Cost-Effective Ideas for Designing a Small Office Development Room

dannydav07

I’m setting up a development room for my office and want to keep things practical without overspending. Any suggestions on how to design it efficiently, from layout and lighting to furniture and tech setup while keeping costs low but quality reasonable? In designing I think wall arts 🖼️ furniture, computers alignment, motivational quotes everything matters.   

Robin9

What size?

To develop what ?   Just room for staff -  how many ?  Is the development just PC driven or do you need "space" ? Do you need big printers -  A2 ?

Neil49

I recommend a visit to your nearest full size IKEA. 

Ectophile

As a recently retired software engineer...

• A proper desk, at the right height.  Big enough for two monitors.  Deep enough that your nose isn't pressed against the screen.  If you have laptops, then a laptop and one full size monitor works at a push, but two monitors is better.
• Offer a separate keyboard and mouse, even if you have laptops. If you have the laptop screen in the right place, the keyboard won't be, and vice versa..  A docking station may be the easiest solution for all the connectivity.
• A proper office wheely chair with 5 wheels.  Doesn't have to be a ridiculous gaming chair, but should be fully adjustable.  
• Lighting is tricky.  There's a reason offices have special lights with baffles to reduce glare.  Squinting at a screen that's reflecting the one overhead bulb isn't great.  Make sure you can reduce glare from windows when the sun is in the wrong place, but at the same time, having windows is nicer than working in a cave.

Ergonomics matters. You don't want a lawsuit from someone who has long term joint or muscle problems because you forced them to use an inappropriate setup.

Be prepared to make accommodations for anyone who is unusually short, has back problems, or whatever.

Desks don't have to be expensive.  My home office ones were flat packs from a Chinese seller on Amazon.  They don't look great, but I was careful to check they were the right height and deep enough for my needs.

dannydav07

Ectophile said:

As a recently retired software engineer...

• A proper desk, at the right height.  Big enough for two monitors.  Deep enough that your nose isn't pressed against the screen.  If you have laptops, then a laptop and one full size monitor works at a push, but two monitors is better.
• Offer a separate keyboard and mouse, even if you have laptops. If you have the laptop screen in the right place, the keyboard won't be, and vice versa..  A docking station may be the easiest solution for all the connectivity.
• A proper office wheely chair with 5 wheels.  Doesn't have to be a ridiculous gaming chair, but should be fully adjustable.  
• Lighting is tricky.  There's a reason offices have special lights with baffles to reduce glare.  Squinting at a screen that's reflecting the one overhead bulb isn't great.  Make sure you can reduce glare from windows when the sun is in the wrong place, but at the same time, having windows is nicer than working in a cave.

Ergonomics matters. You don't want a lawsuit from someone who has long term joint or muscle problems because you forced them to use an inappropriate setup.

Be prepared to make accommodations for anyone who is unusually short, has back problems, or whatever.

Desks don't have to be expensive.  My home office ones were flat packs from a Chinese seller on Amazon.  They don't look great, but I was careful to check they were the right height and deep enough for my needs.

Very helpful comment I really appreciate. Thank you so much!

knightstyle

Do not scrimp on the chairs, get the best back supporting ones you can afford.

sturat3200

You can explore a lot of good options on Amazon or ebay for office furniture.

casper_gutman

Much of the budget will need to go on chairs. Fully adjustable solidly built units are not cheap. The inexpensive things sold in places like IKEA for home use just won't cut it.

In my experience the most cost effective way of getting good, bright indirect lighting without glare is to use one or more powerful uplighters.

At home I use an electric sit-stand height adjustable desk. I bought a cheap one from a Chinese seller on Amazon, for about £80. It's worked surprisingly well, but the top was in four pieces (understandably, as it must have significantly reduced shipping costs) and the joints between them were annoying and made the whole thing feel flimsy. I bought a similarly sized solid tabletop from IKEA in the sale for £19, and using this instead has made all the difference.

For a docking station, the 'official' units for the laptops provided by my employer cost £hundreds, but I can't see any difference in functionality between them and the USB-C hubs with HDMI, e.g., this one, when used with a suitable 100W+ power delivery compatible charger.

casper_gutman

Forgot to say - if the desk you choose doesn't have cable management then add something, e.g., this from IKEA. There's nothing more annoying than wires trailing everywhere, getting tangled up with your legs and pulling on the connectors, especially with height-adjustable desks.

twopenny

While the info is relevant this thread is from early November and resurrected.
The OP has probably done it by now 🙂