How a Leaky Ceiling Inspired Us to Create a Bigger Office

Our design office was part of an old Victorian house, shared with one other business. We were on the first floor, the other business on the ground floor. We were located next to a park that had an excellent little cafe, and we would often take our clients there. Without exception, they loved the idea of discussing ideas in the park cafe...and such informal meetings really helped get the ideas flowing as well. We are an informal operation, but very professional. This - I believe - instils a lot of trust in us from our clients.

We had a couple of problems ahead of us though: the first problem was that despite how much we loved our office and its location, we simply needed more space in the office. One reason why we liked to entertain clients in the neighbouring park was because our office was so cramped. The second problem was a persistent leak coming from the above attic. Whenever we had heavy rain, sure enough we would have to strategically place buckets of water in our office to catch all the drops coming from the ceiling. No matter how many times someone took a look at the attic, the problem kept coming back. Our landlord is very kind, but I think he has shown too much loyalty to the handyman he always hires to fix these types of problems.

I mentioned these issues to a client I know well, who I feel I can divulge such issues to. He suggested that both problems could be solved by one solution - have the attic converted to an office. Of course, I told him we didn't own the property - we rented it out. "Well, just put it to your landlord then!". And so, I carefully pitched the idea to my landlord that he could capture more rent by converting the attic to an office space - and in doing so, should finally fix the leaky ceiling we were suffering with at the same time. He agreed to the solution so long as we signed a rental contract for our current office space plus the attic over the next three years. That was music to my ears - I agreed, and the job went ahead.

Now we have more living space, and a professional roofing company did a survey and overhaul of the building's roof - meaning we could finally get rid of those buckets and enjoy a dry office whatever the weather.

Article kindly provided by thegateco.co.uk