layer, then wool layer, then plastic (condensation) layer. Then 3mm board, then wallpaper-brick-effect.
For anyone else looking to build a shed, I recommend sticking with dimensional lumber defaults (generally, multiples of 4 feet) and going as big as your space and local licensing allows. Check your local laws, but in many townships in the US, you can build a 200 sqft accessory building before you have to deal with permits and all that rigamarole. Rather than selecting odd numbers, build something 12x16 = 196 square feet.
The biggest upgrade I'd recommend to make the thing a lasting enhancement to your property rather than something the next occupant will want to tear out would be to pour a concrete slab foundation.
So others know, I just called my city's building department and asked what the rules were. They were very helpful! (It was max 120sqft in my area and something like 10' maximum height)
Carpentry is very systematic; once you've learned the rules for framing walls/floors it's all straightforward from there.
BTW, awesome builds of the shed and side table!
"It's hard to describe the primal feeling I get when I'm inside this shelter I built with my own hands. For all the back breaking work of it and all of its mistakes the feeling of satisfaction is immense."
Totally get it. The making (and using) tangible things vs. abstract coding outcomes is quite a different experience.
I love work. Love it. I'd likely do 20-80 hours of work a week (it'd probably vary a ton week by week) even if I didn't need to have a job for income. Not as an employee, might not even manage to make money off any of it though I'd probably try sometimes, but it'd still be work.
I don't much like doing the same kind of work 40ish hours a week, week after week after week. Kinda hate that, actually. So I think doing "more work" to relax from work makes perfect sense. Work of a sort that I, in the moment, want to do is relaxing.
― Arthur Conan Doyle
I have zero wood-working experience, so I went with the kit, providing pre-cut pieces, as opposed to buying plans and doing everything myself.
It's been slow of late, because my work area has been too cold for epoxy. I've been documenting my progress here: http://geophile.com/boat. (Can you tell I'm a backend developer?)
About that getting away from a keyboard thing: Funny how that worked out. As a complete newbie, I am very reliant on their excellent support people (phone, email, forum). At one point, I ran into a problem in which the parts didn't seem to line up with the manual. As it turned out, I had the 2.1 parts with the 2.0 manual. So they sent me the updated manual. This weird interlude was much closer to a software experience than I could have imagined.
The Puddle Duck is another beginner-focused sailboat. It's more of a sailing barge with squared off corners, but it's designed to fit standing on end inside a normal house against the wall, possibly as a bookshelf, when not in use. And it sails fairly well/better than expected given the design constraints.
Puddle Ducks are sort of the epitome of "I immediately understand how this goes together, even I can build this". It's not horribly efficient, or pretty, but it's designed to be built by anyone in a weekend and get you out on the water by sunday night. There is always time later to build your "dream boat".
http://pdracer.com/
I built Hull #62 back during a period of underemployment in a garage in Texas, was hugely helpful during that period. Looks like hull #1071 was recently completed in Germany.
Optimist is a fantastic youth one design sailboat. It is good for two 7 year old children or one teenager up to about 140 lbs.
Puddle duck has significantly more form stability, as a result you can fit one Fat Dad + their kid + a dog comfortably in the boat.
The other biggest difference (besides total passenger weight) is that with mostly 90 degree angles, it can be built with a hand saw and some nails in a weekend. Optimist requires considerably more woodworking (or preferably, fiberglass) skills.
I ended up doing about 60% of the actual labor on a 7000 square foot house by myself with one laborer as an assistant. I did most of the foundation, framing, finish carpentry, flooring, stone masonry, siding, and electrical work myself.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13838.A_Place_of_My_Own
https://www.costco.com/almost-heaven-fayette-6-person-steam-...
Is this the same thing for cube-dwellers?
https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5bc925f2e2b045600ce997a5/5e8...
This one is also great. Highlighting how you have to use the lamp even though the sun is shining: https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5bc925f2e2b045600ce997a5/5e8...
Do you sleep on the kitchen floor when it strikes your fancy, or do you sleep in a bed? You may notice that sleeping on the kitchen floor never does strike your fancy, which is instructive. Would you rest well in other random locations in your house?
My point is, wanting to sleep in the crate isn't modern canine neuroticism, it's just normal mammalian behavior. We like to sleep somewhere secure and comfy, and we like for it to be consistent.
I also wouldn't want to sleep in a bed _in_ a cage, given the option of sleeping in a bed _outside_ of a cage.
And I think that we agree on the underlying reasoning; the consistency. I am just arguing that cubicles aren't an optimal place to spend your time, merely a convenient one for those that want to warehouse you while you work. The fact that it's consistent doesn't make it good.
Do I need a permit?
In most municipalities, you do not need a permit for under 100 square feet. That said, it varies city-by-city so the best (....?????)
For WFH it completely isolates me from my family, and gives us a completely new room in our house for far less than a "real" extension.
I'll definitely build another one in the garden of the next house I buy.
[1] http://www.loftcube.net/
You'd talk to a regular home builder. Some may not want to do a project that small but many would be happy to. If you really want plans there are many places on the internet that sell them.