Building Memories (BM) uses personal experiences and relates them to topics of importance to building.
This BM explores remote work
In 2015 I wanted to set up an exterior office in the back garage of our home. At the same time, I began to pay attention to two separate issues:
- Technology companies were constantly talking about their companies having an area that they named Innovation centers
- In the world of politics, many folks were disparaging the security forces that work to secure the borders of the United States. The U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or ICE for short)
Both these topics were overwhelming the TV talking heads airwaves at the time, so I decided to nickname the new office space “ICE” (Innovation Center East, the garage is on the east side of our lot) to add some humor and positive meaning back into the term ICE. It is now 9 years later, and the term has stuck. Everyone in the family and any friends who know about office space all refer to it as the ICE.
So, I began the process of upgrading an old, detached garage into usable office space. I had an epoxy floor installed but there were roofing upgrades, lighting, wall repairs and general upgrades to the finishes that needed to get done to make it a truly useful office space. Work began and minor electrical work was performed to expand electrical power a 100’+, underground, Cat 6 cable was run between the main router and a local device in the garage. I also ran an ethernet overpower connection that provided a secondary source of Wi-Fi via the power lines that fed the garage. The walls and ceiling were painted, and the ICE was ready for its inaugural season.
Year 1 of working the ICE was fall of 2015. But every year has brought small improvements. One year a local Sports Authority was going out of business, and I bought the golf display wall for a few bucks and installed it on the south wall. Another year a new flat screen TV was purchased for the house and the 15-year-old screen was brought out to ICE. A new roof and roof decking repairs stopped all the intermittent leaks and allowed the ceiling to be sprayed white and really helped to reduce the dirt that floated down from roof and ceiling.
I work in the ICE every day when temperatures range anywhere between the mid 50’s to the high 80’s. Of course, the temperature and humidity vary with the weather and sometimes when they become a bit too extreme, I retreat to conditioned spaces. Over the years Syntec has had offices in downtown Chicago, neighborhoods and suburbs. The ICE is by far my favorite workspace. It supports my remote work with people and companies around the world and is a conducive space for the creative and core business activities of my daily work. And of course, once March of 2020 hit, and Covid forced everyone into isolation and remote work, the ICE became my center of operations from spring through fall and we were able to transition smoothly without missing a beat.
I must admit this manner of working would have been very hard for me in my 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. I always enjoyed the people interaction and looked forward to being on building sites and board rooms. But transitioning on my own timetable, as I did in my late 50’s, has been a wonderful stroke of good fortune!
Photo 1 – Looking East
Photo 2 – Looking West