Office Shed Budget Breakdown

It’s been over a month now since I moved my desk from the master bedroom, into our new office shed in the back yard. I’ve been dragging my feet on this wrap up post as, well, there are still a few details left to wrap up. Even without transom window trim, decking in front of the sliding glass door, or a rear gutter though, having 160 sqft of detached office/living space for our family of 4 has been a game changer. With a queen futon and a 55″ TV, it’s much more than a workday office space. We’ve sent the kids to play out here for some peace and quiet in the house, hosted a family member for a couple nights, and I’ve even used it to co-host virtual Downtown Orlando UX meetup events without worrying about waking up the kids. How about a quick tour?

For the exterior paint, we went with the same gray that we recently repainted our house with and white trim. We were planning to put a modern wall sconce to the left of the door, but decided instead to install 4 recessed lights into the front eaves. We’re really happy with that decision as it lights up the whole pool deck at night when they’re on.

The carport side of the shed has a 48″ × 36″ sliding vinyl window. We also installed undereave vents into the front and rear soffits, and styrofoam channels between the rafters and above the ceiling insulation to keep it cool and well ventilated. We wanted to get the shed much closer to the fence, but 7.5′ on the side and 5′ on the rear was as close as local setback requirements would allow us to go.

Inside the shed, we stayed pretty true to our concept floorplan.

On one side, we have the entertainment/guest space with a queen futon, a dresser for storage, a TV, and a wall unit to heat and cool the space. I considered a mini-split HVAC system, but the wall unit was a lot cheaper, and as a plug-in system, was much easier to install.

Finally, this is my relocated, remote workstation. It hasn’t changed much from the bedroom office setup, but it’s nice to have my desk away from the wall, and to have an office bookshelf again.

Whenever I talk about this project with friends and family, the first thing I always get asked is how much it cost. Before interior furnishings, the entire project came in at just over $15,500. That’s a big number, but not so bad when you consider that we added 160 sqft of air conditioned space for under $100/sqft. I should also note here that installing the shed on an existing slab saved us money in a couple ways. We didn’t have to pour one ourselves, and according to Florida law, installing the structure on a slab meant that Tuff Shed didn’t have to charge sales tax. So, how did we spend that total? Here’s a quick breakdown.