Small Business Owner Saves on Office Rent and adds Value to Her Home

Here Kirsty Hunt, owner of The PR Boutique, shares her OffPOD story and reveals her fantastic new garden office.

Before the pandemic, Kirsty was paying around £700 per month renting an office in her local town – with power and internet/phone supply costs on top. She now explains that within three years, her OffPOD will have paid for itself and has added huge value to her home.

Kirsty explains: “I operate a small marketing agency in Cheshire. Since I launched the business 15 years ago, I have worked both from home and had office spaces in my local towns.

“While it was fantastic to have an office in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge, the big frustration was the parking and the additional expense of connectivity and power.

“When the pandemic hit, like many, I decided to give up the office in the town and set up an office within my home. Our team was all home working and we created a new way to work as a team but remotely.

“The downside of this was not being able to separate home and office life, kids coming home (let’s not even mention homeschooling) disrupting the workflow and the office equipment taking up valuable space in my home.

“As the world opened up, I considered an office, but the team and I opted to continue to work remotely. I then looked at single and two-person desk space at local shared office facilities in the local area, but the costs associated with this were quite high.

“By offering me a space that’s away from the main house but still at home, an Off Pod garden office has pretty much ticked all of the boxes in terms of what I require and so far has been well worth the investment.

“While we’ve developed effective remote working procedures, I have also created an office space big enough that can accommodate the team if we want to get together. I can also hold client meetings at local flexible office providers and hotels or use my large agency client partner’s meeting rooms, so having a space for client meetings or ad hoc team working has been solved.

“Having teenage children, I’ve also designed the office so that my son and his friends can use the Off Pod in an evening – so they feel like they have their own space to hang out in.”

Kirsty adds: “My OffPOD garden office was installed in summer 2022 – and the timing couldn’t be better. With the cost of living crisis and rocketing domestic fuel bills, not only is the garden office saving me money on office rent or having to use shared office spaces it’s saving money on household bills while working from home as I only have to power and heat the garden office in the day.

“Moreover, it’s so well insulated and benefits from so much natural light that it’s incredibly cost-effective to heat and power. As I’m using the existing Virgin Media internet used in the house – that’s connected via the data cable – so there is no extra cost here.

Even kitting the garden office out has come in under £500!