I have now enjoyed my YardPod for over a year. It has met all of my performance criteria and greatly exceeded my expectations in terms of enjoyment.
I built my YardPod with two objectives; first to provide a showcase for our business in designing and selling YardPods. It is all very well having pictures and showing photographs on the website, but buyers often need to see the real thing before making a purchase decision. My YardPod has served this purpose well, there continues to be a stream of visitors who “kick the tires” and ask questions. With very few exceptions, visitors have been very impressed. My second objective was to create a Backyard Home Office for myself. I already have an office in my house, but I wanted to experience living with a YardPod.
Because the structure is so well insulated, I can work very comfortably in the coldest of winter, which is admittedly not very severe in Northern California, but would work just as well in a harsher climate. I use a small space heater to warm up the building on cold mornings, which is more than adequate. We are fortunate to have cool evenings most of the year, so the YardPod stays cool on warm days, there have only been three days this summer when I was uncomfortably warm, but my YardPod was still significantly cooler than my house!
My full-height windows have allowed me to enjoy seeing the wildlife, particularly squirrels which live around the building. There is a utility line above my YardPod that the squirrels use as a highway and frequently drop nuts onto my roof.
Enjoying my YardPod mid-November, it is grey and about to rain!
By far the most successful feature has been the outward-opening French doors which remained open while I was working, for the whole of the summer, I still have them open now, in mid-November. They make the YardPod part of the garden. I am not merely inside a building looking out; I am part of what is going on outside with full visual, sound and smell effects, while being sheltered in a comfortable environment. The feeling is totally different from being in a house with the window open, it is far more immersive and enjoyable and every day is different. Currently, I am looking out onto hummingbirds enjoying the flowers at the edge of my deck. Neighborhood cats come buy, stop in for some petting then go on their way. Apart from when the cats are around, the garden has birds constantly chirping, singing and scratching for worms and insects. I have lived in this house for ten years, but until I got the YardPod, have not experienced the garden, it is a different, very peaceful and very enjoyable world!
Another surprising benefit has been my ability to focus and to be productive in the YardPod. My house is not noisy, there are no children, no pets and apart from telemarketers and political fundraisers phoning daily, I always considered it a good place to work. It is, but the YardPod is even better. I carry my laptop between the two buildings and added a signal booster in the house to provide good wireless network access in the YardPod so that I can print to my color printer in the house or my printer in the YardPod. Internet access is excellent. I use my cellphone for work and the signal in my YardPod is far better than in my house. I had electrical floor outlets installed by a licensed electrician during construction, these give me the flexibility to change the arrangement of furniture at will.
There is only one item needing maintenance, that is the cedar siding, which will need to be cleaned and re-stained in the spring after two winters. Cedar weathers to a natural grey finish and while I normally prefer the natural finishes, there is something about the original bright cedar finish that I prefer, and I am willing to invest the time and energy to keep it looking new.
I will enjoy my YardPod for many years and look forward to helping many others become “YardPoders!”
If you have any questions about my YardPod, or YardPods in general, please contact me directly by email (md@yardpods.com), by telephone (415-347-1924), or leave a message (and please “Like” us) on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/YardPods/227953680600405?sk=wall
Malcolm Davies, CEO, Co-Founder, YardPods
Getting Started Consultation – Free
Dr. Malcolm Davies
YardPod Inventor
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