Home Office (Design)

[kai]

Has anyone had a home office built or designed at home, I am just looking for advice.

I work from home for a US company, typically ill spend 10+ hours per day in that room as both my personal machine and work laptop are side by side. At the moment I have a typical setup (2 monitors, laptop, and tower) with a standard workstation desk, draws and cabinet.

Albeit fine, it’s not exactly a real comfort (or in keeping with the house) or how I would like to have everything laid out. The IKEA hack was something I originally reviewed (mounting a worktop on top of cupboards and drawer units) but I want something that is going to last a long time and is more an office as oppose to a desk!

Anyway, I had a design completed yesterday evening for the following:

With this style.

The doors etc. are all solid wood with a 10-year guarantee. However, with the fitting I am looking at £2.9k it seems a little expensive.

 

[Mark M]

Im by no means an expert but seems quite pricey? I wonder if it could be priced up via DIY Kitchens or even Ikea/B&Q as they are effectively kitchen cabinets
with a wooden worktop?

 

[kai]

Im by no means an expert but seems quite pricey? I wonder if it could be priced up via DIY Kitchens or even Ikea/B&Q as they are effectively kitchen cabinets
with a wooden worktop?

This was certainly an option, during my university I worked for B&Q (kitchen department). I know I will lose out on quality, it will be all basic 300#600#800 cabinets I’ll have to work with. The attached drawing is custom made cabinets fitting with the rooms dimensions.

When built they will also be scribed around skirting’s, ceilings etc.

I am not sure if I could hire a carpenter for a day or two and have Ikea/B&Q match with something similar?

 

[Martynt74]

I wouldnt say you'd lose out on quality massively. All you need are the required cabinets. Assemble them yourself and fit to walls, then as you say get a carpenter in to knock up a few tweaks to tidy up any gaps against the walls and cut the worktop to length if you don't feel comfortable doing so.

I'd have guessed about a grand in total for that. £500 for worktops and units and then £500 labour.

 

[LiE]

Yea I'd definitely buy in the units and just get a chippy in to fit it.

 

[Steeps]

Going with real wood options on diykitchens, deep worktop for the monitor area and 600 deep worktop for the return with cabinets underneath it works out about 1.2k in cabinet/worktop/filler costs, get someone to fit it in a day or two for £300. Half price office. Those drawer units won't have drawers that will go all the way back, they'll use filler panels so you're best off using 600mm on the return and maybe increasing the shelving capacity on the wall if you need more flat surfaces.

 

[the_r_sole]

Is it a kitchen or an office?
Kitchen worktops are usually 100/150mm higher than a desk finish height and you would normally have 700 min depth for a desk?
If it was me I'd just get a decent desk/storage that's freestanding, anything built in limits what you can do with the room in future

 

[kai]

Going with real wood options on diykitchens, deep worktop for the monitor area and 600 deep worktop for the return with cabinets underneath it works out about 1.2k in cabinet/worktop/filler costs, get someone to fit it in a day or two for £300. Half price office. Those drawer units won't have drawers that will go all the way back, they'll use filler panels so you're best off using 600mm on the return and maybe increasing the shelving capacity on the wall if you need more flat surfaces.

I couldn't be really cheeky could I i don't suppose you have the list of the items you added to the basket?

I would just like to see the breakdown of the £1,200 figure.

Is it a kitchen or an office?

this is my worry, this stuff is office designed. I dont want it to look like a kitchen or prep area.

 

[GinG]

Who did you go with for this mate, is it sharps?

We had them out to quote for bedroom and office furniture and lol'd at him when he sent through the quote.

In the end we went Hammonds on the wardrobes at less than half what Sharps quoted, didn't get him to quote on the office but would imagine they would be much cheaper.

 

[kai]

Who did you go with for this mate, is it sharps?

We had them out to quote for bedroom and office furniture and lol'd at him when he sent through the quote.

In the end we went Hammonds on the wardrobes at less than half what Sharps quoted, didn't get him to quote on the office but would imagine they would be much cheaper.

This is from hammonds. I know its quality stuff.

 

[pigeonguyuk]

The price seems excessive. Do you have a breakdown on Supply vs Fitting. I worked for B&Q designing the kitchens and bathrooms. Fitting Could Equate to as much as 40% of a total kitchen install. The installers ultimately being sub contractors getting maybe 10% of that 40%. Some of these places charge £30 for building a base cabinet that a competent joiner/builder could build in 10mins work that out on an hourly wage

 

[kai]

The price seems excessive. Do you have a breakdown on Supply vs Fitting. I worked for B&Q designing the kitchens and bathrooms. Fitting Could Equate to as much as 40% of a total kitchen install. The installers ultimately being sub contractors getting maybe 10% of that 40%. Some of these places charge £30 for building a base cabinet that a competent joiner/builder could build in 10mins work that out on an hourly wage

Yes, the fitting cost is £300. They fit as standard. That was the first thing I checked I did not want any subcontractors. They are employed Hammond fitters after hearing/seeing so many horror stories during my time at B&Q myself. They estimate 1.5 days to complete the job, so from a fitter that seems very reasonable.

