Quality, quickly: An on-island solution

San Juan Island — In an ideal world, Tom wouldn’t have purchased a Modern-Shed.

The Portland-based attorney loves to build things and enjoys having his hands on a project, so when he began considering building a home office on his family’s property on San Juan Island in Washington, he would have ideally liked to build the office himself.

But, we don’t live in an ideal world, and Modern-Shed helps our customers wisely and efficiently use their time so they can have the types of spaces they’ve always dreamed of.

“I really like building things, but I don’t have the time,” Tom admits. “I wanted a quality product that could assemble very quickly. That was the key criteria.”

Tom’s family has been traveling to gorgeous San Juan Island for more than 20 years, and finally, about two years ago, they bit the bullet and purchased a home on the island to spend their weekends and any other free time up there.

The house, however, left some things to be desired, especially as more and more family members made the trek to visit and stay in the home.

“We suddenly had an influx of relatives who would come in to visit,” Tom says. “I work when I’m up there, but I couldn’t keep working in the house while there was this influx. It was a dream come true finding a home we could build ourselves. But basically the whole house is one room.”

Tom worked from a loft in the house, but that didn’t afford any privacy when he needed to take calls with clients, and it didn’t stop relatives from distracting him from work.

He began to consider building a standalone office on the property, and nixed out sheds made from cheaper materials, like the kinds you might find at a local hardware store.

Some internet searching brought him to Modern-Shed earlier this spring, and from then, plans moved quickly.

“Initially I thought I could do with a 10’ by 12,’ but I started pacing out what the space was and it was just a little too small,” Tom says. “The 12’ by 14’ has just been perfect.”

Tom worked with Modern-Shed dealer Jeff Bergerson, who patiently answered his questions and helped Tom find contractors to work with in building the shed.

Father-son team David and Nathan Walterick came to assemble the sheds, erecting the basic frame of the shed in little over two days.

“I had the foolish thought that I could build it myself,” Tom says. “I am someone who asks a lot of questions and Jeff was very patient. He set me up with Dave and we had a great time. It really was the wise decision to have the people come in and do the set up.”

Tom’s shed looks out west from San Juan Island, toward Vancouver Island in British Columbia. With Jeff’s convincing, he chose to have two wide windows looking out at the water, rather than a sliding glass door as he initially envisioned.

The door is now at the side of the shed.

“I wanted my desk to look out across the water, and the big decision was the placement of the sliding glass door,” Tom recalls. “Jeff nicely guided me through that. If the door had been out front, I’d have a bit of a break in my view with the two panels. Now, I have an uninterrupted view, a wide expanse of glass to look out from.”

Tom’s shed also features an extra-long overhang above the sliding door, to keep him dry coming in and out of the shed. Eventually, he plans to build a deck around the shed.

The interior of the shed, which Tom worked on himself, includes beautiful wood paneling. He’s only received positive responses.

“People have really liked it,” he says. “One problem with the island is that it’s very remote, which means it’s hard to bring building products in. This was great for the speed and not having to go around and get building products on island. I am not really sure there is anything I would do differently. I feel like all the decision points worked out really well and it was great in terms of accommodating my schedule.”