Perhaps in the last couple of months you have adopted a new type of work arrangement. One which is removed from a large corporate office and lacks the creature comforts of desks, cubicles, private meetings rooms, and stationary cabinets brimming with the post-it notes and markers. Instead, you now occupy a bonus room, the basement, or a dinner table shared with your spouse, kids, and pets in what is the most modern take on the open desk configuration.

Before you look for a larger house or think about renovations, it might be time to have a closer look at your backyard and think about a backyard office. When we say backyard office, we don’t mean a Gore-Tex tent with a power cord or a windowless shed where your lawn mower hibernated over winter. We mean a legit backyard office with power, insulation, windows, and glorious heat. A space where countless virtual meetings don’t frustrate the tranquility of your family. A space where Post-It notes can live in perfect harmony undisturbed on the walls of your new office… or what some are calling a backyard studio. That’s right, no longer are you a mere remote employee working off the floor of a spare bedroom, nay, you could be a titan of work innovating from your work studio. But how does one go from the backyard to a work studio?

The answer to that question can be solved by dozens of companies that have emerged in the last couple of years focused on repurposing backyards. Backyard offices now range from cozy prefabricated spaces starting at 92 square feet to an impressive 180 square feet of glass enclosed exteriors, steel paneling, and cedar soffits. Each office comes with its own array of creature comforts which range from fireplaces, beds, wireless lighting packages, and built-in work desks. Of course everything comes with a price and backyard offices are no different, spaces can start as low as $5,000 and creep as high as $70,000 for a permit approved, fully installed, and finished studio. The good news is now more than ever solutions exist for remote employees to find, or create, a space to call their own.

Cody Weiss

City of Calgary, Business Strategist