Plus the cabinets are built to order, they will come to the house pre-built.

 

[jpaul]

Is it a kitchen or an office?
Kitchen worktops are usually 100/150mm higher than a desk finish height and you would normally have 700 min depth for a desk?
If it was me I'd just get a decent desk/storage that's freestanding, anything built in limits what you can do with the room in future

As he said, need desk depth for keyboard/monitor/notepad, plus room under desk to optimally relocate chair,
a desk can be re-located in front of window too, if you fancy (or seasonally have reflection issues), height adjustable maybe ? (see earlier threads)

 

[pigeonguyuk]

Yes, the fitting cost is £300. They fit as standard. That was the first thing I checked I did not want any subcontractors. They are employed Hammond fitters after hearing/seeing so many horror stories during my time at B&Q myself. They estimate 1.5 days to complete the job, so from a fitter that seems very reasonable.

Plus the cabinets are built to order, they will come to the house pre-built.

Fitting seems very cheap. As this is for your work office maybe you can look into the "company" purchasing the goods as they are not UK based this could negate the VAT saving you some.
To be honest there will always be horror stories with any company, the ones with a bigger customer/base profile will always be highlighted more frequently.

I suppose its hard to Judge on the total price not knowing the exact quality of the product . Such as machine/hand painted finish, thickness of doors, colour matched unit interiors, material used in cabinet frames(real wood/mdf/ etc) Soft close doors/drawers.

 

[GinG]

We have been really happy with the Hammonds, although I think they bend the truth slightly with the employed fitters. The guy I had was still in theory just a sub contractor paid on the days they fit for Hammonds however had been on a Hammonds training scheme to meet the level of 'skill' required.

Having looked again at your design the price does seem 30 - 40% higher than I would expect to pay to be honest...I would say more like £1500. Especially with everything just been laminated MDF at the end of the day.

Edit. Just another thought, but now you have a design drawn out do you have a local joinery shop/cabinet maker? Take the design to them along with some idea on measurements and ask them to quote. For example this is a local one to me and you can just see what is possible: https://www.facebook.com/pg/dixonandcowtonltd/photos/?ref=page_internal

 

[Martynt74]

I'd go with the above comment on a local joiner. Whilst it's not directly comparable, my mother in law has just had a quote of £1500 for a full wall of fitted wardrobes. I'd imagine that to be a fair amount more work that your job.

 

[peterwalkley]

I've worked from home for over 15 years now. My suggestions would be (in order):

1) A really, really good chair. I use an Aeron as the good offerings from overclockers weren't around at the time. Don't skimp on the chair, it is a false economy and you will suffer back problems with a cheap one and they fall apart after a couple of years.
2) Hands and cable free headset for use with land-line phone. I use a plantronics C60. Skype etc is all very well, but not as good as a land-line. Even with fast broadband (I'm on Virgin 200 Meg) you are at the mercy of the other end being junk.
3) Opaque blinds or heavy curtains for the window. Make sure you can block sunlight on the screens. In the same vein, a lampshade to stop the same problem with the ceiling light. I paid a lot for a Hillarys blind as its a circular bay window - you should be able to avoid that cost.

My furniture is cheap stuff. A solid table from Ikea and a desk from one of office furniture places that could fit into the bay.

Working from home is great if you can manage the solitude and maintain the discipline to work.

 

[bsoltan]

For what is in your first picture I wouldn't think it was work £3k at all. It is minimal storage and while I'm sure the quality and workmanship is decent it is still just cabinets and a desk.

For the desk surface you could get the materials, two large worktops or the desk ones from IKEA, you could even put together yourself or get a carpenter to do the work.
Then there are various under desk cabinets and you could get a wall shelving unit or thin bookcase for the side.

Bookcase - http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/...ses/hemnes-bookcase-white-stain-art-40371763/
Worktop -http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/desks/table-tops-legs/?N=38429+17520&Nr=AND%28content.type%3Ap%2Csku.browsable%3A1%29
or the KLIMPEN range http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/search/?k=KLIMPEN

 

[kai]

Thank you, everyone.

I reached out on social media for a local carpenter, whereby lots of people come back with the same recommendation. His work looks really good, all custom bespoke work. I have sent the CAD drawings along with the room measurements.

Awaiting quote. I suspect (i hope) it will be well under the 3k quoted.

 

[kai]

Just wanted to reach out and say thank you to @GinG @Marvt74 etc who recommended a local joiner.

The only thing different from the design above is he is unable to create a classic cornice shown in the picture on top of the tall unit.

This price is for it all to be made out of 18mm MDF with a laminated worktop. I will need to paint the MDF after install (he will prime). The drawers will be constructed out of 18mm ply so i won't need to paint the inside of the drawers. For labour and materials, the price is £930.

Hammonds, wanted £3,000.