what are peoples thoughts on running a home Business?

[Hugh Potter]

how big is your garage? is it dry? i certainly wouldn’t want to run a printer in a cold garage.

planning permission? only if you’re gonna have lots of foot traffic, cars and deliveries parking all over the place, otherwise say nothing or they’ll charge you £170 just to find out if you need it!

solvent printers need ventilation, even more so in a confined area like a garage (i’d’ve thought).

insurance? passing trade? i can’t wait to get out home.

I currently work from a shed workshop, insulated and heated, about 12×8, very little room and certainly no room for a printer, that said, it’s surprising what i can do in there, even if swinging a cat isn’t one of them! hopefully i’ll be out of here soon and in the future plans would be a printer, any unit would have to be ‘just right’ before i considered putting £18k worth of printer in it!

insurance is easier now than it was, rates will depend on whether or not it’s considered ‘business premises’, again…. are you using it simply as a base to make stuff and spending more time on site or treating it as a trade counter? if the latter i’d say you’l have to go with permission and rates etc that go with it (assuming aditional rates would be required), until this year i only had public liability as every insurer i tried would not insure a timber building (even a purpose built one with fire retardant insulation etc) as a business premises, only this year did AXA insure my building, tools and equipment.

grey are really! for me i don’t pay busi rates, i have extremely little waste (recycle most), and have no need of any services which business rates might contribute towards. should i have them? i don’t know.

[Shaun Cleary]

My garage is 40ft by 20ft, plastered, Gas central heated, fully insulated, double glazed with security bars and door also with water and new electric.

This was built last year for my tools, car and jet ski.

Also I would have very little foot fall maybe 1 a week and 1 material delivery a week.

[Peter Normington]

been working from home going on 15 years
no problems from the council, just keep your neighbors happy!
No ventilation is required, but I would say you need it, if only a good extraction fan at low level will do the job.

Footfall is not the deciding factor about working from home though, who can say how many visitors you can have in a day?
as you are asking about fumes then that could be a factor . Anyone can work from home, many professionals do, and MP’s and councilors do it and claim part of the bills and mortgage as tax deductible…as I do.

Peter

[James Martin]

Does that mean you pay capital gains tax Peter?

[Richard Martin]

There is a lot more to working from home than it may appear as you will effectively be turning part of a residential property into a business property. As already mentioned keep your neighbors sweet and you should be fine.
They can complain to the council though and get it stopped then you would have to go through planning to get the proper permissions which if your neighbors have caused enough stink to make it go that far planning permission will be slim.

[Phill Fenton]

My advice would be to do what you need to do to keep your business going. If that means running it from your garage then all due respect to you.

Keep the neighbours sweet by all means – but I think your council is more likely to be on your side then any neighbour that sniffs at the fact you are running a business from home.

You need to tell your home insurance company (to cover yourself so they don’t have a "get out" if you need to claim for something) but apart from that don’t get bogged down in worrying about legislation.

If you want to run a signmaking business (home based or otherwise) – then do it.

[Gary Hamilton]

WE started off in our garage it lasted about 4 months then the council stepped in and told us to shut down as it was not the type that could be run from a garage due to the increase in vehicle traffic etc.
All the neighbours thought it was great to see someone working as they passed and loved to watch a car etc get signed up but it turned out one neighbour didnt like the idea of someone doing better than them.
It all turned out well we got a small shop just round the corner,ok it costs but it put 2 fingers up at the neighbour that moaned and the others still come and watch the work been done.
So as the others have said keep neighbours sweet and wait to see if council call but dont call them play dumb if they turn up and then have a word with the offical he will guide you for free so saving you money to find out
:lol1:

[Shaun Cleary]

I understand all concerns but this seems like a people thing, I will be going out to see most of my customers.

If there is not problem with traffic, noise, waste just an office type business why would I need planning ???

