Working out of the house

[Falkor02]

Hey guys, does anyone know about the details on working out of the house. I live in Leon Valley and have a duplex that will soon be vacant of room mates. I'll have the whole house to myself. I have thought about turning one of the rooms into a home office and the other into a mini-photo studio. Does anyone know if there is anything special i have to do so that the government does not give me any trouble if I DO decide to work out of the house?

[epoh]

If you are not going to have anyone coming to visit you at this place of business, I don't believe you really have to do anything. You can claim part of your house expenses are business expenses on your taxes, though.

If people will be coming to you for any reason, I am fairly certain you have to do some paper work for that. :)

[ara.bentley]

I had this question a while ago on the forum and got mixed responses but finally figured it out with some help so I thought I would pass on the info (and explain how I ended up NOT being able to have a home studio....for now....)

Step 1 - First you need to look up the zoning code for where your live (for example I looked up the code for Arlington - where I live - and it said YES it was allowed for an in home business). That is the first step. I have experience working with code through my day job - so if you need help with this one let me know and I can try. You can usually find a link to your citys zoning through the city website.

Step 2 - do you own your home? You need to ask the owner if you are not that person. Do you have a home owners association? Believe it or not they usually have a big opinion on whether or not you can have a business in our home! I don't have one so there was another big YES on me being able to have a home studio.

Step 2b - think about Home Insurance for your business.... what if a client came in and tripped on a prop... are you able to pay for extra insurance to cover that? Think about safety - letting people into your home is always a risk... we invested in security cameras.

Step 3 (and here's the kicker and the reason I CANNOT have a home studio) - Your home HAS to be accessible to a person in a wheel chair. They have to be able to use the bathroom on the first floor. The bathroom has to be right off the main area of the house - and you'll need a 5 foot diameter area for the wheel chair to turn around IN your bathroom. This is where most people fail.... You have to be ADA comliant (meaning and person in a wheel chair can use the facilities in your home) BEFORE they will issue you a certificate of Occupancy. This certificate is what you need to have clients in your home - wheel chair bound or not. I work in the architecture biz and probably know more than a lot of people that the cities inspectors take this ADA stuff SERIOUSLY. I personally will have to do some heavy renovation before I can see clients in my home. So for now - I don't.

And there may be other requirements as well - but those are the big ones I ran into. Do a TON of research before starting to see clients in your home - you can get in some trouble if you don't.

[arcproducts]

Aren't the ADA rules for new construction ? My husband and I have our own business (not photography) and in our last office it was not ADA compliant (special knobs for doors, bathroom sizes, bathroom railing, etc.) and before we moved into the office the landlord's construction crew made some floorplan changes to accommodate our needs for business (making certain rooms larger for inventory, removing a wall to make another room bigger - that sort of thing) but did not modify bathrooms for ada - said it was only new construction that required it. That was back 10 years ago and we are in Harris County - outside of city limits at the time.

I am curious.

[ara.bentley]

Lately it has changed - for commercial/public buildings at least. The rule is if you do renovation to ANY part of the building the bathroom facilities closest to that part of the building must be updated to ADA compliant as well. I am not sure when the rule changed but that's what we go by now. That's why some people are hesitant to renovate - they know the bathrooms can get expensive!!!

[pbyd]

ADA is a federal law. If you are in Harris County and not in a city limits your chances are no one will ever check you, my studio was in Harris County from 1977 when I moved to Houston until 2004 when I moved into the Height Area of the city. After being in the city for less than 2 years I had a city permit person come by and check on the house my studio was in and they found it would take approx. $60,000 to bring the building up to the governments rules. Yes if you have a client come into your business (home or not) you by law have to be ADA compliant. I do know of many fulltime studios that have been in business in Houston for as long as 20 or more years that have never been checked and could not pass ADA or the rules for an occupancy permit. If you want to run the chance of being closed down with as much as a $600.00 per day fine until upgrades are made, go for it. I have been there and can tell you it hurts to have to change locations because your landlord could not spend what it took to please the government. If you would like to know more information on this give me a call at the studio, I will be happy to give you the knowledge I have learned about this.

[CaptainTom]

How would it be if I put a studio in my garage. It would be handicap accessible, and I could put a port a potti over there in the corner. Lots of room for maneuvering.
I'm not disrespecting those who need accessible facilities, just trying to see if that would satisfy the ADA.

[ldelacruz]

How do some businesses get away with no public restrooms? I think there are exceptions?

[pbyd]

Captain Tom and Lonnie,
To answer your questions, contact your State and Fedreal Rep's they pass the laws. As for the ADA restroom, believe me I can't understand why they can go after just a few (Very) small business and leave others alone, it is very frustraiting from my side.

[ara.bentley]

Originally Posted by ldelacruz

How do some businesses get away with no public restrooms? I think there are exceptions?

I think it's something along the lines of "If you are going to offer the restroom to any client, it has to be accessible to all clients." And are you going to deny a client from using the restroom if they have to during the shoot? - they know you have one in your home...