As we were trying to organize and consolidate some materials that were salvaged from and/or overages or mis-ordered (yes, it happens) on past projects, an idea was suggested that there would be a better use for all these materials than for them to be sitting in storage indefinitely. The concept of a “tiny office” came to the forefront. Many of our projects are lean and have a light site presence, but for others that have a longer timeline, a place for people to congregate for site meetings, review building plans with crews, or just securely store equipment and set up a computer is necessary. Everyone has seen a job shack, but they are rarely given a second look. Conventional modular construction trailers never properly represent our brand, because they are typically built cheap and made to be intentionally uninteresting. We wanted to take a different approach.

We began by forming an internal “tiny office committee” to lead the effort in designing and building a structure with a few rigid parameters: implement the stored materials, fit the structure on a tiny house trailer platform from local manufacturer, Iron Eagle Trailers, to be easily transportable, and stay within our predetermined budget of $25-30k including the trailer base, materials not included in our yard, and the labor for our crew.

To maximize the opportunity to design and build our own space in its entirety, elevate that portion of our jobsites, and try out some ideas that would not be used otherwise, the tiny office committee kicked off the process with a design charette. Initially working in small groups, generating all sort of ideas, the group eventually reconvened to collaboratively determine the shape, arrangement of openings, and necessary systems for the project. From there, we set a small crew of carpenters loose to start building. With more flexible timelines and expectations than normal, there were opportunities for members of our crew to shadow others in specific processes that they previously were not as experienced in and to pick up new skills in a construction setting with less schedule pressure than is typical on a project. With the tiny office complete, and nearly every company member having some hand in the configuration of its reclaimed and repurposed components, the bright workspace will be a unique representation of OGLLC while it finds its temporary place at our job sites.