Can it be a good idea to lease a house rather than a standard office-space for a software development shop? [closed]
- by hamlin11
Our lease is up on our US-based office-space in July, so it's back on my radar to evaluate our office-space situation.
Two of our partners rather like the idea of leasing a house rather than standard office-space.
We have 4 partners and one employee.
I'm against the idea at this moment in time.
Pros, as I see them
Easier to get a good location (minimize commutes)
All partners/employees have dogs. Easier to work longer hours without dog-duties pulling people back home
More comfortable bathroom situation
Residential Internet Rate
Control of the thermostat
Clients don't come to our office, so this would not change our image
The additional comfort-level should facilitate a significantly higher-percentage of time "in the zone" for programmers and artists.
Cons, as I see them
Additional bills to pay (house-cleaning, yard, util, gas, electric)
Additional time-overhead in dealing with bills (house-cleaning, yard, util, gas, electric)
Additional overhead required to deal with issues that maintenance would have dealt with in a standard office-space
Residential neighbors to contend with
The equation starts to look a little nasty when factoring in potential time-overhead, especially on issues that a maintenance crew would deal with at a standard office complex.
Can this be a good thing for a software development shop?
