The Benefits of Working In Your Garage Office

If you suffer through a lengthy commute that drains your energy while eating into your spare time and money, you need to rethink the way you work. Office workers have more flexibility than ever due to the ability to telecommute over the internet instead of through traffic jams. Arguments over whether its better to work from home compared to your garage office tend to worry about productivity from the perspective of companies and business owners, who constantly seek to reduce costs. Instead, focus on the reasons why working from your garage office is better for your work‑life balance.

Save Time and Money

Studies performed by Environics Research show that, on average, the longest "acceptable" commute for Canadian office workers is about thirty minutes. However, Oxford’s Future of Work survey in 2013 shows that large cities such as Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal have an average commute greater than half an hour. In the United States, the average commute is just over 25 minutes one‑way, despite about 600,000 workers who report a "megacommute" of an hour or more.

Assuming a standard, five‑day workweek, the amount of time you spend commuting each week may approach 10 hours, which translates into nearly a half‑day of travel time per week. Needless to say, if you face a lengthy commute to and from work – especially in large, heavily trafficked cities – working in a garage office will help recapture time wasted in traffic jams or public transit failures.

It’s difficult to place a monetary value on the time you’ll save avoiding a commute. However, you can definitely track the extra money that you spend working in an office. The costs of owning and running your car, buying lunches, coffee breaks and other expenditures working away from home, it’s easy to spend a couple of hundreds of dollars on a weekly basis. Working from your garage office will help to reduce these costs, reducing gas consumption and the money spent eating and drinking at various establishment.

Family & Friends

Many families feature both parents working full‑time jobs with long commutes, which drastically reduces the amount of available quality time for you and your family. Instead of spending more time together, children often have to stay at daycare. Best case scenario, the kids can be babysat by a family member or someone else close to your family.

The ability to work from home out of your garage provides an outstanding solution for married couples and parents, making it easier for families to spend time together. This is of increased importance for young families with children under five years old, both of whom benefit greatly from spending more time with each other.

For some, the lack of social contact with co‑workers may be a concern. If your office environment offers the choice to work from home, there’s a good chance that they don’t mind when you wish to show up at the office to connect with peers. Alternatively, the flexible scheduling enabled by working at home allows you to meet up with friends for lunch or coffee when you wish.

In the end, it’s up to you to decide how to schedule your time working in your garage office, giving you the option of meeting friends and peers whenever you wish. Simultaneously, the reduction in time you spend on the road commuting may be allocated to family and friends instead.

Greater Productivity

Despite the fact that office spaces are designed and built to facilitate workplace concentration and collaboration, you may find that your office environment has become a stressful place that ends up creating a lot of distractions that reduce your efficiency.

There are many reason why the office might not be the best place for you to work: office politics, stress due to deadlines and even office renos may create obstacles that impede productivity. When you work in your garage, you don’t have to worry about becoming intertwined in the latest set of rumors and innuendo. There’s no need to get caught up in the stress experienced by peers due to a deadline. Instead, you control who enters and exits your workspace, getting rid of negativity that gets in the way of productivity.

Many office environments utilize outdated technology in an effort to reduce their budget. Instead of struggling with slow, outdated tech, you can use your own superior computer in a workspace that’s dedicated to matching your ergonomic needs. In this case, your productivity boost is accompanied by a healthier workspace that reduces the chance for chronic use conditions and other office‑related medical issues.

Protect Your Garage Office With a Secure Garage Door

Setting up an office in your garage helps save time and money while striking a better work‑life balance and creating conditions that are appropriate for greater productivity. When you’ve set up your garage office, check to make sure that your garage door and opener provide adequate security for you, your family and equipment.

Garaga remains the industry standard for durability and reliability, as we have sold over 1.7 million quality garage doors since 1983.

You can click here to get a free quote, or click here to start by building your perfect garage door!