Detached Home Office in Northeast Portland

Creating a dedicated, comfortable and efficient work space

Working from home has many advantages. With our Home Studios, we make working from home even better by providing a dedicated, comfortable, and efficient structure to work in. We’ve recently completed a Home Office that is now fully operational and the owners could not be happier!

Challenge

When we were approached by our clients to build a Home Office for their mental health practices, we were thrilled! SQFT Studios was founded on the idea of providing unique, bespoke spaces for work, hobbies, guests, and the like. At the time, our clients were paying a high monthly rent for offices on a busy street. Instead of spending that money on rent, they decided to build a Home Office on their own property and put that money into an asset that they would own.

Solution

The design criteria included having a private office to see clients, a waiting room for waiting clients, and a bathroom for all to use. When we design our buildings, we find it important to not only design for the intended use, but also future uses. Keeping the future use of a Guest House in mind, we ensured the private office could be converted into a bedroom (with legal egress) and we made the bathroom a full bathroom and included a shower. One additional feature our client asked for was a fireplace. We ran natural gas out to a beautiful fireplace that can be turned on by remote to create a warm and welcoming space.

Results

This Home Office was able to be located just 10′ back from the front property line (as opposed to 40′ if it were an ADU) under a 100 year old Bay Laurel tree. Clients walk just 18′ up the driveway to get to the office and never get close to the house. Likewise, the owners have one of the shortest commutes ever! Upon entering, clients can wait in the waiting room, grab a water or tea, and use the restroom (with all touchless accessories). A solid-core door and interior wall insulation limits sound transmission to ensure confidentiality. There is also a mini-split heating and cooling system with room-to-room ventilation to provide year round comfort. And all of this while paying roughly 1/2 of their previous rent while simultaneously building equity in this beautiful building on their property.