A typical house would require extensive retrofitting to meet the applicable codes (e.g. structural, egress, fire suppression, and accessibility) due to the change of occupancy - never mind zoning and other land use regulations.
For a small scale startup (where customers never visit -- not retail or legal/medical services), the only practical concern is neighbors, as far as I've seen. Maybe once you have 10-20 employees working onsite that changes (I've never done the villa-office thing in the US beyond 5-10 people).
Also, a lot of the larger homes actually are built to commercial standards, at least from what I've seen in listings, especially in seismic zones. Sprinklers and egress are what I primarily care about; non-ADA-compliance is only incidentally a concern (being able to move racks, furniture, etc. around is great, but I don't need every bathroom to be ADA compliant).
Zoning is an issue once neighbors complain (and usually, it's due to parking issues; having 20 cars street parked in a neighborhood is a big inconvenience to them) -- that's why you want a driveway with a gate. In general in Northern CA, the actual zoning people don't care about violations of home office -> office as long as it's not causing trouble for others -- there are numerous examples (Facebook, HP, ...) where homes have been used as offices. Not putting up signage, not having customers visit, etc. is generally enough from what I've seen.
My long term plan involves a ranch/farm/estate/country home in a no-code location, though.
Most larger homes are not built to comply with the building codes requirements of commercial structures (e.g. stairs: 100psf live, 42" guards, 1.25" diameter handrails, etc.) and the optimism embodied in real-estate listings is legendary.
Legally, pretty much everything must comply with ADA- and in California and several other states you can be sued for damages (though if you are in California and read the newspaper I suspect you have seen something about such cases).
Of course people do stuff illegally all the time - you could fill the house with grow lights and pot plants. But things have changed a bit in the 70 years since HP left the garage.
Comments
A typical house would require extensive retrofitting to meet the applicable codes (e.g. structural, egress, fire suppression, and accessibility) due to the change of occupancy - never mind zoning and other land use regulations.
For a small scale startup (where customers never visit -- not retail or legal/medical services), the only practical concern is neighbors, as far as I've seen. Maybe once you have 10-20 employees working onsite that changes (I've never done the villa-office thing in the US beyond 5-10 people).
Also, a lot of the larger homes actually are built to commercial standards, at least from what I've seen in listings, especially in seismic zones. Sprinklers and egress are what I primarily care about; non-ADA-compliance is only incidentally a concern (being able to move racks, furniture, etc. around is great, but I don't need every bathroom to be ADA compliant).
Zoning is an issue once neighbors complain (and usually, it's due to parking issues; having 20 cars street parked in a neighborhood is a big inconvenience to them) -- that's why you want a driveway with a gate. In general in Northern CA, the actual zoning people don't care about violations of home office -> office as long as it's not causing trouble for others -- there are numerous examples (Facebook, HP, ...) where homes have been used as offices. Not putting up signage, not having customers visit, etc. is generally enough from what I've seen.
My long term plan involves a ranch/farm/estate/country home in a no-code location, though.
Most larger homes are not built to comply with the building codes requirements of commercial structures (e.g. stairs: 100psf live, 42" guards, 1.25" diameter handrails, etc.) and the optimism embodied in real-estate listings is legendary.
Legally, pretty much everything must comply with ADA- and in California and several other states you can be sued for damages (though if you are in California and read the newspaper I suspect you have seen something about such cases).
Of course people do stuff illegally all the time - you could fill the house with grow lights and pot plants. But things have changed a bit in the 70 years since HP left the garage.