Do women make better shedworkers than men?

That's the suggestion by Lynsey Thomas in The Guardian who argues that "the female of the species is better equipped to work from the comfort of home". Here's what she says:

"The homeworking male seems on the face of it to either thrive or be very quickly killed off. Those that make it through the first difficult weeks tend to be a success, benefiting from the relaxed environment and the ability to achieve a good work-life balance. Those that struggle are the more outgoing types. A lack of company or attention, call it what you will, leads them to become stir crazy. Trips to the local pub in search of lunchtime company can be the undoing of the male homeworker. Women are quite good at self-regulating their feelings and how they affect those around them; men tend to become self-absorbed and may not notice changes in their behaviour or work pattern."

And her overall conclusion is that a female boss best suits a male homeworker. I'd be very interested to hear what Shedworking's readers think...

Where do the most imaginative shedworkers live?

According to a new YouGov poll, shed owners in the South East of England are the most innovative when it comes to using their shedlike atmospheres.Around 9% of people from the South East said they would convert their sheds into mini gyms, one in twelve would use theirs as a creative area for hobbies, while 4% would use it as a space for practicing music. One in twenty would use it as a private space to escape for a while and 30% would use it as storage of non garden items.

The same poll revealed that shedowners aren't good at maintaining their garden sheds despite using them to store expensive equipment. The poll, commissioned by waterproofing manufacturer Marley Waterproofing, found that despite a high proportion of people keeping expensive garden tools in their sheds, as few as one in five people consider repairs a priority.
Via Shedblog

The business of shedworking - part 5

Alan Young of 1st Addition Accountancy ends his week-long series of postings with a look at Other Things To Consider:

"So, if we are running our business from a garden office or home, what else do we need to consider? For a start, most mortgage companies ask us to stipulate whether or not there is a business element to our occupation. We may need to be able to prove to them that we have separate business insurance to cover us for this.

Also, running a business from home may attract the attention of the Valuation Office Agency who will determine whether or not a property will attract business rates. Guidelines for this can be found at www.voa.gov.uk/council_tax/working_from_home.htm, however, as our house remains, substantially, a domestic residence, this is unlikely to be a major issue for us.

When running any business from home, it is important to ensure that we have adequate insurance, to cover us for all eventualities. If we use our garden office or shed simply as a base to perform our administration, then it is likely we can extend our household insurance policy to cover the additional value of equipment kept there. If, on the other hand, we meet clients there, or are considering taking on employees, then we will need to look at taking out a specific, separate business insurance. Small business ‘packages’ are currently available, which cover us for all aspects of business insurance, including public liability, employee liability, business interruption insurance etc. These packages are available from around £250 a year.

"Legislation is constantly being updated, and the only piece of advice that never changes is; always check with your accountant, when looking to claim or calculate these expenses."

Alan also runs a useful blog which is well worth a browse. Many thanks to Alan for putting these posts together - if you are in need of his expertise, you can contact him via his site and blog.

The Shedworker's Bookshelf - using natural finishes by Adam Weismann and Katy Bryce

One of the best ways of personalising your shed is to build it yourself and there's also a current trend towards constructing your own garden office building out of environmentally-friendly materials. This week's choice - using natural finishes by the friendly and knowledgeable Adam Weismann and Katy Bryce (whose company Cob in Cornwall we've featured here before) - is published by the highly regarded Green Books. It includes step-by-step instructions for applying lime-based and clay-based plasters, renders and paints, as well as exploring the benefits of natural finishes for the buildings, their owners and local suppliers.

There are plenty of case studies and of course lots of shedworking structures plus it's marvellously illustrated throughout - including photos of Katy and Adam actually doing the things they're writing about - and a sumptuous section on finishes from around the world in such spots as Japan, Morocco and Italy. In short, if you're contemplating any kind of eco-friendly build, this is an absolutely essential book to have on your bookcase (and even if you're not, it's a fascinating piece of art to meander through in your shed).

There is also an online resources and suppliers database accompanying the book at www.naturalbuildingresources.com and you can download sample pages here. Go here to buy a copy and click on the button below to go to the Green Books site where you can snap up other green building delights.

Boscobel House summerhouse

A relaxing sheddish scene to guide you into the weekend, the summerhouse at Boscobel House, the spot where the future Charles II hid up a tree to escape Cromwell's searching soldiers.

Around the shedworld

Kits and Mortar look at a fabulous restoration opportunity... materialicious likes the shack at Hinkle Farm (above)... Enterprise Nation says get rid of all that junk with a paperless office... Home Office Highway has been checking out the great and the good... Shedblog looks at audio-visual sheddies... Dwell blog points out that green roofs aren't child's play... Tiny House Blog is enjoying Brian's cob cottage project (below)...Treehugger sums up some super pallet designs... Home Office Warrior looks at tools of the virtual assistant trade... Here's the place to go for a quiet sit down... The Garden Monkey is throwing a solstice party... help to support Shedworking by clicking on the button below and making a small pledge

Buildings, bicyles and pallets

Building with pallets seems to be the new black and the always very readable Jetson Green highlights a marvellous exhibition by HDR Architecture called Unit Load_Redux which examines the use of pallets and underlines how wasteful we are in dealing with them by combining them with bicycles. Here's what Preston at JG says:

"Visitors can produce 125-200 watts while riding the bikes, which goes to power the LED lights illuminating the project at night. And when the exhibit is over, the pallets will go back to being used as pallets and the bikes will be donated away."