[Richard Martin]

Like others have said go for it but just be aware that you do need permission and could be stopped from continuing should the council get involved. The reason is your property is a residential property in a residential area (more than likely). The property has not been designed with business needs in mind, plus the fact people don’t want to live in a residential area with commercial premises next door. Even a home office is supposed to inform the council and probably pay business rates on the space used. Most people just go under the radar though as a home office isn’t normally noticed by many people.

With turning your garage into a business space the main disruptions to your neighbors is going to be traffic, foot flow and noise which could cause a problem. As you have said most of your work is at your custys site I would continue with working from the garage until it does become a problem then cross that bridge as and when. The only people that are likely to complain will be neighbors, if you can keep them sweet you should be good and the council will have no reason to look at you. I expect also most of your work will be done during office hours whilst most of neighbors will be at work.

Good luck.

[Geraint Rhys Williams]

I suspect planning permission is technically required. Just think, if you turn your garage into another room such as a dining room etc, you 100% need planning permission, but worse case scenario is that they make you apply for permission if theres ever a problem.

The other thing is you say you recycle. I would be careful with all your waste as this is classed as commercial waste wherever your working from. Our local recycling centre has a nice sign that says anyone found tipping commercial waste will be fined up to £10k!!!!!

I would phone your local council and speak to them, you dont have to give them specific details – just ‘sound them out’ to see how they feel about home/work premise!

[Nicholas Gormley]

I currently work out of an office and a triple garage at my house as am only 23 and trying to get my business established. I live on a busy road and have no problems from any of the neighbours but then again they cant see into my yard because of hedges around the house. I only started at the end of last July and find weeks slower than others. Anyone help me with ideas on how i could boost sales or best means of advertising?? I say go for it, as you wont know until you try.

[Alan Drury]

I have always worked from home 30 years +. I do have permission from the council which required filling in forms and a fe e(surprise, surprise) No problem getting business insurance AXA do one for home based business but do check ordinary home insurance, because I get more than 5- 6 people coming round many insurers were not interested and that includes major names in insurance. I have always used Direct line as they would insure me and were the cheapest but it was still considerably more that just domestic home insurance. Even though I work in a shed at the bottom of the garden and don’t physically work in the house it still impacts on the home premium.
I enjoy working from home, it may limit you if you have grand expansion ideas but at my age that’s not an issue:)
Alan D

[Shaun Cleary]

Have any of you declared that you work from your detached garage and did the council come down to see.

If so what information did they need.

I will have at most 1 visits (More likely none) and one small delivery a week (No employees).

[Shaun Cleary]

Anyone, does no one here work from home ???

[Neil Speirs]

quote Shaun Cleary:

Anyone, does no one here work from home ???

It’s Sunday Shaun, maybe all the homeworkers are out?

Change of scenery and all that 😉

[Paul Loades]

I work from a workshop at the bottom of my garden (22′ x 12′), and in the first year was reported for doing so. I received a letter from the council, informing me of an impending visit… When the chap turned up and I explained that I was out fitting and surveying more than I was actually there during the day, but was there most evenings until late, he nodded, asked if anyone in the household could use the pc’s and TV… and when I told him they could, I was informed that it was classed as a dual purpose family room and was not eligible for business rates…. and that he was sorry that someone had wasted his time and mine…

All the best, with whatever you decide….

Paul

[David Litster]

I too do a little bit from home have approached our local authority looking for permanent premises but despite them having two empty units of a suitable size I can’t have one because they have no toilet facilities just in case I need to use a toilet or joe bloggs walks in to waste time!! and the units are a slow 2 min walk from my house!!

[Luke s Bremner]

you could get a porter loo stick in the corner, that should sort there problem with that. good enough for road workers and building sites.

[RayRosher]

What ever you need to do to keep going!
I say go for it

Ahem!
Their is a well known signage person on this group!
Who wrote a book, who Quotes The Dream by Mark Baker,
I think that covers every-ones feelings on this group
And what your willing to do to keep the Dream!

Nice one Phill.